Everyone recognize the importance of learning foreign language in this global era. Some people insist that learning a second language has to begin as early as people can. I totally support the idea of studying foreign language at primary school, because younger children have an advantage at language acquisition as well as they have more free time to focus on it.
First of all, younger children have more chance to acquire foreign language than those who are older. It is because children in general start to lose their linguistic abilities as they grow up. To take my personal example, There is one of my friend named ‘Tomo’ who comes to America with his family when he was at age of 7. He has 6 years older brother and both of them went to school. After two years, Tomo’s english proficiency almost reached at native level, whereas his brother’s level of speech was far under his level. Up to now, his brother is still struggling with having a good command of English.
On top of that, younger children have more free time to invest on improving their foreign language skills. As students goes up to higher grades, they usually have less free time to spend, because of homeworks, club activities, and so on. Learning a language is what takes tremendous time and effort. In other words, it is not just naturally given. People have to spend enough time to truly understand foreign languages. Therefore, it is better to start learning when there are plenty of free time given.
In conclusion, in terms of acquiring another language skills, children has to begin as early as they can because of following two reasons: they have limited period of time to learn foreign languages, and they have more free time to spend compared to those who are in higher grades.