A person's second language, or L2, is a language, not the native language of the speaker, but is learned later. For example, there are some people use both. A speaker's dominant language, the language a speaker uses most or is most comfortable with, is not the speaker's first language; the second language can be the dominant one. For example, the Canadian census defines first language for its purposes as "the first language learned in childhood and still spoken", recognizing that for some, the earliest language may be lost, a process known as language attrition; this can happen. The distinction between acquiring and learning was made by Stephen Krashen as part of his Monitor Theory. According to Krashen, the acquisition of a language is a natural process. In the former, the student needs to partake in natural communicative situations. In the latter, error correction is present, as is the study of grammatical rules isolated from natural language. Not all educators in second language agree to this distinction.

Research in SLA "...focuses on the developing knowledge and use of a language by children and adults who know at least one other language... a knowledge of second-language acquisition may help educational policy makers set more realistic goals for programmes for both foreign language courses and the learning of the majority language by minority language children and adults.". SLA has been influenced by both psychological theories. One of the dominant linguistic theories hypothesizes that a device or module of sorts in the brain contains innate knowledge. Many psychological theories, on the other hand, hypothesize that cognitive mechanisms, responsible for much of human learning, process language. Other dominant theories and points of research include 2nd language acquisition studies, verbal behaviour, morpheme studies, error analysis and order of acquisition, structuralism, 1st language acquisition studies, contrastive analysis and inter-language; these theories have all influenced second-language pedagogy.

There are many different methods of second-language teaching, many of which stem directly from a particular theory. Common methods are the grammar-translation method, the direct method, the audio-lingual method, the Silent Way, community language learning, the Total Physical Response method, the communicative approach; some of these approaches are more popular than others, are viewed to be more effective. Most language teachers will use a mix in their teaching; this provides a more balanced approach to teaching and helps students of a variety of learning styles succeed. The defining difference between a first language and a second language is the age the person learned the language. For example, linguist Eric Lenneberg used second language to mean a language consciously acquired or used by its speaker after puberty. In most cases, people never achieve the same level of fluency and comprehension in their second languages as in their first language; these views are associated with the critical period hypothesis.

In acquiring an L2, Hyltenstam found that around the age of six or seven seemed to be a cut-off point for bilinguals to achieve native-like proficiency. After that age, L2 learners could get near-native-like-ness but their language would, while consisting of few actual errors, have enough errors to set them apart from the L1 group; the inability of some subjects to achieve native-like proficiency must be seen in relation to the age of onset. Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson modified their age cut-offs to argue that after childhood, in general, it becomes more and more difficult to acquire native-like-ness, but that there is no cut-off point in particular; as we are learning more and more about the brain, there is a hypothesis that when a child is going through puberty, the time that accents start. Before a child goes through puberty, the chemical processes in the brain are more geared towards language and social communication. Whereas after puberty, the ability for learning a language without an accent has been rerouted to function in another area of the brain—most in the frontal lobe area promoting cognitive functions, or in the neural system of hormone allocated for reproduction and sexual organ growth.

As far as the relationship between age and eventual attainment in SLA is concerned, Krashen and Scarcella, say that people who encounter foreign language in early age, begin natural exposure to second languages and obtain better proficiency than those who learn the second language as an adult. However, when it comes to the relationship between age and rate SLA, “Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (whe

Sofia Ashraf is an Indian rapper and singer. Her songs address the negligence of corporations, her 2008 song "Don't Work for Dow" criticizes Dow's failure to compensate victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy in India. In 2015 she released "Kodaikanal Won't", a music video addressing mercury pollution in Kodaikanal from a thermometer factory owned by Unilever, a multinational consumer goods company. In June 2016, she released "Dow vs. Bhopal: a Toxic Rap Battle". In 1987, Sofia Ashraf was born and brought up in an orthodox Malayali Muslim household in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Sofia was part of a Muslim youth group in Chennai, studied Islamic History and Philosophy ardently, she studied graphic design in Stella Maris College, where she used to zealously participate in extracurricular activities. She began rapping on stage during a college festival, where she donned a Hijab and rapped to her own lyrics in which she questioned the people's attitude towards Muslims after September 11 attacks; the press referred to her as "The Burqa Rapper" after the incident.

Despite this she has several tattoos. Ashraf worked as a creative supervisor for Ogilvy & Mather, a global advertising firm that counts Unilever as one of its clients, she quit the firm in 2015, a few months before making the hit single "Kodaikanal Won't". O&M executive chairman Piyush Pandey said the firm had wanted Ashraf to stay on, but that she left to pursue a new career path in 2015. In 2008, she sang "Don't Work for Dow" while wearing a hijab to criticize Dow for its response to the Bhopal disaster in 1984. In July 2015 she released the single "Kodaikanal Won't" to protest the pollution of a river in Kodaikanal. In the song she appeals to Unilever to help former workers in Kodaikanal, whose river was contaminated 14 years before with mercury from a thermometer plant owned by Unilever. Ashraf released a YouTube video of the song to campaign against the mercury poisoning. Ashraf used the Nicki Minaj tune "Anaconda" as the beat for "Kodaikanal Won't." In 2015, she collaborated with Chennai based singer Maalavika Sapta on the song Deen.

The song was written by Ashraf to combat moral policing and insist the faith must be a choice, not an imposition. Ashraf has recorded a song each in the Bollywood movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan and the Tamil movie Maryan, for music director A. R. Rahman, for Santhosh Kumar in his Tamil film Inimey Ippadithan

Count Pirro Capacelli Albergati was an Italian aristocrat, amateur composer. Albergati was born in Bologna; the Albergatis were one of the most eminent families of the Bolognese nobility, Count Pirro Albergati himself was ambassador, confident of Leopold I, Emperor of Austria, member of the city Council of Elders, gonfaloniere of the city of Bologna. "Although posterity has recognized Pirro Albergati for his musical accomplishments, he was better known to the general public for his charitable works". From 1685 he became a member of the confraternity Santa Maria della Morte for whom he composed most of his 17 oratorios. From 1728 Albergati held the honorary post of maestro di cappella in Puiano near Urbino in the last years of his life, his sacred works include 4 masses. Fellow Bolognese composer Giuseppe Maria Jacchini dedicated his opus 4 to Count Albergati in recognition of his strong support for giving Jacchini a permanent position in the orchestra of the cathedral of Bologna. Published works: Op. 1 Balletti, sarabande e gighe per Violino, con il secondo violino beneplacito.

1682, reprinted 1685 Op. 2 Suonate a due violini col suo basso continuo. Bologna 1683 Op. 3 Cantate morali 1685 Op. 4 Messa e salmi concertati. 1687 Op. 5 "Plectro armonico" Dieci Sonate da Camera à due Violini, e Basso con Violoncello obligato Op. 6 Cantate da camera a voce sola 1687 Op. 7 Motetti e antifoni della B. M. V. 1691 Op. 8 Concerti varii da Camera a quattro o cinque. Modena 1702 Op. 9 Cantate spirituale a 1 2 3 vv. F. Rosati Modena 1702 Op. 10 Cantate ed Oratorio San Eustachio 1714 Inno e antifone della B. M. V. A voce sola. Silvani, Bologna 1715 Cantate in pregio di Santa Maria. "Op6." Bologna 1717 Op. 13 Corona dei pregi di Maria a 1 voce 1717 Op. 14 Caprici varii da camera a tre. Venice 1721 Op. 15 Motetti con il responsorio di S. Antonio di Padova a 4, 1715 Op. 16 Messe e Litanie della B. M. V. E Tantum ergo a 4, Venice 1721Oratorios: L’innocenza di Sant’Eufemia 1694 Il Convito di Baldassarro, 1691 La Beata Caterina da Bologna tentata di solitudine, 1710 Bologna San Eustachio in Op.10 1714Lost works: Serenata a 2 vv 1692 Opera Gli amici 16 August 1699, Bologna Opera Il principe selvaggio 1712, BolognaOratorios: Nabucodonosor 1686 Giobbe 1688 Santa Orsola 1689 L'Iride di pace, o sia il B.

Niccolò Albergati 1690 Il martirio di S Sinibaldo 1696 Il ritorno dalla capanna 1696 Maria Annunciata dall'Angelo 1701 Santa Ottilia 1705 Il Morte di Cristo 1719 Il trionfo della Grazia, ovvero la conversione di Maddalena 1729 S Petronio principale protettore di Bologna 1732 Oratorio La Beata Caterina da Bologna tentata di solitudine. Magnificat. Cantate spirituali. Fortuna Ensemble, dir. Roberto Cascio TC.660101 Oratorio Il Convito di Baldassarro 1691. Fortuna Ensemble dir. Roberto Cascio TC.660102 Sacred cantatas: Corona dei pregi di Maria from Op.13 1717. Ensemble La Flora TC.660103