garyb@hcx1.SSD.HARRIS.COM (04/05/89)
>> >>>I presume, Henry, that you know how f^&*#%$ hard Japanese is to learn... >> >> > > Note that little children have learned Japanese, Latin, and other foreign > to us languages. Not exceptional kids, either, but those present-day kids that > live in Japan, and the historical kids that lived in the Roman Empire. > It can be done. I remember reading somewhere about some research that suggests the human mind's ability to learn to speak new languages is much reduced after about the age of 12, or 15, or some other very young age. In particular, the ability to speak it well, especially without an accent is much reduced. It was suggested that at some point, the cerebral circuits that control speech have become "programmed" for the native tounge(s) of the child, and that future attempts to learn to speak new languages must reporgram these same "circuits". It was also suggested that perhaps the cause of this phenomena is that after this programming takes place, a bunch of neurons that used to be reserved for speech are freed up and put into service for some other task. I don't remember if the these researchers were interested in language comprehension too, but it seems like this same theory could just as easily apply to comprehension. Indeed, it seems reasonable to me, that any cognitive skill that has become as involuntary as speech or speech understanding, will be more difficult to adapt to a new environment than to have learned that skill from the start in this same environment. Well, just a thought (and one that probably doesn't belong in this news group) -- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | Gary Barton | Harris Computer Systems Division | | Software Development | 2101 W. Cypress Creek Rd. | | garyb@ssd.harris.com | Ft. Lauderdale. FL 33309 | | {uunet,mit-eddie,novavax}!hcx1!garyb | (305) 974-1700 | ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
rodman@mfci.UUCP (Paul Rodman) (04/06/89)
In article <93900021@hcx1> garyb@hcx1.SSD.HARRIS.COM writes: > >>> >>>I presume, Henry, that you know how f^&*#%$ hard Japanese is to learn... >>> >> >> >> Note that little children have learned Japanese, Latin, and other foreign >> to us languages. Not exceptional kids, either, but those present-day kids that >> live in Japan, and the historical kids that lived in the Roman Empire. >> It can be done. > >I remember reading somewhere about some research that suggests the >human mind's ability to learn to speak new languages is much reduced >after about the age of 12, or 15, or some other very young age. In >particular, the ability to speak it well, especially without an accent >is much reduced. I too have heard this. For example, I think for a Japanese raised the distinguish-ability of "L" has not been wired in very well. If you can't tell what it sounds like, that makes it hard to speak later The NOVA I saw used infants in various stages of development to show this in a really ingenious experiment. Various languages have sounds that are differentated so slightly that non-native speakers can run across words that sound identical, but are not. To a native the same words are quite different sounding. ----- Paul K. Rodman rodman@mfci.uucp __... ...__ _.. . _._ ._ .____ __.. ._
pgp@homxb.ATT.COM (P.PALMER) (04/10/89)
RE: learning of language it's true, this discussion doesn't belong here--but i couldn't resist protesting what i feel is a prejudicial and poorly demonstrated theory. it is often used as an excuse for not learning--by adults. The theory that people inherently lose facility in learning languages after a certain age is just that...a theory. There are numerous examples to disprove it. Also, it's just as likely that people become lazy and resistant with age, rather than that they actually are incapable of learning. Speech therapists and linguists are able to help people learn to distinguish (and produce) sounds which at first they were unable to distinguish/produce. Personally--having studied linguistics and learned more than one language as an adult (and i think fairly well)--i've never believed that theory about the restriction. i also get annoyed at all the talk about "what a miracle infant linguistic acquisition is." children and infants don't have anything else to do in life but acquire language, eat and sleep and play...also, people tend to sit around with kids repeating "nose, ear, red orange yellow..." etc. even children among themselves keep their use of language on a simple level...give those same conditions to adults--well, most would acquire language quickly also, in my opinion.