Babies learn a language at 3 days old
Babies start learning languages at 3 days
As soon as children are born babies start to differentiate sounds. And Babies can do it well. For a baby language learning is all about organizing different sounds into meaningful patterns. Even under the age of one a baby understand grammar. Its brain has put it into a language pattern. Adults do this with learning though abstract thinking. However, a baby brain does this becasue its wired to learn.
For example:
“Six-month-old infants from English-speaking homes are able to distinguish between contrasting sounds in both Hindi and a language of northwest American Indians, even though they have had no experience with these languages. But by the time the children are eight to 10 months old, that ability to distinguish is in decline, according to a study from the University of British Columbia.
Because there’s no “l” sound in the Japanese language, adults who speak only Japanese can’t distinguish between the “r” and “l” sounds, even in careful tests. But Japanese infants have no problem differentiating between “rake” and “lake,” or “lob” and “rob.” Neither do Swedish or American infants.
However, at eight months, Japanese babies start losing the ability to distinguish between “r” and “l,” probably because they don’t require that ability as they start speaking and understanding Japanese.”
Read more When babies learn a language
If you want your kids to learn a language the best way to learn is simply expose them to it early and the brain will not prune away neurons it thinks is unneeded. But do not despair if you did not grow up bilingual, you can learn a language at any age as adults can think in abstractions and actaully grasp concepts faster. I would love to try to find a way to replicate the brain chemistry for early language learning so you would have a combination of both abstract thinking a mind with its original plasticity.
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Tags: babies, babies and langauges, how babies learn languages
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September 2, 2007at 8:30 am
‘Even under the age of one a baby understand grammar’
But article man don’t. hehe.
July 3, 2008at 5:04 pm
I’m looking for a dvd/cd program to teach infants the Japanese language. Any good referrals?