New study: Language learning begins in the womb.

[Sam_777]

November 6th, 2009:
"Washington: From their very first days, newborns’ cries already bear the mark of the language their parents speak, reveals a new study.

The findings suggest that infants begin picking up elements of what will be their first language in the womb, and certainly long before their first babble or coo."

Isn’t that interesting…
I think that could void any claimed miracle when someone says my young child recite this or that, as shown in this thread.

 

[SnakeMauler]

Wow dude, that’s amazing.

 

[Janet1983]

Well considering the fact that it is said to be good to have babies in the womb listen to classical music I completely understand that they actually do pick up some of the language.
They can tell what their mother sounds like too.

 

[KathleenGee]

I was teaching my 6 year old son phonics and reading…while I was pregnant.

After my second son was born, I resumed teaching my older boy, and my younger son, although just an infant, really enjoyed what was going on and it was obvious he already heard because he was smiling and contented.

 

[Janet1983]

I was teaching my 6 year old son phonics and reading…while I was pregnant.

After my second son was born, I resumed teaching my older boy, and my younger son, although just an infant, really enjoyed what was going on and it was obvious he already heard because he was smiling and contented.

There is this program with which you can teach babies to read… if everything is true what they say they have kids that can’t even talk yet who can actually read words and point out what they mean.
I think we are underestimating our little ones…

 

[Light1111]

Thanks! Very cool. We learned in a course called “Language Acquisition” (a branch of the “Cognitive Development” lecture series) that all infants are capable of language acquisition in any language on earth – that all babies are capable of making all sounds. Once a baby begins learning a particular language, he may get locked into those sounds, and if enough time passes (I think they currently say that age 12 is the mark after which further language acquisition becomes difficult), then new sounds are hard to form. This explains why an adult speaking a foreign tongue has difficulty pronouncing some sounds, and retains his native accent. For instance, a native American-English speaker might never learn to “roll his Rs” when learning Spanish or Italian. I think this is so interesting!!!

 

[dianaiad]

Thanks! Very cool. We learned in a course called “Language Acquisition” (a branch of the “Cognitive Development” lecture series) that all infants are capable of language acquisition in any language on earth – that all babies are capable of making all sounds. Once a baby begins learning a particular language, he may get locked into those sounds, and if enough time passes (I think they currently say that age 12 is the mark after which further language acquisition becomes difficult), then new sounds are hard to form. This explains why an adult speaking a foreign tongue has difficulty pronouncing some sounds, and retains his native accent. For instance, a native American-English speaker might never learn to “roll his Rs” when learning Spanish or Italian. I think this is so interesting!!!

Except, of course, those of us who have Scots ancestry…the rolled ‘r’ is in the DNA.