Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another — by listening to the humans around them and “taking statistics” on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.
It’s incredible to uncover how our brain works, which once done, huge step for human beings. But still a ton of people who learn their second or third language not at the golden age can utilize the language freely as a native. When set in a place only the second language speaking, you’re pushed to learn and greater and faster improvement are made than only in language courses.
This proves how important it is to look after our babies and give them everything we possibly can to help them become happy adults. I’d like to take a moment to draw attention to Australia’s under-recognised childcare system. It always amazes me that people complain bitterly about the cost of child care, but it is this grossly underpaid industry that can ensure our babies get the best possible care available. Child care workers are highly trained in helping our babies learn, are taught the latest and greatest in cognitive development theory, and some of our babies spend up to a third of their time with carers. I don’t think our society praises these people enough for the great work they do. Child care is not a job for dummies, it’s probably one of the most important jobs out there.
here are some more figures on the critical period of language with colleagues following a discussion we had on this topic this morning and saw that it is in one of Patricia Kuhl’s papers here, if anyone is interested: www.life-slc.org/docs/Kuhl-brainmechanisms2010.pdf. It’s a fascinating article she wrote on this topic for Neuron Review.
