With loads of tools and learning methods existing in the 21st century, with Science rewarding inventions such as computers, mobile technologies and the Internet, many people have succeeded in earning a new language.
So, an individual may perhaps meet his own demand without further complications in terms to learning languages.
Nevertheless, nothing compares with speaking a language from cradle.
Toddler with book (Photo credit: Jon Mick, via Wikimedia Commons)
Did you know that babies learn immediately as early as 4-month age on how to spot whether a speaker is changing to another language by visual signs only?
Whitney Weikum, who was a Neuroscience doctoral student and the researcher of the said study, has found that babies have capabilities to tell differences in regards to the language verbalized by a speaker they see. By merely watching, babies can tell through the rhythm and the shapes of the speaker’s mouth while he’s talking.
In the course of the study, they have tested 3 groups of babies from monolingual homes – ages 4, 6, and 8 months and 2 groups of babies from bilingual home – ages 6 and 9 months from bilingual homes.
The researchers showed up soundless video clips to every group of 3 speakers in bilingual French-English language, wherein they delivered English or French sentences, and then they change to another language.
The researchers found out that when the speakers change the language, the babies are prompted to watch the video for longer hours as they are paying closer attention to it through visual signs alone.
And the final result of the study showed that babies ages 6-month from both monolingual and bilingual French-English speaker homes are able to spot and differentiate the language visually.
As we can’t go back in time to be a French-English bilingual baby, we will have to work hard if we want to be fluent in French, and maybe take a French course in one of our French language schools in France.
