Friday 25 February 2011

How babies learn language

From the very first babbling and cooing noises a baby makes to their first word and sentences that grow and grow, language acquisition in babies and young children never ceases to amaze me. People have all sorts of  opinions on how babies learn sounds and children learn to talk. I have friends who think their child learns a lot from watching TV, others believe it's all the books they read and there are theories that music facilitates language learning amongst babies and children.

A fasciating 10-minute talk on TED, called The linguistic genius of babies reveals that the 6-8 month age of a baby is a crucial stage in their language learning and their understanding of sounds specific to particular languages. It also explains the importance of human contact interacting with the social brain, over audio and visual input. I found it really interesting and I'm sure you will too. Have a look over the weekend and let me know what you think.

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2 comments:

  1. That is so interesting! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I love stuff like this - am off to watch now! xxx

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