Originally posted by: mermaid_QT
I would like to share something relatively newly discovered.. 😊
This is pretty exciting.
Learning Language
Neuroscientists have discovered why children excel at learning languages.Scientists may finally have an explanation for why children reign supreme when it comes to learning new languages. Using MRI and animation technology to study the brains of children, researchers like Dr. Paul Thompson of UCLA have discovered that children are processing language information in a different region of the brain than adults.
There are different areas in the brain controlling different functions in our lives. When we brush our teeth, sign our names or drive a car, we don't consciously think: "move the right hand up and down like this," "capitalize this letter," or "turn the wheel 30 degrees to the left." These are examples of automatic brain function. When children acquire language, this same part of the brain, called the "deep motor area," is what they use, so the language is like second nature.
But when adults learn a second or third language, their brains operates differently. The window of opportunity to imprint information and skills in the deep motor region of the brain is widest during early childhood and nearly shut by the time we reach about 18. Therefore, adults have to store information elsewhere, in a more active brain region. As a consequence, adults usually think sentences through in a native tongue and then translate them word-by-word, instead of thinking in automatically in another language like a child would. Even for people with extensive training in a second language as an adult, who feel their speech is automatic, on a neurological level the brain is still operating differently from a child's.
Research into the neurology of language acquisition is proving useful because understanding the "geographic" differences of language learning in children versus adults may influence educators and their decisions about foreign language instruction. As an example, Thompson says simply teaching young children the sounds and accents of other languages at an earlier age may be valuable, even if they are not getting full instruction in the language. Learning those sounds later in life – from a neurological perspective – can be more difficult.
QT great informative post too. Great points in bold. Thanks for sharing 😃
Kumkum Bhagya
Anupamaa
