22.05.08 Linguistic wonders

A Bristol University study has revealed that babies exposed to foreign speech during the first nine months more easily pick up a foreign language later on in life.

According to the study, babies have a complete set of possible speech sounds, enabling them to acquire any language as their mother tongue. During the first months of life, babies can also recognise sounds not used in their first language. Over time, these ‘foreign’ sounds are slowly filtered out.

However, babies exposed to foreign speech during the first months of life retain the ability to recognise these ‘foreign’ sounds. According to the theory, these sounds are more readily recognised later on, and acquisition of a foreign language is easier. Click here to read the entire article.