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How children learn languages | ||
Tags: Language Acquisition Theory | Children | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Linas Octoglot Senior Member Lithuania Joined 6912 days ago 253 posts - 279 votes  5 sounds Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese | Message 1 of 9 22 February 2006 at 6:02am | IP Logged | |||||
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I remember there was discussion about how children learn languages and whether adults should imitate this methods. I have found an interesting link about language aquisition by children.
http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/devel1.htm It appears this process is not so smooth and ridden with many difficulties And there is a link about pathologies, which of course that would hardly happen with a language learner, but it is neverthless interesting to know about them - sometimes babies and even children of 10-12 years, learning their first language can have such problems, that we adult learners cannot even immagine: http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/spld.htm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Eidolio Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6861 days ago 159 posts - 164 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian, Greek | Message 2 of 9 23 February 2006 at 10:58am | IP Logged | |||||
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I'd recommend "First steps towards a usage-based theory of Language-acquisition" and the book "a usage-based theory of language-acquisition", both by Thomas Radden. His approach is cognitive and really convincing
(I really don't like generative grammar stuff about children being born with grammatical patterns in their head). the way how children learn languages is interesting, but it's almost impossible to imitate it. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Linas Octoglot Senior Member Lithuania Joined 6912 days ago 253 posts - 279 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Lithuanian*, Russian, Latvian, French, English, German, Spanish, Polish Studies: Slovenian, Greek, Hungarian, Arabic (Written), Portuguese | Message 3 of 9 24 February 2006 at 12:39am | IP Logged | |||||
It is impossible, and even it would be possible I would not try it, children need lots of time (3-5 years) to learn that what an adult can learn in 1 year. I would only suggest, that similarly to babies, the adult should also first listen their target language for a longer time(maybe starting with the syllables ba-ba ma-ma), and later when they start to speak do not try to speak consciously according to rules, but rather to speak baby-talk as much as it comes to them spontaneously and do not fear to make mistakes. That are elements of child language acquisition that the grown-up can imitate. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Al-Malik Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member United Kingdom arabicgenie.com Joined 7134 days ago 221 posts - 294 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German*, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Dutch, French, Arabic (classical) Studies: Mandarin, Persian | Message 4 of 9 24 February 2006 at 5:14am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. Although it probably takes more conscious effort for us adults, we are generally able to acquire another language much more quickly than a child acquires his first language. I suspect this is due to several factors, but most important among them probably 1) the fact that adults already have acquired not only the words of their mother tongue, but also the concepts behind those words, which can then be transferred to the second language. 2) we are able to be far more self-diciplined in language acquisition (not saying I always am though ;-) ). 3) we can make the most out of encounters with native speakers, because we are able to interact with them to a higher degree. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sir Nigel Senior Member United States Joined 7104 days ago 1126 posts - 1102 votes 2 sounds | Message 5 of 9 24 February 2006 at 11:05am | IP Logged | |||||
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I've thought it was easier for adults because you've already learnt how to process speech. Learning a language just like a child seems rather silly to me.
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| frenkeld Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6943 days ago 2042 posts - 2719 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 6 of 9 24 February 2006 at 6:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
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We must be careful not to compare apples to oranges, so a second-language acquisition by an adult should be compared with a child's second, and not first, language acquisition.
I've heard plenty of stories about people bringing kids for a stay abroad and watching those kids pick up the new language rather quickly just by playing in the street. Edited by frenkeld on 24 February 2006 at 7:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Eidolio Bilingual Octoglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 6861 days ago 159 posts - 164 votes 2 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, Flemish*, French, English, Latin, Ancient Greek, Italian, Greek | Message 7 of 9 25 February 2006 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Children learn languages at an incredible speed, loads faster than adults. put a 3 year old in a class where everyone speaks Spanish and after 2 months the kid will be quite fluent with almost no accent.
It is true that it takes a long time for children to learn their first language, but this is indeed because their knowledge of the world is limited. They don't know many concepts. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| aquarius Diglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 6901 days ago 23 posts - 23 votes Speaks: Bengali, English* Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 9 26 February 2006 at 3:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I believe that my experience will be an useful input to this discussion.
At the age of 5, I emigrated from Bangladesh to the UK. When I arrived I didn't know any English at all. I knew a few words like "Hello" and "Goodbye", but I certainly could not form even the most simplest sentences. When I first went to school, another boy had to be my translator beacause I simply couldn't understand a word that the teacher said to me. It took about a year and a half for my English to reach the level of the others in the class. Now my classmates were also children of immigrant background, however they were mostly born in the UK or had some nursery education beforehand. Their English most probably would have been very close to the level of native children. The amount of English that I, as a five year old, learnt in 18 months is unlikely to be absorbed by an adult second language learner, unless they were in a complete immersion background. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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