Pramukh Bhushan Blog 13: Children and Their Ability to Learn Languages
Recently my relatives from India came to visit America, and they are pushing me to speak in my mother tongue Kannada. Kannada was the first language I learned when I was little, and I spoke fluently at a young age. However, after attending schools that taught solely English, my fluency slowly slipped away, and I felt I had lost it. My perception of my ability came out to be false when speaking to my relatives as words and phrases in my native language started rolling off my tongue with ease. How could I retain this information that I had not practiced in many years?
When researching this topic, I came across a recurring theme: stimulating the mind to a language at a very young age helps one learn the language better. According to Dr. Sandra, a neurobiologist at Carnegie Mellon University, humans have “gatekeeper circuits” which choose “whether or not to rewire the brain” based on an experience (Patterson). When children are younger, they are in the “critical period, " making it easier to engage the gates, which help to rewire more often. As humans get older, these gatekeepers become “more restrictive” (Patterson). The years of the critical period vary between experts as some believe it is from “ages 4 and 7” while others argue it runs from “6 to 16” (Patterson).
Children can learn these languages better if they are taught earlier but do not necessarily learn them faster; the quality of teaching still plays a role as children need to be submerged into the language. A study published in the Journal of Language discussing the pace of learning languages between adults and children for a made-up dialect found: “adults were faster than the kids” regardless of teaching style (Patterson). So if adults learn faster, what makes kids better at learning languages? The key is the time spent and the rewiring of the brain at a young age. For example, an adult may study for years but still have a “tell-tale” accent compared to a child (Patterson).
I think we must re-evaluate the period we are in our lives. Most of us are in the “critical period,” so we can still rewire our brains more easily to learn new skills we are passionate about. Let us not waste this valuable time and learn something useful every day.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/parenting/children-language-development.html
What struck me as interesting within your blog post this week was the study published in the Journal of Language that you referenced to explain how adults learn faster than children The fact that researches created a made-up dialect just to test their hypothesis is pretty fascinating and I would definitely be interested in seeing what kind of new dialect this was because that is honestly pretty absurd and unheard of for me at least. I also always appreciate your weekly reminder to "stop underestimating your abilities and wasting time in your life," a common motif within your blog posts thus far.
ReplyDeleteHello Pramukh,
ReplyDeleteI always hated trying to learn new languages for fear of sounding awkward. My relatives on my dad’s side speak Marathi and Malayalam while the relatives on my mom’s side speak Kannada, Hindi, and Konkani. When I was a toddler, apparently, I never really spoke a distinct language, but a mix of words from several languages which became extremely confusing the older I became. I eventually stuck to English and Konkani, but still find that certain words end up coming out in other languages that I no longer remember. I think in English mostly, but there are a lot of words that do not have English translations or that I can only remember in that other language before translating to English. It has been a long time since I have spoken to my relatives in India, so I fear that they may not initially understand what I say. However, your blog has encouraged me to at least try and not instinctually resort to English.
Hey Pramukh, thank you for the reminder that the time we have left as teenagers is getting smaller by the day and that we should make the most of it. Your talk about memories and rewiring the brain made me wonder if this is what leads to the emergence of maturity in those with old age. Those who are much younger have much more fleeting memories and have not yet experienced enough with the world to have set morals or beliefs. It makes them more willing to switch up and try different things and possibly be even more impulsive. As people get more and more memories though and start to connect them more, it makes sense that people could also become more set into the one way of thinking that they have found to be the most accurate. I also found it really interesting that adults still learn at the same pace at children, and your blog has encouraged me to start becoming more fluent in my own mother tounge.
ReplyDeleteHey Pramukh, first of all, I love how you connected memories directly to living life to the fullest. Every day that passes, we are in this world a day less. It made me realize that it's so important to live life to the fullest because no matter what happens today, there's never a guarantee that there will be a tomorrow. As we go through life, we need to go through it with a smile and make sure that the memories we make are the ones we are satisfied to leave this world with. Every day we have, every second we have, it's crucial to make the most out of it. It's really interesting tho that no matter how old you are, you learn at the same rate as young kids because I've always heard that children tend to learn faster than adults.
ReplyDeleteHey Pramukh! First of all, I am incredibly jealous that you can speak Kannada, because I wish I could. As someone who did not learn Kannada as a young age, it is so hard for me to learn. I read somewhere that the young toddler ages are the best years to learn, as you retain them for longer. This is likely why you can remember Kannada despite not practicing it for the past many years. I find it sad that the older you get, the more "tell-tale" it is that you "learned" a language. But I appreciate how you encouraged readers to not waste this time. The rewiring of the brain is still happening, so we should not take for granted our ability to pick up new skills, because it will get harder as we get older.
ReplyDeleteHi Pramukh! Thank you for the reminder that there is still time for us to learn other new skills. Since we often forget that we are in this critical period, it's also easy to forget to take advantage of it. I've seen videos of multilingual babies and it's very incredible to see how fast they learn when spoken to in multiple languages.
ReplyDeleteHI Pramukh! Our psychology class actually discussed critical periods for learning languages a while back. Unfortunately the critical period to learn a language is between the ages 5 to 10. We can still learn languages, as you mentioned, but we would not be able to speak it in a way without an accent. A study I read about described a woman who was learning French (who had not learned French previously in her life). It stated that this person specifically had an easier time compared to her peers. Apparently, it was because when she was younger, she had a nanny that constantly spoke to her in French. So not only does learning the language during the critical period show lasting impacts, the simple exposure to it also poses benefits.
ReplyDeleteHi Pramukh, the human mind is constantly analyzed by scientists, and memory is something that still befuddles scientists today. How can dense blocks of atoms remember what happened a period of time ago? The differences between children and adults regarding language learning ability is really interesting and I like how you used a study to give some insight into this phenomenon. Since we are at a critical junction where we are cognizant of what we want to do and our brain is still fluid, it is important to go deep into skills because this is the best opportunity we have.
ReplyDeleteHi Pramukh, I think it is really interesting and helpful to know that the time has not yet passed for us. I’ve seen very young children learning three languages all at once and not even getting confused among them. Making an effort, as well as time, to practice different skills is key. A child’s brain is not fully formed and still growing so it makes sense that it can adapt and improve upon itself. It’s also good to note that learning skills (like a language) as a child gives that child enough time to really master the skill, which could create an environment where more is actually being learned or retained.
ReplyDelete