LL-L "Language learning" 2006.02.02 (03) [E]

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02 February 2006 * Volume 03
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From: Heather Rendall <HeatherRendall at CompuServe.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language Learning" 2006.02.01 (10) [E]

Here are the details from last night's programme mentioned on the forum
last week.

I thought it was v v interesting

 Heather
 
SAY WHAT YOU THINK
 
Practising neuroscientist and monoglot Dr Mark Lythgoe grapples with the
science of learning languages    
 
Wednesdays 01 and 08 February 2006 9.00-9.30pm   
 
Language not only shapes our culture, but it also shapes our brain, body
and behaviour. New research suggests that being bilingual could increase
your problem solving skills and delay cognitive decline as we get older.
This two-part series looks into the science of learning languages. How does
language change our brains? And why is it so much harder to learn a
language as an adult rather than a child?        
 
Working as a neuroscientist at University College London presenter Dr Mark
Lythgoe (pictured) is very aware of the way language influences the brain.
But despite this, he's a self-confessed linguaphobe. "Learning languages is
my idea of an absolute nightmare," says Lythgoe. "I just don't feel like I
have the right sort of brain to take it on." 

During the series, Mark attempts to learn Spanish using a variety of
conventional, and more unusual, techniques. Along the way he explores new
research on the science behind learning language. 

Programme 1 

Why is learning a language so much harder for adults rather than children? 

Mark travels to the baby lab at the University of Barcelona to meet
psychologist Laura Bosch. She's shown that even by two months old, babies
can differentiate Spanish from Catalan. 

However, our ability to perceive the phonetic differences in foreign
language declines with age. During our childhood, our brains tune in to
different parts of speech - from phonetics, to grammar and then vocabulary.
But does this ability end? 

Linguists disagree as to whether there is a 'critical period' when our
brains are geared to acquire language. Some like Elissa Newport claim that
if you learn after puberty, you will never be as good as a native. But
others such as Lydia White and Ernesto Macaro say that all adults need is
as much motivation and immersion in their new language as we experience as
children. 

Unperturbed, Mark visits the Phonetics Lab at Oxford University, where John
Coleman attempts to retrain him in the art of Spanish pronunciation. 

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