query: reviving language in native speaker who has forgotten it

[Alina Israeli]

In my experience it took about half a year for adopted kids to loose  
Russian completely. I am speaking of those adopted between 6 and 10  
that I met.

Here's an article supporting a total "rewriting" of the language in  
the brain: http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/13/2/155.full

On Apr 27, 2012, at 12:39 PM, KALB, JUDITH wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
> I wonder if any of you can help me with a student who was born in  
> Russia, adopted at age 8 after a very difficult stint in an  
> orphanage, grew up in NY, and is now enrolled in first-year Russian  
> language.  He does not remember his Russian but is interested in  
> reviving it.  He has had a lot of trouble with grammar, reading,  
> etc., but when I have him listen to conversations, etc., he can  
> repeat them beautifully—so the language is still somewhere in there,  
> apparently.  He’s interested in working over the summer to try to  
> get further with it.  Do you have suggestions on methods, programs,  
> etc. that might be helpful?
> Many thanks!
> Judith
>
> Dr. Judith E. Kalb
> Associate Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature
> Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
> University of South Carolina
> Columbia, SC 29208
> jkalb at sc.edu
>
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Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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