Reaction Post - Language Research
Babies as young as 4-months can tell how the sounds of different languages are made
This article really pissed me off -- Mainly this
"In some videos, the face matched the cartoon they had learned earlier. In others, it didn’t. We then tracked how long the babies looked at the videos – a common method researchers use to see what grabs their attention. Babies tend to look longer at things that surprise or interest them and shorter at things they find familiar, helping us understand how they process and recognise what they see.
The results were clear: babies looked significantly longer at the videos where the face matched what they’d learned. This showed they weren’t just passively listening earlier – they were actively learning the rules of the mini-languages and linking that knowledge to what they saw.
This contradicts what they had just said in the preceding paragraph. Either the information is familiar and therefore they should have looked at it for less time, or it was unfamiliar and interesting. The results show nothing because the parameters make no sense.
The reason this irks me so isn't that it's bad reporting of their own research but that the research doesn't have any clear benefit to human language acquisition.
Learning a new language is single-handedly one of the most important things you can do. If we knew each other's languages, each other's cultures we would have more peace. In addition it is one of the best things you can do for your own brain, reducing the onset of dementia by four years or more.
It also will help anyone new to a country to succeed. Learning the native language of a country has to be the singlemost important thing you do if you're going to be a resident and want to succeed.
If you want to learn a new language this year reach out to me at -- jharbec13@gmail.com - and I will personally do a 30 min call with you to get you started.