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When Dr. Patrica Kuhl revealed her findings about the turbocharged language-learning ability of kids under 7, she probably never expected to be echoed by Brad Pitt.
Dr. Kuhl, of the University of Washington, is part of an international team of scientists looking at why new language learning is easiest before age 7. The goal is to then take the lessons learned to improve language teaching to the over-7 crowd.
Brad Pitt is, well, Brad Pitt. In a recent OK Magazine article, he says, “I wish there had been an emphasis on learning a foreign language where I grew up. It frustrates the hell out of me. I’ve studied French. I don’t speak it. I’m working on it. It’s real slow going. Oh, how I suffer! Those synapses never formed! They’re dry-docked for good!”
Dr. Kuhl might have explained to Brad that “babies have three times as many synapses as adults. Infants are open to the world—to all possible ways they might use their brain—over the years, they prune away the synapsis not being used.”
But Kuhl throws us language-loving oldsters a bone: "We think the magic that kids apply to this learning situation, some of the principles, can be imported into learning programs for adults.”
Right now, the best way an adult can learn a new langauge is at its source. Transitions Abroad has a good database of language schools all over the world.
Dr. Kulh on brain development and language acquisition during a child’s crucial early years:
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