Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mit-eddie!bbn!ginosko!uunet!pilchuck!dataio!aez
From: aez@Data-IO.COM (Adam Zilinskas)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: How fast can one learn a language? (Re: IQ is not static ...)
Message-ID: <2094@dataio.Data-IO.COM>
Date: 14 Aug 89 16:17:51 GMT
References: <3800@csd4.milw.wisc.edu> <4552@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <623@berlioz.nsc.com>
Reply-To: aez@dataio.Data-IO.COM ()
Organization: Data I/O Corporation; Redmond, WA
Lines: 27

In article <623@berlioz.nsc.com> andrew@berlioz (Lord Snooty @ The Giant Poisoned Electric Head ) writes:

>> About 4 years of relatively single-minded effort.
>> \... I believe that it is possible to accquire ..., and basic syntax in 1 day.
>Think of a child transplanted at, oh, the age of eight to a foreign
>country with his/her family. Friends of mine have seen their children 
>become relatively "fluent" after about six months. For children who have
>relatively few inhibitions and a normal childish curiosity this is
>probably par for the course.
>

If I remember my undergraduate courses in psychology (or was it physiology ?)
Several studies seemed to show that there was a "hardwired" ability to 
learn languages fast inherint in children before adolesence. They eventually
lose this capability and become more like us.

A young whipper-snapper of 3-8 years would learn a new language far faster
than us old geezers who might take a few years.

It is one of those boot-strap instincts that makes whales know how to 
swim at birth, calves to have enough sense to keep with the herd, and 
young humans to quickly aquire communication skills.


			Adam Zilinskas

Can anybody shore up any of my old memories of these theories?