www.ted.com At TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another — by listening to the humans around them and “taking statistics” on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
25 comments
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gewraldruzkalukaniuk says:
February 22, 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC 0)
@dcdales really as people get wiser they realize it is better to use one language well.unless they? are translators.
gewraldruzkalukaniuk says:
February 22, 2012 at 1:44 pm (UTC 0)
@djryce European languages have been rraced back to an ancient lanuage called Rusyn . Last remanents spoke it in the Carpathian mountains. My dad spoke it? and it was wiped out by the communists. Legendary symbolism is contained in the words and the family names and commies want to rewrite history. Root of all human languages was founfd in a valley I beleive in Uzbeckstan leads credence to the legend that the whole world spoke one language.
juliacotic says:
February 22, 2012 at 1:49 pm (UTC 0)
Very Good Channel!?
andreeaweed says:
February 22, 2012 at 2:33 pm (UTC 0)
i really think this is so true …i agree? with
127miles says:
February 22, 2012 at 2:49 pm (UTC 0)
I’m trilingual, English, Spanish, German. I learned Spanish not from class but? from living in chile. I had to learn German in class. But ya i don’t believe I’m really tha much smarter
dcdales says:
February 22, 2012 at 3:16 pm (UTC 0)
I disagree with the arch of language acquisition ability. In showing the? trends of language acquisition ability over age as a line graph, it really takes away from the idea of variation. I bet there is an incredible amount of variation in language acquisition ability over age.
Dedication, interest, and amount of free time are probably the highest determinants of acquisition of a new language. For a baby, these three points are freakin’ high, bro!
Armuotas says:
February 22, 2012 at 4:08 pm (UTC 0)
Interesting talk, and the baby in? the “MEG” device is hillarious
keemnal says:
February 22, 2012 at 5:08 pm (UTC 0)
@2528997 India is more? diverse than you think
2528997 says:
February 22, 2012 at 5:50 pm (UTC 0)
1:04 that mother and baby look nothing like they’re from? India
djryce says:
February 22, 2012 at 6:37 pm (UTC 0)
@dushevka
You have to take into account that a lot of European languages? come from the same family. For example, if you speak Spanish, it’s not hard to pick up Italian, French, Romanian, or Portuguese just from immersion. There’s not a lot of distance to cover between those countries, and the language structure is pretty similar.
It’s another story for a native English speaker learning Korean or an Arabic speaker learning Russian. So try not to be such a dick.
mumadadd says:
February 22, 2012 at 6:57 pm (UTC 0)
can somebody please help me? i have unsubscribed from TED but i can’t get rid of the ‘uploaded by TEDtalksDirector’ section on? my youtube home page. i used to like TED for the science content but i think it’s now gone all humanities. i’ve looked at every option within every menu i can find in youtube settings and i cant get TED vids off my home page.
musikluver says:
February 22, 2012 at 7:14 pm (UTC 0)
people may not realize it but learning a new language really does make you smarter…or at least helps develop what you need to become smarter. It’s not by any huge, super noticeable amount, but it still happens.
No it’s not something abnormal that’s done,but it’s still a task that should be encouraged and applauded when done, especially in countries like those in North America where being bi- or tri-lingual isn’t seen as an asset unless you’re in the government? (Canada)
It’s hard!
SamarkandChan says:
February 22, 2012 at 7:25 pm (UTC 0)
i’m trilingual (Norwegian, English and French) and I don’t think I’m more intelligent or think any differently than other? people. It’d very common in europe to learn at least english plus their local language.
wayne30403 says:
February 22, 2012 at 7:52 pm (UTC 0)
I am Taiwanese and I don’t think I am smarter than some of? u guy..
tdietz20 says:
February 22, 2012 at 8:41 pm (UTC 0)
@dushevka hey, way to congratulate yourself and throw in jab at Americans/Chinese. Your modest admission that you’re not super-human was hilariously transparent. Nowhere in this presentation was it suggested that multilingualism was a miracle. It was only suggesting how much easier it is for young children than it is for adults. This doesn’t imply that it’s impossible for adults. Just because you’re good at picking up language doesn’t mean this research isn’t? important and useful.
inyazmil says:
February 22, 2012 at 9:17 pm (UTC 0)
@rrinjapan? Thank you so much! You’ve encouraged me!
roidroid says:
February 22, 2012 at 10:04 pm (UTC 0)
@roidroid scratch that, mere seconds after i typed that she said “Kids don’t learn language from TV”.
I wonder what kinds of TV shows they were showing the kids. Perhaps they just wern’t socially engaging shows? The shows i watched as a kid (eg: Playschool) were quite socially engaging.
According to my family i apparently learned some sign language from TV as? a kid, i was momentarily confused last year when i tried to learn the signed alphabet from youtube and only took a few minutes “WTF!”.
roidroid says:
February 22, 2012 at 10:48 pm (UTC 0)
When i have? kids i’m going to leave them infront of the tv watching SBS all day.
SOAK IT UP!
mottafogo says:
February 22, 2012 at 11:12 pm (UTC 0)
I think you should watch? Wendy Vo’s videos.. you can search them here at Youtube
rrinjapan says:
February 22, 2012 at 11:26 pm (UTC 0)
@inyazmil Of? course! Not being a native speaker is not an issue. If you speak enough to give the child a basic understanding it will be enough. They don’t get perfect English input really from anyone … when we speak with all our starts and stops and changes in mid-sentence … the child should never learn the language really but hey do. Don’t worry about you not being a native speaker, they’ll get what they need and they’ll be influenced by others as they grow.
joslinnick says:
February 23, 2012 at 12:15 am (UTC 0)
@dushevka 5 languages! Well aint you just special. I agree, I only speak one language, but wish I could speak others. I was unfortunately never given the chance to learn them at a young age. All of my language teachers were piss poor, and I can confidently say that I or any one else, regardless of how hard we tried could ever grasp the concept of? the other languages. The only real way to learn the language is to live in a foreign language speaking country.
nehelek says:
February 23, 2012 at 12:29 am (UTC 0)
@missttt888 agree?
inyazmil says:
February 23, 2012 at 12:32 am (UTC 0)
I have a question: what’s going on? in a baby’s mind when he/she is exposed to a foreign language spoken by a non-native speaker? Often times teachers don’t have perfect pronunciation themselves. I speak English, but I am not a native speaker. So, will it be useful to speak to a baby in English?
missttt888 says:
February 23, 2012 at 12:58 am (UTC 0)
nothing really new here, everything she said I learned about in? my 2nd year developmental psych class 4 years ago…cute babies though
ksten17 says:
February 23, 2012 at 1:27 am (UTC 0)
@dushevka Its not that its a miracle, she is just saying that its easier for babies to learn. Of course its possible to learn languages after 15, or even 50, its just more difficult. I actually have know a bunch of Europeans who also find it? incredible how babies learn language.