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Are there any differences in terms of brain dynamics between learning and using a native as opposed to a second language?
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old hand
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old hand
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probably depends on how old you are when you learn the second language
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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differences
The only information I've seen is that learning any number of languages before circa age 7 usually results in near-native fluency, but after that magic number, things get more difficult and accents and other problems occur. It was suggested in an article I read that this was directly tied to myelination.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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For reasons other than this topic, ZM, is that article still somewhere to be found?
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Carpal Tunnel
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if it's myelination that interests you, here's the latest news - notice the archives on the left.
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Thank you a lot tsuwm.
EDIT: Thanks, both of you.
Last edited by BranShea; 02/23/08 03:06 PM.
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that article still somewhere to be found?I'm sure it is, because it was in Scientific American. It was about thirty years ago that I read it, but you can probably find the same sort of information in a good textbook on the biology of language. I'll take a look in my library and see if I can find a citation. You might try googling myelination language acquisition ( link).
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Age 5 is the optimum age for learning another language.
I have a good friend who's a gerontologist, and another who tried to learn Spanish for her grand-daughter's sake; both say that it is virtually impossible for an "old" brain to learn a new language. Also witness to this is the old lady at church who comes from Ghana, I think--she came over a couple of years ago and has nearly no English. She sure loves it on fourth Sundays, though, when the Africans sing in their own languages!
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>virtually impossible for an "old" brain to learn a new language
But people do learn languages as an adult, and become very proficient. I've met some of them!
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How old should that "old" brain be exactly, Jackie?
I know of many "young" brains too that never learned the language well. There are more factors than just brain dynamics involved.
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