How is it that an infant immigrant 2 - 5 years old can learn the English language quicker than most adults?

Question

Both being of foreign descent: If a 3 year old infant is placed in the atmosphere of English speaking people, and the same is true for an adult, why is it easier for the infant to pick up the "ear" for the sounds than it is for the adult who can already speak a language?

Answer 1

because the infant is very alert, open minded, simple minded, empty of bias, prejudice, pride (ego) and eager to take in whatever it's environment has to offer. that's why kids are programed by age 5 by their care givers.

Answer 2

Two VERY GOOD answers ahead of me---part of what I was going to say--but may I add---that an "adult" usually learns a foreign language by dialogue/writing/reading, etc. Kids in the 2-5
year range dont read or write just yet, so then can concentrate on just dialogue....lots easier to do just one thing than three.
As a side note--linguists discovered that adults learned languages quicker when they were "slightly" intoxicated----
possibly makes the brain more open and receptive in that mode?

Answer 3

Because children's brains are programmed to learn quickly. Older brains are for the most part already "set" so it takes adults a longer time to learn new things. This especially happens with language because it is something we're all programmed to learn from a very very young age.

Answer 4

I believe that studies have shown that at that age a childs brain is like a sponge, they just absorb whatever they are exposed to. In addition the older the person gets the less pliable if you will their brain is to learn new information. In fact I belive in my Psychology class when we were studying Life Span if you took a language in high school your are like 15% more likely to remember the language than if you began lessons later on in life. Kinda interesting really. Just goes to show you how amazing the human brain is.

Answer 5

definite for helpful. And it somewhat is the main suitable conceivable time to make somebody bilingual. babies learn language skills far greater without problems earlier 8 years of age than on the different time. in case you decide on the new child to be completely fluent in English and Portuguese, inspire the two as much as conceivable. yet attempt to no longer mixture the languages once you employ them. Use one or the different, so that's less complicated to differentiate.

Answer 6

Childrens minds are more open. They absorb language like a sponge! Thats why immersion pre-school's exist. I went to a spanish language immersion school and learned the basics of spanish. 15 years later I tapped into that knowlegde to ace three years of AP spanish. That is also why accents are developed in children, not adults. My best friends parents moved to australia when she was three. She was born in FL and is an American citizen but when she moved to CA in 7th grade she sounded like an aussie.

Answer 7

Their developing minds are in full gear to learn language and basic communication with neurons firing in all those directions whereas adults loose this capacity somewhat as our brains fill up with other interests and stimuli

Answer 8

Because their mind is like an empty sponge, still being filled. They soak in whatever they come across. Unlike the adult mind where their "sponge is filled" they are accustomed to their old ways and it's hard to get over that.

Answer 9

The human brain is hardwired for learning languages best before the age of seven, it becomes more difficult as we age.

Answer 10

because babies have a clean slate...they dont already think in one language or another..so whatever they hear is like getting wrote onto their memory...but with adults we already think in english or whatever so it becomes harder to learn another language because you already have a whole language programmed in you where as babies dont....u feel where i'm going with this?? I wish I could explain it better...