By listening to a language over and over again, will you eventually learn it? Isn't this the case with babies and kids?
2007-03-07 12:42:53 · 8 answers · asked by Haji 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Forget the kids I'm talking about everyone not just them.
2007-03-07 12:54:50 · update #1
No. First of all, babies don't learn just by listening, but by interacting in a language. If you turn on your short wave radio and lhave a baby isten to radio Mongolia all day long without having the context in which the language is used, the child won't learn Mongolian.
There is also a fundamental difference between how babies and adults learn. Babies act instinctively; that is how they react to language before really speaking it; and that goes for other things such as swimming: Babies start dogpaddling instinctively as soon as they are in water. Grown-ups switch their brain between their instincts and the reaction to situations - they panic and drown. Similarly, grown-ups can't learn a language "by osmosis" the way small children can. Without rules-guided language learning most grown-ups will never reach a fully functional level of skill in a new language.
2007-03-07 20:27:47 · answer #1 · answered by Sterz 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. Children learn to understand languages because they are quick to adapt and absorb without any preformed thoughts getting in the way. If you give a child a ball enough times and call it "ball", they will eventually catch on that the name you have given that object is "ball". Animals do the exact same thing.
However, you cannot just listen and magically learn something. You have to listen, see, and react with the situation to actually learn even the smallest basics of a different language.
2007-03-07 12:47:40 · answer #2 · answered by Belie 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I've actually made it from about 60% comprehension in Italian, to nearly 90%, mostly by listening to Radio RAI, reading very little and studying almost nothing, in about a year.
But I've already had a very solid romance language background, as well as a basic knowledge of Italian grammar.
Babies don't learn form exposure alone, mothers instinctively enter in a "teaching mode" when interacting with their babies.
2007-03-09 01:18:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think you can learn a language just by hearing it. You learn a language by learning to associate a sound with an object or an action or an idea. When I hear "mesa" I think about something that's usually wooden and sometimes has four legs and chairs around it and people sit at it to eat.
2007-03-07 14:41:07 · answer #4 · answered by supertop 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
With babies and kids it is eaiser to learn a language because they are so young with older people it is a bit of a challenge.
2007-03-07 12:47:10 · answer #5 · answered by Michelly4you 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
pretty much, yes.. if a baby is born into a household where there are 2 languages spoken, they will learn to speak both fluently... if you are older and are around people who speak another language, u will pisk it up quickly, though it may not be perfect...
2007-03-07 12:48:56 · answer #6 · answered by shiningstar1313 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yes, i was thinking about this the other day!!! I really wish my mom had made we learn english and spanish when i was a baby......thats y they have thos baby einstien and mugsy things 4 kids...its much easier 4 them to learn a langauge
2007-03-07 12:51:14 · answer #7 · answered by I.Am.What.I.Am ™ 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes !!!
Grettings !!!
2007-03-09 02:06:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋