How to learn a language like a baby

By Kateřina Chládková, Assistant professor, Charles University
Šárka Šimáčková, assistant professor, Palacky University Olomouc
Václav Jonáš Podlipský, Assistant Professor of English Phonetics, Palacky University Olomouc

Learning a new language later in life can be a frustrating, almost paradoxical experience. On paper, our more mature and experienced adult brains should make learning easier, yet it is illiterate toddlers who acquire languages with apparent ease, not adults.

Babies start their language-learning journey in the womb. Once their ears and brains allow it, they tune into the rhythm and melody of speech audible through the belly. Within months of birth, they start parsing continuous speech into chunks and learning how words sound. By the time they crawl, they realise that many speech chunks…

Read complete article

~	Is the US heading for a government shutdown? 5 essential reads to occupy the mind while we wait to find out

~	How North Sea tanker collision could affect one of Britain’s most important coastlines

~	Trans and non-binary New Zealanders earn less and are more likely to be unemployed – new study

~	Mass layoffs at Education Department signal Trump’s plan to gut the agency

~	Independent MPs are elected for a reason – hung parliaments may be precisely what voters want

~	‘They eat snacks during class and swing on chairs’: the worrying, sexist behaviour of some young men at uni

~	We tracked the mental health of trans and gender-diverse Australians for over 20 years. And we’re worried

~	Luxury hiking developments look picture-perfect, but could stop everyday Australians from accessing national parks

~	World-first analysis of seabirds who’ve eaten plastic reveals slow, insidious health impacts

~	How AI images are ‘flattening’ Indigenous cultures – creating a new form of tech colonialism