How Smart are Babies?
How smart are babies? They come pre-wired for every language when they are born. I remember my Psych teacher telling me about how when I was born I was able to learn any language in the world. I could tell different phonemes apart that I cannot tell apart now. Pinker goes into this a little bit when he refers to the “ba ba ba ba” against the “pa pa pa pa”. To me this is very interesting. I would love to be able to speak a different language, not to talk about someone although that would be cool, but just to do it.
Can you just imagine not knowing how to speak English or any other language and having to learn it with no help from an outside source except for maybe people talking English around you? I cannot even begin to picture how difficult of a time I would have. Going back through my memories of elementary and middle schools when I learning grammar; all I can remember is how hard of a time I had. Those problems would only have been worse by a hundred fold if I did not have the help of a teacher.
Since babies can learn to order words correctly with remarkable accuracy and speed without being taught how, what else could one be taught to do? Is there a measurement?
22 comments:
I think you make a strong point, Christopher. And I love what you said about babies being born prewired to spaek any language. I too, wish it could be that easy to learn something. I think that if we were able to learn things like language as easily as babies do, then the world would be a whole lot different than it is today.
I agree babies are smart and can speak their own type of language. I think their type of language is amazing. I think it is also interesting how babies know "papa" or "baba". I never thought it could be that complicated. Actual i never thought about it until reading this essay.
I agree with Christopher as well. I think that babies do speak their own language. Alot of people think it might just be giberish but i dont think so. Babies have their own way of comunicating with other babies.
I agree with jamie in that i have never really thought about babies speaking until i read this essay. I have always thought they were just making sounds like and other small creature does. After reading the essay I learned alot about how complicated it really is to learn a language and from my own experience how difficult it is to try to learn a second language.
This is something to really think about. You are right that babies come with the ability to speak any language even if it isn't their native languages. But it also reminds me of babies that grow up two languages at a time because of their parents.
I agree, it is so amazing that babies can just pick up any language they are being spoken to. But I think that the whole thing how babies are born is incredible.
I really hope that if I ever give birth to a child, I will be able to give my child the possibility to grow up knowing two different languages. It will help them so much later on in their lives.
Christopher, I thought what you said about babies being pre-wired interesting. You make it seem like babies are capable of anything because they haven’t been exposed to anything. It’s good that when people get older when trying to learn something new they have teachers or people to help guide them, because we’ve lost the ability to retain information like a baby.
I agree with you Christopher, the whole over all process is just mind-boggling, but if a baby can pick up and distingush different languages, should we start having a foreign language tutor start talking to our new borns?
I don't think babies are born smart, but they are born with an amazing ability to learn. They are like sponges absorbing everything they can.
It is up to the parents or who ever around the babies to teach them well and use wisely their ability to absorb and learn.
I agree as well, I think I was prewired to speak both English and my native language from my parents. I learned my native language from home, while learning English in School.
I never thought English was difficult. So I agree that learning a second language at a younger age is an easier process to learning a language.
I agree with you Christopher about babies being smart and being able to speak a different language from the rest of us. I would love to be able to speak another language without worrying about how long it's going to take me to learn it.
I really like the point Christopher, at the end of your blog. There may not be a limit at how much more a person could learn at a younger age.
I agree with you christopher because it would be pretty hard if I didn't know how to speak english and had to learn it again.The reason why I would have a so much trouble is because I am still learning to speak correct english now. I t's hard because the way I talk some people don't understand me. so to answer you question once again it would be hard to relearn a lanuage you have been taught all your lives.
Ever seen the movie Baby Geniuses? The title's pretty self-explanatory; I've always wondered what really goes on in a baby's head, how they learned and pick up on things so easily at times. Maybe we should start teaching calculus, Spanish, advanced physics and other complicated subjects to babies. Or maybe at least mentioning these things to babies will prepare them for the future learning of those subjects.
I agree with you that it would be very interesting to be abe to speak any language with very little help learning it. The thought of learning a new language without help just blows my mind. As you stated, I too had a hard enough time throughout my English learning process with the help of teachers, much less with just earing it from other people around me.
It’s amazing how babies learn the language of their parents. Has anyone seen the movie, “Fun with Dick and Jane?” Well their child grew up learning two different languages. This was because their maid was Spanish and the child was exposed to two different languages. It’s incredible how a child is even able to accomplish this. I can’t explain the scientific logic behind it. I believe that now we have identified this situation, we should take advantage of it and give our children a head start in life. Give them the chance to speak different languages.
Babies are born with very open and pliable brains...you can teach them absolutely anything until puberty and the child will retain it. My youngest brother is five, and his kindergarten is teaching him Spanish, but he still remembers the French I taught him over a year ago. Babies are absolutely amazing.
I agree it is amazing how advanced babies are. Being able to learn to speak a entire language just by listenin to the people around them speak would be almost impossible at our age. Babies are wired this way to be able to survive just like when Pinker tells of how they see how it responds to the sounds while it is nursing how would it be able to know to nurse unless it was prewired.
Christopher, I really didn't understand what is was you were trying point out. I understood what you were trying to about how babies have their language and how easy it is for a new born to learn a language. In your second paragraph I was losted, like you were speaking a different language.
I too agree that babies are smart. I never believed that babieds had their own different language or could speak any language that they want to. All babies have their own way of communicating
I agree with everybody, babies are smarter when there first born.
If we could learn language at the same rate as when we was a baby then school would be alot easier.
I agree the language that babies use in their early years is unique. I think that only baby's can understand exactly what it is that they are trying to say. It seems hard for us to understand because we have fully developed and are able to speak the english language.
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