Comments on: Some people better language learners?

By: razib

razib — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:46:29 +0000

sorry, i’m a prig ;-)

By: Real Richard Sharpe

Real Richard Sharpe — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:10:44 +0000

Man, wtf? Is this haloscan thing censoring words like the vernacular for rooster?

Every time I enter C O C K it disconnects me.

By: Caledonian

Caledonian — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:42:51 +0000

Interesting. Are there any indications that the difference in phoneme discrimation is a ‘mechanical’ advantage that makes hearing easier, or a ‘processing’ advantage inherent to the brain?

To put it another way: are people good at learning languages because they can distinguish phonemes, or can they distinguish phonemes because their brains are optimized to devote resources and attention to language?

By: David Ross

David Ross — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:30:18 +0000

They seem to be concentrating on speaking the language, not on reading / writing it.

By: Syarikat

Syarikat — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:48:55 +0000

The abstract preceding the article only speaks of a speech-specific origin of individual variability in “L2 phonetic mastery” which is not at all the same as “the ability to speak and master other languages”. What about morphology, syntax, vocabulary use, etc.?

I must admit that according to my own casual observations, phonetic skills tend to correlate with other aspects of language mastery to a certain extent, but they are by no means interchangeable.

By: bioIgnoramus

bioIgnoramus — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 10:54:41 +0000

Said the teacher “Your daughter is doing well at French and German. I wouldn’t say that she is a natural linguist, but she is a natural talker who won’t let a foreign language stand in her way.”