Terri
Posted : 7/21/2006 11:25:04 AM
I'll take this one...my Masters Degree is in this area! When we are born, we have the ability to learn all types of sounds. As you listen to your parents talk...you start eliminating the sounds that you do not need in order to speak their language. You actually need different sounds to speak different languages. By the time you are 7 or 8 you have eliminated all of the sounds you do not need to speak your own language. If you learn a new language after that age...you will have an accent, because you don't have all of the sounds to speak that language anymore. Make sense? I hope so. Anyway, it is very well that this child learned to make these dog sounds by living with them!
That is the language development lesson of the day
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Wow, that's great information. So if you want your children to learn a different language it's best to teach them before 7 so they will be able to have the correct accent. I guess that's why I can't speak spanish!