I Can't Understand What You Are Saying

Let me start off by saying that Magnetoencephalography machine is one of the scariest things I have ever seen.  Poor babies.  It does indeed look like a "hair dryer from Mars."  Anyway, this video was actually very interesting.  It amazed me to see how the American babies were able to learn Mandarin sounds after only 12 sessions.  It seems young children do have a much better ability to soak up new languages.  This also seems like a depressing statistic for those who want to learn a new language later in life.  But just because it's not as easy doesn't mean it can't be done.  So I will have hope!

The part that actually interested me the most from this video was our inability to distinguish different syllables or words in other languages.  I have had first hand experience of this because I am a fan of music from all over the world.  When I heard my first Japanese song, for example, it was very difficult for me to pick out any particular word; they all seemed to blend together.  After a while, however, I was able to hear different Japanese words and sounds and recognize them.  When hearing other languages, it is very hard to get use to because the sounds used are different or blended together (Japanese r and l sounds sound the same).  I can see now why they start language classes at such a young age.  They are trying to help us learn a new language when we are most primed for learning it.