Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

At TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another — by listening to the humans around them and “taking statistics” on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world. Patricia Kuhl studies how we learn language as babies, looking at the ways our
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Language: the Builder of Bridges

According to Dr. Brenda Milner, a McGill neurology and neurosurgery professor and researcher, children should learn three languages before the age of seven, as they won’t be self conscious and afraid to make mistakes. Milner believes that learning language is a motor skill; you must practice it to get better, such as practicing a sport. The reward of being bilingual says Milner is “the
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The Benefits of Bilingualism

SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive
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