Baby Birth Language

The first year of life is a time of astonishing linguistic development, scientists have found.

17:42 20 January 2017

A recent research has found that babies start building their knowledge on language in the first few months of life. Researchers also discovered that people who forgot their birth language after moving to different country can easily retain their hidden ability. 

 

In an experiment, adults aged 30 who had been adopted as babies by Dutch-speaking families were asked to pronounce Korean consonants after a short training course. The participants were then compared with a group of adults who had not been exposed to the Korean language as children. Both groups were then rated by native Korean speakers who said that the first group has exceeded expectations.  

 

Lead researcher Dr Jiyoun Choi of Hanyang University in Seoul said: ''This finding indicates that useful language knowledge is laid down in [the] very early months of life, which can be retained without further input of the language and revealed via re-learning,''

 

She then encouraged parents to talk to their babies as much as possible.

 

''Please remember that [the] language learning process occurs very early in life, and useful language knowledge is laid down in the very early months of life as our study suggests,''

 

''Try to talk to your babies as much as possible because they are absorbing and digesting what you are saying.''