From: bill.sloman@ieee.org   
      
   On 31/01/2026 10:53 am, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Fri, 30 Jan 2026 22:49:12 +0100, Jeroen Belleman   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 1/30/26 21:00, Nioclás Pól Caileán de Ghloucester wrote:   
   >>> Bill Sloman  wrote:   
   >>> |------------------------------------------------------------------------|   
   >>> |"Languages aren't learned any faster if you learn them young"           |   
   >>> |------------------------------------------------------------------------|   
   >>>   
   >>> It is much easier for a child to learn a language than it is for an   
   >>> old person.   
   >>   
   >> An often repeated myth, entirely untrue.   
   >>   
   >> Adults can learn a new language in much less time than a   
   >> child, provided they are motivated and immersed. Those are   
   >> the keys, motivation and immersion.   
   >   
   > Adults rarely acquire a new accent at native level.   
   >   
   > https://news.mit.edu/2018/cognitive-scientists-define-critical   
   period-learning-language-0501   
      
   I know Steven Pinker - my wife worked with him. He is good at a sweeping   
   generalisations.   
      
   There are adults who can acquire a new accent at a native level. A lot   
   of them become phoneticians.   
      
   My wife learned German as an adult and acquired a pretty much perfect   
   Bavarian accent in her early twenties. When she learned fluent Dutch at   
   around age 50 it wrecked her German accent and Germans started picking   
   her as a Dutch speaker who had pretty much perfect German, which didn't   
   make her happy. She'd studied German and psychology as an undergraduete,   
   but did her Ph.D. in psycholinguisitics.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)