Socializing Paves Way for Multilingual Kids

HealthDay, July, 2003

(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScoutNews.)

Infants who interact with people who speak foreign languages may develop a better ability to perceive foreign language sounds, says a study in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences .

In previous studies, it was found that infants can discern small sound differences -- for example, the distinction between "b" and "p" - in both their native and foreign languages. But that ability to distinguish sound differences that aren't meaningful to their native languages disappears in infants between 6 and 12 months of age.

This University of Washington study examined the effects of continued foreign language exposure on infants. For four weeks, 9-month-old infants from English-speaking homes were exposed...

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