Babies are the only real ‘world citizens’. Check how they discern all sounds of all languages, no matter where.

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In this short presentation, linguist Patricia Kuhl presents some startling data about how we acquire language, and most notably, the way our brain capacity for language learning drops as we age past 40.

As she says, “Babies and children are geniuses until they turn seven, and then there’s a systematic decline. After puberty, we fall off the map. No scientists dispute this curve, but laboratories all over the world are trying to figure out why it works this way.

Kuhl’s team studied babies’ brain activity and found fascinating patterns. Check it out, and get inspired to start learning a new language now!