How do humans learn to speak a language?
146484
The kids in school started mimicking poor, inner city kids thinking it was cool.\nPretty soon, no one knew how to spell anymore and so, we hired foreigners to talk to us on the phone, just to hear the sweet cadence of English again.
516402
I am a conference interpreter for German and I can tell you for sure that you cannot learn a language in a month. Everyone who tells you otherwise is simply lying, or they want to convince you to buy a book, or a tape or a video, which can never acomplish what they promise. Every serious person will tell you that learning a foreign language requires hard work and a lot of patience. And this is even more true in the case of German: from my personal experience I can tell you that this is a language that requires lifelong learning.\nOf course, you can learn certain words, phrases or sentences in a month that could help you to get by for a very short period of time. \nI believe it very much depends on your definition of "learning a language": whether you mean that you want to understand or speak a language, if you only need to learn the basic vocabulary or if you want to learn the language proper.
890306
The capacity to learn language is innate.  But the actual language that is learned is not innate.  The language that is learned is based on the input to the child.  A child with no linguistic input still has the capacity, but since there is no input, there is no language learned.
421546
Where are the language centers?  All language is first learned through association of sound and sight.  As children, we put these together so we can talk.  Sometimes we get it wrong, sometimes not.  But, all learning has some aspect of associatiative processing.  Look up Noam Chomsky.  He did a lot of research on language.  Look up a good Cognitive Psych and Bio-psych book.  You should be able to cross reference linguistics and learning pathways with sensory perceptions.
631355
English is widely reputed to be the most difficult language in the world to learn.  Yes, lots of people speak it, but the best speakers are those who come from countries where the schools teach English from the first grade or earlier, and they typically study for eight years or more.
798556
I learned sign language from a deaf teacher. it was thew best way becuase there was only one way to communicate. its the same way i learned spanish as a kid. just have someone only speak english to you
810
From what I've learned in linguistics, no (spoken) language is "easier" or "harder" for children to learn. They all learn their native language at the same speed.\n\n(Written language is another matter, of course.)
284299
There are very few cases of feral children learning to speak.  In general, in the few cases we are aware of, such children did not learn to speak like other humans.  Two cases that spring to mind are those of Victor and Genie.  Victor was found in the woods in France some time ago.  A French scientist worked with Victor to try to teach him how to speak, but the only word he was able to use after some period of time was "lait" (milk) and he only used that word after he got some, I believe.  A more recent case is that of Genie, who was neglected by her parents and had very little contact with them other than when they gave her food and drink.  She was also trained to speak by experimenters but never successfully learned to speak the same way adults do.  It's difficult to say, though, whether their language learning was affected by their unusual (and, in Genie's case, abusive) upbringing.\n\nA more relevant situation would be the situation of deaf children of hearing parents.  In many cases, these children have otherwise great upbringing but don't receive any language input from their parents (that they can hear, anyway).  When these children do learn to sign, their sign language is often more like that of non-native users than the sign language of other deaf people.\n\nThese cases provide support to the idea of a "critical period" for langauge learning, which is that people are best ready to learn language during a specific period of their lives, and that period is thought to end sometime around age 7 or 13, depending on who you ask.
250830
First- start talking to people who are speaking the language you want to learn better.\n\nSecond- Listen to the radio, talk radio, this will help in learning usage of words. Live music concerts and lectures are great to go to also.\n\nThird- You can also have a pen pal or two. Online or via mail.\n\nFourth- Get some books on tape, listen to some each day.\n\nFive- vocabulary is something we work on improving for a lifetime, but you can get a good Dictionary and a good Thesaurus, these will help a lot. Refer to these whenever you see a word you do not understand or know how to use. I have these on hand myself all the time.\n\nSix- Written communication is good to work on right along with verbal skills. Listen, speak and write it down on paper.
681820
For the same reason that many non-English speakers can't pronounce English "r" or short "a" sounds.  When a baby starts to talk (babbling), they make every possible speech sound.  As they grow, their babbling changes to include only sounds in the language(s) that they hear around them.\n\nIn fact, adults usually can't even *hear* sounds that aren't in their repertoire.  For instance, the German city of "Muenchen" has an "oo" sound in the first syllable in English and an "ee" sound in some other languages.  The actual sound in German is about halfway between the two (start saying "oo", hold your lips still and move your tongue as if you were going to say "ee").  People from different linguistic backgrounds *heard* and interpreted the sound in different ways.\n\nWhen a child starts talking, she/he learns further how to use these sounds and put them together.  Until about age 10 to 12, a child can learn a new language perfectly.  After that time, it is virtually impossible for most people.  And one of the *hardest* things to learn is new speech sounds.
493135
I think when you want to learn a foreign language, you need to learn the basics with a private teacher who will have all the focus on you and then you should go to, you know, public classes so you will be able to communicate with others. The best thing is to be in a place (specially a city or country) where people speak that language. \nAnyways, if you don't want classes I recommend this CD that will work beautifully." Learn To Speak French" is the name. They have this CD for other languages too; such as English, Spanish , etc. It's really great. You can even take online courses and besides it's really beneficial since you can have conversations with characters in the program. Your reading, writing, speaking and listening will improve all together. \nGood luck! :)
69089
There's a difference between learning french and knowing french. Anyone can learn french, by that I mean basic memorization. But to know French, it is hard. The only way to learn french is to be in a french speaking area. I've been in France for almost a year, and nothing has compared to the learning I have gotten here.
108327
It has never been proven whether language is a learned behavior or a natural tendency in human beings.  Regardless, no genes are tied to language - some do influence the capability to vocally speak though.  Interestingly enough, the Greeks believed that if you couldn't speak, you couldn't think.  In some ways, it is hard to imagine if it is possible to think without some kind of language element involved since it seems that all of our concepts are tied to a linguistic understanding - whether this language is vocal, sign, etc.\n\nEdit: To Agassi:  Agassi, you are completely misunderstanding what I'm saying, but I'll hold the fault of that to the limitations of the English language.  A PARTICULAR language may be learned culturally (i.e. "conditioning"), while language, in the GENERAL sense, may be a natural instinct (i.e. it is a natural, human yearning to communicate regardless of particular languages).  Hence the reason I used the term "language" as opposed to "a language."  In the French, it is the distinction between "langue" and "parole."  To simplify the question of language to "conditioning" cannot explain linguistic origins.  This is why some theorists say that we cannot ask the question of linguistic origins - because it throws their theories completely off and they cannot make sense of it.  Furthermore, with regards to the "part of the brain" comment - it has never been proven whether we affect the brain or the brain affects us.  It seems slightly more probable that we affect the brain, which would explain the increase in gray areas corresponding to the increase in learned languages.  This is why there are only theories pertaining to the acquisition of language.  To discredit what I say because you misinterpret is rather unfair.
444831
The best way to improve your language skills is total immersion.  Find people who speak English and speak with them only in English.  You may find this difficult at first, but this will be the best method for learning.  It seems your writing skills are OK, so most likely you just need to speak the language.  Also, I've known people who've learned English purely through movies.
470518
Basically, the best method for learning any foreign language is to totally immerse yourself in a community of native speakers on that particular language.  Since that is not always practical, there are other options.  You may want to enroll in a French language course at a local college or university.  If that is not an option, then you can join a French cultural group, like the Alliances Francaise.  The link is below.  \nIf all else fails, you Can purchase a French language learning book and CD set.  They are fairly inexpensive and with diligence very effective.\nGood luck!
1035247
Language Acquisition is not an easy process. Learning a new language is easy if the new language is from the same linguistic family, but learning English is going to be difficult if the first language of the speaker is Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Hindi or even Arabic. But if the learner is introduced to a new language in the childhood then things are better, you won't be able to learn a language in 2 months, learning a language is not a joke. You might be able understand and speak few words but proficiency is not possible.
788499
Immersion in the language, living in another culture is, hands-down, the best way.  It's also the most disruptive to your life, and few can do it.\n\nIf you're learning on your own, some general tips for learning languages:\n\n1. Look at people's reviews on Amazon to determine what are some of the best courses.\n\n2. Go to the library and check out different types of courses, and see what works for you best.\n\n3. Put aside 30 - 60 minutes per day and study some each day.\n\n4. If you get discouraged, take a couple of days off, but set your next time to study and stick to it. If you go too long (say a week) between study sessions, you'll start forgetting.\n\n5. Go into the experience realizing that you'll make lots of mistakes, don't worry about them and keep going.\n\n6. Try to find someone better than you in the language to speak with. You can't learn to speak a language without speaking it. If you're trying to learn with someone else who is also learning, you'll lead each other into learning errors.