I just finished reading this book here in Portuguese.It is called The Learning Brain by Blakemore and Frith. What better than to read a subject of interest in the language you are learning.

I will be referring to it over the next few posts. One of the interesting results of brain research is the discovery that young children are more observant, notice differences in sounds or in the features of people, better than adults. This is perhaps one reason why they are better at pronunciation and grammar than adults. In other words they have fewer constraints or preconceived ideas about sounds or about what the structures of a language should be. As we get older we start to limit our range. It is just more efficient as long as we stay in one language.

The authors also point out that we are programmed to imitate but that as we get older our brain learns to inhibit our imitation. We get smarter, we do not just imitate.

Another observation is that young children learn language patterns with the left side of their brains. As they get older they become more bilateral. Unfortunately this is less efficient.

The result is that older people are not as good at picking up new sounds or new language patterns. They are also more inhibited and less good at imitating. This is all based on measuring what happens in our brains.

On the other hand adults are better than children when it comes to semantic memory, or semantic learning, in other words learning words and phrase, learning meaning.

Now I know why I prefer to learn words and phrases, and let the grammar and pronunciation come along later, when I have a bit more of a base in the language. I prefer to play to my strengths.