Re: Re:OT:mudpuppies

I've seen that the age at which a human learns languages the fastest
is about the time that most children learn their first language - about
two years old if I remember correctly.  Five years old shouldn't be
old enough for this ability to have decreased enough to make
learning new words in another language as difficult as it is for most
adults.  Adults, of course, can be willing to learn new languages
even if it takes more effort for them.

Something I've heard that seems relevant: A married couple spoke
five different languages - one each day for five days, and then
repeating the pattern every five days, except that whenever they had
visitors, they would use their visitors' language instead of the usual
one for that day.  Their son didn't speak a word at all until he was
five years old, although he seemed to understand what was said in
any of the languages much sooner.  Apparantly, it took him that long
to understand enough of which language to use when that he was
willing to say anything.  His progress in all five languages was fairly
fast after he started speaking, though.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Shear" <wshear@hsc.edu>
To: "IRIS" <iris-talk@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 2:47 PM
Subject: [iris-talk] Re:OT:mudpuppies

[snip]

> According to most biologists, the mudpuppy is a large salamander (10-14"
> long) that is found commonly in streams in the NE part of North America,
> with a few isolated populations in the midwest (that stream in Kansas?).
> Yound mudpuppies have external gills and are fully aquatic.  They were
very
> common in the Alleghany River when I was growing up.  We called them
> "mud-dogs" and were very scared of them!  They can bite but are pretty
> harmless.  There is a truly enormous relative called the hellbender, which
> can be a yard long, and which I have seen only once in a cold river in the
> Smoky Mountains.  The biggest member of this family lives in Japan, and
can
> get 5 feet long!

[snip

> The trouble with common, or English, names, is that they can mean
different
> things in different parts of the country and hence create confusion.  But
> most people find Latin names hard to work with and pronounce unless they
are
> real nature freaks and very interested in the particular group of animals.
> Strange, though, that 5-year-olds can learn and pronounce the Latin names
of
> dozens of dinosaurs.....
>
> Bill Shear
> Department of Biology
> Hampden-Sydney College
> Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
> (434)223-6172
> FAX (434)223-6374
> email<wshear@email.hsc.edu>
> Moderating e-lists:
> Coleus at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coleus
> Opiliones at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opiliones
> Myriapod at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myriapod




 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index