Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Karl wrote:-

> >... I believe that languages are basically simple that can be mastered
> >by children, except for rare, specialized cases.

I think you seriously underestimate children's ability to learn languages.
There is something about the earliest years where the human mind is
particular good at picking up languages. In sad but rare cases when
children do not acquire language when very young they almost cannot
acquire language at all when older. This doesn't show langauge is
simple child's play. Quite the opposite. It is probably the most
complex learning a person does in their entire life. Most parents
think their children are going to be geniuses when they are in that
stage of explosive language acquisition. If learning a language was
so easy adults would master them faster than children, that simply
isn't the case.

Bill Rea, Information Technology Dept., Canterbury  University  \_
E-Mail bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz                                </   New
Phone   64-3-364-2331, Fax     64-3-364-2332                   /)  Zealand
Unix Systems Administrator                                    (/'