The linguistic genius of babies | Patricia Kuhl

www.ted.com At TEDxRainier, Patricia Kuhl shares astonishing findings about how babies learn one language over another -- by listening to the humans around them and "taking statistics" on the sounds they need to know. Clever lab experiments (and brain scans) show how 6-month-old babies use sophisticated reasoning to understand their world.

[@ireneiskandar]

i love it when she says babies are the citizen of the world.

[@hamnchee]

This crowd laughs at weird times. I wonder if the previous speaker put them in a humorous mood.

[@aloafofbagels6381]

If Ken Robinson spoke right before her, I wouldn't blame them.

[@Candlewick14]

I agree, so weird.

[@ogpcpa]

Your age is on the x axis. Hilarious! Yeah, I don't get it.

[@hamnchee]

@@ogpcpa I wonder if the crowd has a class clown acting up.

[@yibinbai9874]

What I learned from this video is that “Babies started to discriminate their own languages at their first birthdays”, which means I have to pay more attention to first year when I m trying to raise my daughter a bilingual child, now she is 55-day old. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@maciej.ratajczak]

I think the more you speak, the more she will absorb, and the more sophisticated language you use, the more sophisticated will be her language. I think you also have to be careful not to overwhelm her with too much language (I could be wrong about this).

[@RainbowPawPrint]

@@maciej.ratajczak I don’t think there really is such a thing as overwhelming a baby or young child with too much language. As long as it’s done playfully and obviously not interrupting their sleep or anything, there are only good things about talking and reading to children as much as you possibly can.

[@perrihargis1679]

This is so interesting to me, my daughter was actually in this study when we lived in seattle. She was one of the babies that went to the Mandarin class and I believe you had her return twice to be retested to make sure the results were accurate. She's actually turning 24 this month month and we were both thinking it would be interesting to see what would happen if she were to try to learn Mandarin now. We both had a little laugh over it.

[@ha.alamin]

You should post an update to your comment after she's started learning Mandarin. I'm curious if that small exposure at that age helps decades later.

[@aeroumasmith]

This is what frustrates me. There's legitimate evidence that learning other languages at younger ages can benefit children, but in the United States (the majority of it, anyway), they wait until early adolescence to teach children new languages. For example, when I was five years old, I attended a school on Martha's Vineyard, as I was born there and lived on-island until the age of seven. They taught the students how to speak beginners Spanish throughout their entire educational career. I remember the stuff we learned back then. I then moved to Rehoboth, Massachusetts and found that they no longer taught a foreign language to my age group (I moved at the age of eight going into nine). I went for around three years (until the age of thirteen, I believe, when we were entering 7th grade) without trying to learn another language. Upon entering that Spanish I class, I found that I remembered the small amount of Spanish that I was taught as a younger child, but struggled like all hell when we were being taught in middle school and onward (so much to the point where I gave up in my senior year of high school, and now suffer the consequences). I am now 21, and trying to learn the German language as I didn't finish all four years of a foreign language in high school. I am having a *ridiculously* difficult time trying to grasp the concepts of grammar in another language, despite it being fairly similar to my own native tongue. Point being, I am really sick and tired of school systems doing teaching styles improperly. With all this scientific evidence to back it up, would it not make more sense to teach kids how to speak foreign languages at a much earlier age, as the plasticity of the brain would be more apt to hold onto the information? It's ridiculous, because they then expect students to fluidly absorb this new language information. Some students can easily grasp language comprehension (I have a few friends who might as well be native speakers), but they don't think to teach them earlier on when it's more beneficial to the student rather than themselves. It's idiotic.

[@VanessaSaintil]

@@benjaminholt6640 I agree. Learning a different language when not immersed in the culture is much more difficult. I picked up English well after the critical age in 1 year. I was basically fluent at that point. Yet I'm struggling to learn Spanish.

[@VanessaSaintil]

I think a large part of the presenter's point is that language acquisition is very dependent on the amount of input you get.

[@user-vu2rl1ys4u]

I highly recommend watching the videos by Matt vs. Japan. I know that this is a little late, but the concepts that he shares are really interesting and might help you out.

[@aaliyahshanks6991]

I totally agree, for example many babies are fluent in sign language due to learning during these early months and years.

[@dreadfairy6963]

It's because of the undercurrent of racism in this country. In order for school systems to teach children another language then it would have to be deemed necessary and beneficial. The american mindset is that english is the only necessary language, that any foreigner should learn english, and that other languages are inferior. Parents would have a fit if their kids were being taught another language. It would also be the parents or the school who would decide what other language the child would be taught, and which language is the right choice? So the idea is that the students choose what language to learn when they are old enough.

[@kaosgoblin]

I think this is fantastic. As I age I can feel the malleability of my brain slowly shrinking, and I am approaching the last era of learning. Yet there are decades of learning ahead of me, as I never want to stop growing and developing. I can only hope study like this can help us allow the human mind to constantly bloom throughout our lives.

[@huanliu9166]

I like this one, 'we may be able to help keep our own minds open to learning for our entire lives.' Scientific study is amazing.

[@taraosullivan1370]

Im and early years student and I found this video very interesting and would recommend it for other students in terms of studying SLA or child development modules

[@artfuldoc]

finally, TED back in its good old form

[@HaiNguyenQuy]

I found something interesting and useful from the video. Thanks for your publishment.

[@user-ik8wd9vm7r]

I'm so glad that encountered this video, this explains a lot.

[@tinagreen2977]

Great presentation. I agree, babies learn language instinctually.

[@migueljavier6625]

This video is very helpful, it's incredible to learn how babies pick up language, almost like tiny scientists decoding the world around them. Moerover, the experiments and brain scans really shed light on their sophisticated understanding at such a young age. Miguel Javier II - 3

[@elbettto]

How amazing is I´m taking a teaching course and that we had homework watching videos like this one and at the same time I have a baby boy who turns tomorrow 8 months old.

[@irvinw5810]

As a amateur linguist, this video is very interesting.

[@Armuotas]

Interesting talk, and the baby in the "MEG" device is hillarious :)

[@9009tubeyou]

A very good talk TED. keep it up!

[@dimitrakoutsogiannis8159]

Great talk, thank you.

[@NekochanNiki]

I would love to see if and how the data would change if this were done today because the way we interact with screens is so different from before. My parents had TV regularly growing up and so did I and my younger siblings have seen us use smartphones and other screen-based tech. I would be curious to see if seeing those around them on screens more regularly than babies who grew up with the only screen-device being a TV impacts the attention that babies give to language coming via a screen.

[@winnieliu9842]

You got great point. I think human evolved and babies can learn from pad and phone these days

[@ogpcpa]

Everywhere I go, parents are staring at their screens. I actually heard a young kid screaming for his mom's help at the playground and she couldn't be bothered to look up. She told him she'd be there in a minute (while staring down in what appeared to be a hypnotic trance) and when I left an hour later, she hadn't moved. Or looked up. People don't deserve their kids.

[@cindydavidson1562]

They are learning more and differently. But not all learning is screen based by far. Many of us in the older generations are very worried about psychosocial development.... the statistic-taking element is spoken about here. The babies didn't learn in front of a screen.

[@carlagaskinsa6357]

In South Africa, almost every primary school teaches 3 languages that are compulsory. Your home language, first additional language and second additional language. The SEL changes for which province you live in.

[@terrilee5163]

That's awesome. Unfortunately, primary school is long after the critical period of language learning mentioned in this video.

[@martinpepperell8424]

Interesting work! - the punch line was missing though, what was the difference observed by the MEG between a baby learning from audio and screen and a baby receiving interaction with a person.

[@d.p.6723]

Beautiful research

[@Hellsconsort]

She isn't saying if you are old you can't learn, the gist of what she is saying is that you acquire more easily when you are younger. I talk to a few Swedes and I'm learning the language, naturally I asked for tips and talked generally to them as to how they learnt English so well. They all said pretty much what you did - it wasn't so much formal classes and an academic route (that might have gave them a foundation, helped with grammar) but more being exposed to media so much.

[@niniomigrania]

This is the TED we all want

[@amd77j]

Amazing stuff

[@DownFlex]

2 things about this video. 1.) A lot of mentioned things like the developement of the childrens "pronunciation capability" are very true and are shown in a lot of cases. 2.) Nevertheless, I does not mean that they have more difficulties with learning new sounds when they are grown up. I grew up monolingual (well ok English as a second language with 7 or 8, but anyway) now I speak 4 languages and learning my 5th while I started them jsut about 2 years ago. I think it really depends on things like motivation, intelligence and perseverance. Because if you know abstract words, you can directly ask and try to translate them to a close counterpart in another language.

[@AvatarShahin]

DownFlex some words are non translatable eg dharma in hindi/sanskrit can be described as an intersection of different words but not as a one word in english similarly their will always be some difference the way you and a native speak

[@DownFlex]

avatarf fullon Thats why I said "translate them to a close counterpart".I know that you cant translate directly, but well yeah, I have said that!

[@jackgriffiths7841]

DownFlex just because you know 4 languages doesnt mean that statement is wrong. if u was brought up bilingual you may acquire these languages a lot faster. She didnt demonstrate a common fallacy there she said they have more difficulty not that its really difficult or impossible.

[@jaquelynngering3586]

+DownFlex Knowing 4 languages, even fluently, still is not the same as acquiring it. Are you saying you have no accent in the languages you've learned? If your pronunciation is EXACTLY like a native speaker, you have a very rare gift. I don't know a single person who learned a language as an adult and doesn't have distinct non-native accent.

[@micharoznowski8821]

body has to adapt, to catching the sound then to pronounce it using correct combination of musclework. if you will ever have a child and it will start making weird sounds and be very persistent in making them, even if you will be totally annoyed, never silence them. they're training.

[@ratje67]

@dushevka Same here, left school at 16 and now fluent in 4 languages and I get by reasonably in another 3. Just because I got exposed to foreigners a lot and wished to be able to communicate. All self tought. And the wonderful thing is getting exposed to attitudes, stories and world-views you never knew existed! Easiest way to broaden your mind is to understand other cultures. Speaking only your native language is like looking at the world through a key hole...

[@mewithmysouldylan]

Good job !

[@t3tsuyaguy1]

Well thank you for that Dr. Kuhl. :)

[@Futschigama]

i have a friend who learned german just by watching tv when he came to austria at the age of 6. thats also the reason why he has a german accent (he watched german tv and not austrian) so i cant really believe the results of this study...

[@GrimSoul66]

I think it has something to do with once we can communicate our focus shifts from talking to fitting in with social prejudice.

[@andreeaweed]

i really think this is so true ...i agree with

[@zydomason]

Finally a good talk

[@momentary_]

@gulllars You probably have a natural talent for language. Hopefully, Kuhl's research may lead to medicines or therapies that will make us all virtuosos in language among many other things.

[@valerie828]

amazing video!! guess i'll have to speak to my babies in 3 langagues, they'll be my little experiments =)

[@normalorette5557]

so, how did it go ? :)

[@margaritocolocho]

@@normalorette5557 hahaha good question! I am curious to hear about the results too !

[@stephanietrafford8224]

is there an article that the TED talk is based on, I'd like to read it and cite this research in an essay I'm writing.

[@NilVG]

@HowlinArcticWolf En la pag. oficial de TED (hay un link en el video) los tinen con subtitulos.

[@ewakruszynska584]

Amazing lecture !!! 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@henleeh2987]

This is exactly the evidence needed for why Multilingual curriculum should start earliest as possible.

[@bobsammerch2418]

I wonder about this. The audio result mean sound. And anotherone the video result mean sound + video or sound only?

[@VABDLL]

Very interesting. Now the question is, what's the impact of the same experiment after the 10-12 months period? How much statistics are then taken? The graph at the beginning of the video is often quoted left and right, with little regard as to its actual significance. The only thing it says is that people score lower on foreign language tests as they get older. It merely observes and does not say how nor why, nor does it account for *successful* language learners. Hopefully research will tell..

[@micosstar]

cool! (: taking Intro to Child Development class at my community college, CRC :)

[@picknickle5253]

And the best part was that rolex ad...

[@dimilton3166]

Those sounds of the lips closing and opening were like hearing nails on a chalkboard

[@gogl0l386]

We should fund some institution that allows 6 to 12 month olds be able to meet with people who speak the biggest languages on earth so they can be prepared for learning it later in life.

[@spidey3000]

Someone get this lady a glass of water!

[@yourtube20061]

i was expecting the MEG results in more detail.

[@qiansong5115]

A hair dryer from Mars lol. I love this. It’s so interesting. Really good to know !!!

[@ckrumbach]

Spanish subtitles! Subtítulos en español!

[@dushevka]

@MiloShen I know what you wan't to say, but you can hardly compare the baby with an adult - it's a matter of approach to learning - babies learn with copying and constant listening, while adults do it in combination with learning (in schools or other forms) because it's more practical. I don't come from a bilingual background, my parents don't speak english (or very poorly) and I wouldn't generalize if I didn't knew a lot of people like me (I hardly know a person that speak only one language)

[@bradwatson7324]

At 3:43, Kuhl's black pants merge so well with the background dark she appears to be a floating, talking torso.

[@antzu3392]

lmao i am 8 years late but when i noticed i laughed so hard for the rest of the video

[@psilocyberspaceman]

@suramerica Exactly my thoughts.

[@gulllars]

This talk includes mention of monolingual and bilingual, but not polylingual. Also, there's no mention of auditory eidetics. As a bilingual auditory eidtetic on the way to becoming a polyglot, i KNOW i analyze sound patterns as well as tone patterns and scemantics when listening to languages, and can repeat a sentence with high accuracy after hearing it just one or a few times. At the moment (age 23) i speak 5 languages fluent, and can write, speak, or understand parts of 5 more.

[@DrJuliaAmbrosini]

Can anybody tell me where I can get the references from? I need them.

[@fahadtube1406]

1- Kuhl, p. et al (1997) Cross-Language Analysis of Phonetic Units in Language Addressed to Infants. Science, 277. 2- Kuhl, P. (2000) A New View of Language Acquisition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 97, No. 22 Let me know if you need more.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

8:05 Ah... this must be what that new Jason Statham movie, "The Meg", is about.

[@nachoijp]

@Futschigama it could be that by that age his brain understood the tv as having a person in front of him... it happend the same for me with english at 10 with subtitled movies

[@kinsmed]

@Ramsez Read the description.

[@theultimatereductionist7592]

Does a baby distinguish one language from another? To the baby I would think sounds are just sounds.

[@AguzSuiCaedere]

@dushevka That's not what she said in the talk. I'm a Spanish/English/Latin teacher and I can assure you, as far as my personal experience go, the younger the kid the easier is to teach. Teenagers and adults have much more problems in learning and take in account that this is a country were a second language is mandatory in schools.

[@Lolabasyang1984]

Thats interesting. In my case, no one taught me to speak any language. I learned what I had heard from other people. I was 12yo already when I learned our dialect language for 1yr. After that, just few months when I speak our native language.. Now, ive been living in the US for 3yrs. I didnt speak or write a sentence in English. I hve been studying in English now for 1yr.. Then I hve learned basic in Spanish..:))) I am 30yo now.. :)) wish I am still young

[@dushevka]

@mtdeezy yeah. from 80 to 220 million. but I wouldn't call 6-17% of all population a lot.

[@dushevka]

@MiloShen yes, and I disagree. I can't agree - I'm not an example of this theory (for I needed the same or less time for a 3rd, 4th and 5th language as my first 2 I learned prior to age of 7) and I know a lot people that aren't either. anyone with interest can learn it in a reasonable time - in my opinion - much similar to the time babies need.

[@Mhyque]

I don't know... I remember I studied in French for my first 10 years of school, no English until Highschool. But I spoke English with my family and friends. I didn't really learn French until I was about 12 or so. Since then I've learned German, Korean, Japanese, and am now working on Mandarin. I feel the advantage of understanding the learning process is huge, which babies don't have.

[@ROVIROENRIQUESOLORZANOCEBALLOS]

"Se necesita un ser humano para que los bebés saquen estadísticas."

[@michellehansen9279]

does anyone wanna write me a summary for this?

[@amjPeace]

I'd like to see the data from that white chair while the baby is engaging with their mom instead of just a recording.

[@romybian]

Somebody get this woman a glass of water.

[@davidwilkie9551]

Time-wave-package integration.

[@Hellsconsort]

Damn. I waited until I was nearly 30 to be really interested in linguistics and languages...

[@skellymom]

@sukablianah2 - Actually, I think that's her dentures...not much more comforting...and, yeah, I tried to not notice it. But it was pretty distracting to me as well.

[@reafdaw01]

It's science, baby!

[@awesome220]

@austpom333 you can't be perfect at it

[@SamarkandChan]

i'm trilingual (Norwegian, English and French) and I don't think I'm more intelligent or think any differently than other people. It'd very common in europe to learn at least english plus their local language.

[@TheWarTurkey]

I have to say I don't agree that babies have some miracle in their brains which enables them to acquire language. I believe they acquire language simply because they are surrounded by it. It takes them years to get down a few thousand words. An adult surrounded by a foreign language would have the ability to learn just as much in the same amount of time.

[@dcdales]

I disagree with the arch of language acquisition ability. In showing the trends of language acquisition ability over age as a line graph, it really takes away from the idea of variation. I bet there is an incredible amount of variation in language acquisition ability over age. Dedication, interest, and amount of free time are probably the highest determinants of acquisition of a new language. For a baby, these three points are freakin' high, bro!

[@Frankybeanselevators]

How much do you want to bet that a large subset of babies got dropped from the study due to not being able to sit still in a weird machine. It's probably measuring only a certain temperment or profiles of the babies that were cooperative.

[@aarongluzman]

Tic…Tic...Tic... Teeny-weeny contraction... Of compassion... Affectionately... Cherish a love... Through their... Teeny-weeny... Gentle hearts... ©...Aronne

[@Mzee1084]

I have to write about this lecture for a class but I don't know if I am supposed to discuss the Rolex..

[@Cylidee]

Yeah I'm not sure why theres a rolex advertisement...

[@QuijanoPhD]

It's like sociolinguistics + neurolinguistics! Chomsky will be so pissed when he sees this ^__^

[@mumadadd]

can somebody please help me? i have unsubscribed from TED but i can't get rid of the 'uploaded by TEDtalksDirector' section on my youtube home page. i used to like TED for the science content but i think it's now gone all humanities. i've looked at every option within every menu i can find in youtube settings and i cant get TED vids off my home page.

[@kzatching2]

There are lots of useful and interesting ideas presented here, but i think there's a bit of confusion involved in the presentation here that obfuscates the difference between models and reality. In particular, clearly we are describing some of the linguistic information statistically, but what really does it mean for a baby to "take statistics"? For a phrase that is used so many times in this talk, its actual meaning is rather vague..."taking statistics" sounds sexy, but its meaning is unclear.

[@nehelek]

@missttt888 agree

[@ybefutile]

everything she talked about... was in my psychology of language textbook...

[@maxpegasus1]

@Ramsez Is your comment sarcastic or am I missing something?

[@xNickTheBrickx]

I can't wait till we can turn on the language acquisition genes.

[@roidroid]

@roidroid scratch that, mere seconds after i typed that she said "Kids don't learn language from TV". I wonder what kinds of TV shows they were showing the kids. Perhaps they just wern't socially engaging shows? The shows i watched as a kid (eg: Playschool) were quite socially engaging. According to my family i apparently learned some sign language from TV as a kid, i was momentarily confused last year when i tried to learn the signed alphabet from youtube and only took a few minutes "WTF!".

[@Flasa]

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that this video is roughly 25% Rolex advertisement?

[@Cylidee]

Yeah why do they have a rolex advertisement in the video??!

[@musikluver]

people may not realize it but learning a new language really does make you smarter...or at least helps develop what you need to become smarter. It's not by any huge, super noticeable amount, but it still happens. No it's not something abnormal that's done,but it's still a task that should be encouraged and applauded when done, especially in countries like those in North America where being bi- or tri-lingual isn't seen as an asset unless you're in the government (Canada) It's hard!

[@heatherfeather3559]

why is the last 3 minutes of this video a rolex commercial lmfao

[@Cylidee]

because babies study languages with rolex watches

[@unho126]

i love you mr. chomsky

[@NROS2012]

Eh? How can you disagree? She is merely reporting what was found during empirical research... If I dug up a bone and said "I've found a bone" you would disagree with me? Why?

[@raydredX]

OMG! ITS AN OISTER! But seriously awesome presentation. Soemtimes I wish I was a baby, or atleast as good as one.

[@Tuesfan]

結局人の前にいるときとテレビの前にいるときはなにが違うの？

[@user-ns5ik8ei5s]

~8 to10 months = critical period to distinguish all sounds irrelevant to the mother tongue, culture. Note that only the input of human communicating to the child is effective not that from audio or video (social 관련)

[@joslinnick]

@dushevka 5 languages! Well aint you just special. I agree, I only speak one language, but wish I could speak others. I was unfortunately never given the chance to learn them at a young age. All of my language teachers were piss poor, and I can confidently say that I or any one else, regardless of how hard we tried could ever grasp the concept of the other languages. The only real way to learn the language is to live in a foreign language speaking country.

[@DonVueltaMorales]

"Speaking to you and me" (1:18) in stead of "speaking to you and [to] me." I wonder if she learned to hypercorrect in the home, during one of the critical periods. She probably developed this error by trying to clean up lower class grammatical forms (the use of the objective/accusative, e.g., "Him and me are going to the candy store") in college and graduate school. Now had the speaker learned Latin, Polish, or German (both heavily inflected), there wouldn't have been a grammatical error at that point, because she would have intellectualized her way through the case forms of English pronouns (as I did). That certainly makes a case for learning multiple languages--even in college!

[@nickrundall]

Rick Beato brought me here.

[@user-qo1rj9lf8c]

1 0:20 2 1:57 5:37 3 7:53

[@EpicBigfoot]

So many views, so few comments

[@unownnnn]

I don't know how accurate this is nowadays. I don't think you should take any notice if you're learning another language as an adult. Keep learning!