Speaking different languages to babies in their early lives can be crucial in helping them learn new languages later in life.
Dr Nina Kazanina, an expert in linguistic psychology at Bristol University has found that-
“By six months an infant can only recognise vowels from its native language, and within another two or three months the same happens to consonant sounds. So within around nine to 10 months, a baby’s universal language ability is reduced to its native language.
“This happens because the brain is trying to make sense of sounds used in speech in the context of the native language, and so applies a kind of filter to help make it easier to understand words.”
Babies exposed to multiple languages during their first few months retain the ability to recognise sounds from all the languages they hear. This may help them learn foreign languages later in life.
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