On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 7:03 AM, va <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 4:41 PM, Jim Grisanzio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> Interesting. I've noticed that my western friends who have lived in Japan >> for a decade and gained totally fluency actually lose a great deal of >> capability with just a few years living outside Japan. I guess you can never >> leave. :) > > Maybe languages are like that - they demand constant usage or perhaps > the human brain is wired to demand superior left ear monitoring > skills. > > http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/05/01/lang_learn020501.html > > One person had the ability to speak (not read and write new scripts) > his wife's native tongue within a year but another person couldnt even > after a decade. I guess besides early exposure, interest, curiosity > and urge to learn also counts. >
http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/lieberman02yearbook.html
