Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
Welcome to Earth. On this planet, children at the age of 3 are expected to be able to comprehend quite a lot, and able to convey their feelings in multi-part sentences. I invite you to come and visit a preschool class of 3 year olds, so that you can see the amazing abilities of earthling children.
"Mama" and "dada" are natural mouth and tongue movements, which have very little to do with what the baby hears. It is completely independent of the native language of the parents. Even when a baby isn`t exposed to language of any sort, it will make those sounds. Babies who lack hearing also make them. Parents who consider those to be first words before they are used in context are, well, sweet but naive. All babies babble the same sounds.
Just trust me on this - The definition of "fluent" is different at the age of 3 than it is at the age of 20. A different standard is applied to a child - that doesn`t however mean that the child has any less to learn. A child at that age, when they follow the average developmental path, is both fluent in language and culture. They have the ability to know what is expected of them and how to put that into words and actions....
However, at 3, the child doesn`t have the *other* mental capacities to use those skills in an adult way.
But that isn`t what we`re talking about. We`re talking about language fluency, and yes, most children reach fluency in their 3rd year.
They reach it by listening to *model* conversations. Direct use of those patterns is necessary for gaining certain interactive skills. The majority of acquisition comes about when the child hears proper use in his environment. This is why children will often know words parents would never actually teach to the child - the child picks them up from surroundings, and is able to learn proper usage with just a few models to go by.
If children only learned words from their parents baby-talk, they would NEVER reach fluency.
(Note; I am a linguist, and did several research projects on childhood language acquisition. I know what I`m talking about.)
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i can dig what your saying. when i was around 4 i was speaking fluent english and spanish. i dont speak much spanish now because people mostly speak Navajo and Hopi here.