[iPhantom]

Originally Posted by MMM

They learned it just like how a child learns anything: repetition + trial and error.

This study shows how children two and even younger can distinguish the differences between English and Japanese words. The brain is an amazing thing.

The linguistic development of a Japanese-English bilingual at age two: a case study

Tsk tsk... goes back to what I said, don't talk to your kid in two different languages, but only using one. I guess you haven't paid attention to what I said before. I know this from experience.

A cousin of mine lives in Austria and he always talked to his kid using his native language. His kid got used to it properly BUT also got used to German language due to his surroundings and friends. Of course his German wasn't the same as his father's native language. But soon his dad started to teach him German more and talked him more using German. The son was able to distinguish languages really early... and then he went to kindergarten which helped him further getting the accent.

If his father had used both languages to him since the start, the kid wouldn't be able to differentiate them because he would think his father speaks using 1 language, so he would mix them and not be able to communicate.

But his dad used only one language, and his friends used another. This way he was able to distinguish they used different languages... and learn them properly.