"Critical Period" Baby 6-8 months

1. A Baby in the critical period can discriminate sounds of all world languages.

2. The baby can take statistics on additional languages spoken during the critical period, and retain discernment of the sounds essential to each language.

3. Limited intermittent sessions of a second language during the critical period are as effective to retain sound discrimination as 1 year of language exposure

4. Babies take statistics on in - person language only,not television or audio tracks.

5. The baby takes statistics when listening to speech: Which sounds are significant to his or her native language?

6. The baby's brain changes based on language statistics taken at 6-8 months.

7. Older Child / Adult

7.1. The child is still highly proficient in second language acquisition until age 7.

7.2. Between age 7-17 ability to learn another language drops sharply.

7.3. Adults no longer absorb statistics: We are governed by language memory formed early in development.

7.4. Adults are "culture bound listeners" who can only readily discern the sounds of their native language.