Language in Children

I found the part in this chapter about how children learn and develop language to be extremely interesting. One reason I found it interesting was because it talks about how fetuses can learn some language, stories, and the sound of their mothers voice. My friend is currently pregnant and I know they read stories to the baby and stuff and I know one of my moms friends spoke Spanish and English to her baby before it was born so that it would come out and supposedly would be able to speak Spanish and English easily since she is Mexican and her husband is white. Also, in the movie Baby Mama she has her baby listen to Spanish tapes because it supposedly worked. I always thought it was funny seeing my friend, and family members talking to their baby and stuff and how they actually thought it helped with their learning to talk, but now I know it actually does help.

Also, my moms friend's kid whose mom is Mexican and dad is Caucasian is now around two years old and is learning both English and Spanish. He calls some words by their Spanish names and some by English names which is funny to hear. For instance he calls a cookie a cookie, but he calls water agua. I think it will be interesting to see how this plays out because I can imagine it will be difficult for him to keep both languages straight when he is younger and doesn't fully understand it all yet, but it is good he is learning both when he is younger because language is easier to learn when you are young. My cousin Natalie is also trying to learn English as well as Spanish. She is like four or five and is in a Spanish immersion school where she is learning Spanish and English. She is picking it up really fast and sometimes knows words in Spanish that I don't know yet, even though I am much older than her and am taking Spanish classes.