We all take for granted our ability to learn to talk, and after the excitement of a child’s first illegible gibberish, dies down we no longer marvel at our art of communication through our vocal cords. In fact our ability to link our train of thought from our cerebral hemisphere to audible language form consisting of a library of millions of words is highly complex. As the video of Ted showed the millions of wires that connect to allow us the power of language and allow us to connect and communicate is mind boggling. It is interesting to note that before our ability to form words children are still able to vocalize their wants and needs to their parents. They learn quickly to get attention by screaming, crying or using baby talk. They demonstrate anger, frustration or happiness from a variety of sounds ranging from loud shrieks to gentle gurgles and we learn to distinguish and recognize what they are trying to say. The first step to talking is in fact not our mouths, but our ears. We need to listen and then through repetition mimic, almost parrot fashion, we learn to speak. In fact some researchers go as far as to say that children while still in the womb should be talked to or music should be played as the embryos are able to listen. Both inside and eventually outside the womb very young babies are prone to stress and distress by being subjected to loud aggressive sounds such as angry voices or traffic, as monitored by researchers. We in fact never stop learning and through our lives aquire new vocabulary and add these new words to our already extensive data base. What is quite amazing though is how children brought up in a bilingual household are able to clearly distinguish between two different languages, for example English and French even though they hear and learn then simultaneously, and despite the fact the two or more languages are very different. It would be interesting to know how many languages the child of normal ability is able to pick up simultaneously simply by the power of listening to them at home as opposed to formally being taught them. It is known though that the power to learn a language is much faster when simply exposed to that language environment rather than through formal education.
The power of language is certainly complex and thought provoking and should never be taken for granted. So next time you pick up the phone and have a conversation think and marvel at the power of speech as Ted did.
