
The Strange Persistence of First Languages (2015) - devy
http://nautil.us/issue/30/identity/the-strange-persistence-of-first-languages
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Koshkin
I have been mystified by the fact that I haven't met a single person who would
move to an English-speaking country after, say, 15 years of age and who could
speak without a foreign accent (which varies by country of origin) even after
many years of living there.

My (uneducated) guess is that the parts of the brain that are responsible for
learning in the young age are not the same as those that we use when we grow
older, which are perhaps less efficient. This is somewhat disconcerting,
because it gives rise to other questions, such as whether other types of
learning and mental activity in general may also be affected by the relative
inefficiency of the neural mechanisms we are left with at a later age.

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theonemind
I took Spanish in high school as a completely native English speaker. I was
able to do a perfect accent, however, it felt entirely artificial and not like
myself speaking. I felt like I was playing a Spanish news caster, and it felt
so foreign that I couldn't tell if I was also changing my voice.

Feynman once observed in his autobiographical "Surely You're Joking Mr.
Feynman" that most of it comes down to being willing to make completely
foreign sounds.

On the other hand, I have a soft Austin, Texas accent. As the state capitol
and a bit of a tech city, it actually consists mostly of immigrants but my
family had been in the area for sometime, and knew other families that had
been in the area for some time, so I can hear a "native" Austinite accent that
most people probably wouldn't even be aware exists, because of how out-
numbered the "natives" have become since the 60s or 70s. It's a little
southern-tinged with a bit of "breathy" sound, and not very strong (not very
markedly different from a "neutral" US accent), but pins down a pretty
distinct region if you've heard it enough. I sort of trained it out of my
voice around age 12 by emulating people on TV. At the moment, I cannot
consciously speak with that accent. I don't even know how to, and I don't live
in the area anymore, and I can't do a voice with that accent in my head, but
do know it when I hear it. Under a lot of fatigue or stress, I sometimes
actually start speaking with that accent, which seems strange, because I can't
consciously make myself do it at any time. I couldn't consciously do it
properly on command for a million dollars right now.

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Koshkin
Interesting comment, thank you.

> _willing to make completely foreign sounds_

I am afraid this may be not enough - it seems that we lose a perfect Fourier
analyzer (and synthesizer) built into our brain at an early age.

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smcguinness
This really speaks to my own experiences as well, but I'm thankful to have
begun my path to relearn my native language earlier than she had. There really
is something really empowering about speaking in your first language. I
absolutely love the line where she says that what appears to be quirks and
oddities of one's family in the Anglophone world are fully accepted in the
homeland.

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desireco42
I will say as native Serbian who speaks English and have english speaking
kids...

Czech language is one the most beautiful slavic languages, I love hearing it
even if I don't understand a lot, it is joy for my ears.

