Daniel J. Levitin

which is that if you try to learn a foreign language before the age of, say, 14, give or take a couple of years, you might very well learn to speak it without an accent and to become fluent just by osmosis, just by hearing it spoken in the home. We have lots of cases of bilinguals, trilinguals, multilingual kids who grew up

which is that if you try to learn a foreign language before the age of, say, 14, give or take a couple of years, you might very well learn to speak it without an accent and to become fluent just by osmosis, just by hearing it spoken in the home. We have lots of cases of bilinguals, trilinguals, multilingual kids who grew up

in a multi-generational household speaking five languages, and they're equally fluent in all five by age 10, let's say. There's no additional cost for having learned more than one language. But if you and I were to try to learn Japanese right now at our age, It would be a whole lot of work, and we might be able to, at some point, speak like a diplomat, which is what our ambassadorial service do.

in a multi-generational household speaking five languages, and they're equally fluent in all five by age 10, let's say. There's no additional cost for having learned more than one language. But if you and I were to try to learn Japanese right now at our age, It would be a whole lot of work, and we might be able to, at some point, speak like a diplomat, which is what our ambassadorial service do.

in a multi-generational household speaking five languages, and they're equally fluent in all five by age 10, let's say. There's no additional cost for having learned more than one language. But if you and I were to try to learn Japanese right now at our age, It would be a whole lot of work, and we might be able to, at some point, speak like a diplomat, which is what our ambassadorial service do.

I mean, they send them to these training camps so they can become ambassadors to countries where they don't speak the language, but they'll always speak with an accent. The accent has to be within this sensitive window. And the same is true with music. If you don't hear music before a certain age, you're never going to understand it. Oh, wow.

I mean, they send them to these training camps so they can become ambassadors to countries where they don't speak the language, but they'll always speak with an accent. The accent has to be within this sensitive window. And the same is true with music. If you don't hear music before a certain age, you're never going to understand it. Oh, wow.

I mean, they send them to these training camps so they can become ambassadors to countries where they don't speak the language, but they'll always speak with an accent. The accent has to be within this sensitive window. And the same is true with music. If you don't hear music before a certain age, you're never going to understand it. Oh, wow.

Cochlear implants have to be implanted early. They have rather mixed results for adults who go deaf. But what's happening is the way the ear works is your eardrum vibrates in and out, and that causes activity inside a structure that's coiled up like a snail shell called the cochlea. And there are hair cells, neurons, that fire along. If you were to unwrap that thing,

Cochlear implants have to be implanted early. They have rather mixed results for adults who go deaf. But what's happening is the way the ear works is your eardrum vibrates in and out, and that causes activity inside a structure that's coiled up like a snail shell called the cochlea. And there are hair cells, neurons, that fire along. If you were to unwrap that thing,

Cochlear implants have to be implanted early. They have rather mixed results for adults who go deaf. But what's happening is the way the ear works is your eardrum vibrates in and out, and that causes activity inside a structure that's coiled up like a snail shell called the cochlea. And there are hair cells, neurons, that fire along. If you were to unwrap that thing,

and make it flat at one end of it there are neurons that respond to low frequencies and the other end high frequencies and it's sort of laid out like a piano keyboard and when a high frequency like comes in this one vibrates and if it's a low frequency like this one vibrates and they send electrochemical messages on up to the brain if that whole apparatus isn't working

and make it flat at one end of it there are neurons that respond to low frequencies and the other end high frequencies and it's sort of laid out like a piano keyboard and when a high frequency like comes in this one vibrates and if it's a low frequency like this one vibrates and they send electrochemical messages on up to the brain if that whole apparatus isn't working

and make it flat at one end of it there are neurons that respond to low frequencies and the other end high frequencies and it's sort of laid out like a piano keyboard and when a high frequency like comes in this one vibrates and if it's a low frequency like this one vibrates and they send electrochemical messages on up to the brain if that whole apparatus isn't working

but the brain is still working. What they do is they implant electrodes in the brain to receive signals from an external microphone type thing that's inside the ear canal. The problem is that your actual brain has tens of thousands of these neurons and we can implant a couple of dozen of these little electrodes. And so the voices and the music you hear are not very high resolution.

but the brain is still working. What they do is they implant electrodes in the brain to receive signals from an external microphone type thing that's inside the ear canal. The problem is that your actual brain has tens of thousands of these neurons and we can implant a couple of dozen of these little electrodes. And so the voices and the music you hear are not very high resolution.

but the brain is still working. What they do is they implant electrodes in the brain to receive signals from an external microphone type thing that's inside the ear canal. The problem is that your actual brain has tens of thousands of these neurons and we can implant a couple of dozen of these little electrodes. And so the voices and the music you hear are not very high resolution.

They're like a super bad MP3 that you're hearing from a distance with white noise embedded over it.

They're like a super bad MP3 that you're hearing from a distance with white noise embedded over it.

They're like a super bad MP3 that you're hearing from a distance with white noise embedded over it.