use Perl

• learning language (Score:1)

  by citizenx (9) on 2002.04.10 11:27 (#6826)

  If the child were not deaf, would it be a problem to speak to it in sign language from the start anyway? Do children have trouble picking up languages? If I stay in America and have children, would speaking to them in English and Hebrew make me a horrible parent? Maybe my future wife will speak yet another language, and we'll be ostracized for destroying our offspring's poor branes with mindless moon-language jibber jabber.
  
  However, it seems this would present a problem in learning vocal language (especially if the entire family is deaf from birth). I wouldn't think that the child would never learn at all, but there's no good input in the home environment, is there?
  
  I'm sure there are studies and massive amounts of information out there already. Maybe I'll go take a look.

  Reply to This

  • Re:learning language (Score:1)

    by TorgoX (1933)

    I think a hearing kid born to an all-deaf family would just pick up vocal language(s) from playmates, etc. It takes relatively little input to get kids learning. However, yeah, they do need /some/.
  • Re:learning language (Score:2)

    by darobin (1316)

    Don't worry about it. I spent from ages 0 to 3 in Australia, speaking only English. At 3 1/2, I was brought over to France and sent to kidergarden there without any prior knowledge of the language. I nevertheless picked it up completely in 2-3 months.

    I've seen the same thing with other kids that had bilingual parents which would speak to them in two languages, and the result is always a kid that speaks both languages fluently, is able to differentiate them, and is in fact usually rather good with l

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    -- Robin Berjon [berjon.com]