http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Parents are often amazed by the speed at which children acquire language in early childhood, becoming fluent around three years of age. Compare this with the average adult attempting to acquire a second language, and it’s a quite remarkable achievement. http://phys.org/news239966551.html Other Sciences Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:50:03 EST news239966551 Mastering a second language can pump up your brain in ways that seem to delay getting Alzheimer's disease later on, scientists said Friday. http://phys.org/news217265492.html Medicine & Health Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:33:37 EST news217265492 The most popular searches in 2010 on Cambridge Dictionaries Online (CDO) show that idioms and slang held the key to learning English as a second language. http://phys.org/news216038067.html Other Sciences Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:34:49 EST news216038067 The study also found that Russian speakers had a better grasp of Hebrew than Hebrew speakers themselves. "Learning a mother tongue and preserving it does not compromise the ability to learn an additional language. The opposite is true: Knowing Russian enforces Hebrew fluency and command of both languages increases skills in English," the researchers noted. http://phys.org/news215779869.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:20:01 EST news215779869 Toddlers who learn a second language from infancy have an edge over their unilingual peers, according to a new study from Concordia University and York University in Canada and the Universite de Provence in France. As reported in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, the research team tested the understanding of English and French words among 24-month-olds to see if bilingual toddlers had acquired comparable vocabulary in each language. http://phys.org/news214658243.html Medicine & Health Wed, 19 Jan 2011 11:40:01 EST news214658243 (PhysOrg.com) -- Adults fluent in English whose first language is Chinese retrieve their native language when reading in English, according to new research in the June 2 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. This study suggests that people who learn a second language in adolescence or later recall the sounds of words from their native language. http://phys.org/news194632544.html Medicine & Health Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:10:02 EST news194632544 Do you speak English as a second language well, but still have trouble understanding movies with unfamiliar accents, such as Brad Pitt's southern accent in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds? In a new study, published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, Holger Mitterer (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics) and James McQueen (MPI and Radboud University Nijmegen) show how you can improve your second-language listening ability by watching the movie with subtitles—as long as these subtitles are in the same language as the film. Subtitles in one's native language, the default in some European countries, may actually be counter-productive to learning to understand foreign speech. http://phys.org/news177139830.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:40:02 EST news177139830 Children have a remarkable ability to learn new languages. As little as five hours of exposure to a second language is enough to help infants incorporate characteristics of that language into their babbling according to a new study. http://phys.org/news176458764.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:20:59 EST news176458764 Many of us learn a foreign language when we are young, but in some cases, exposure to that language is brief and we never get to hear or practice it subsequently. Our subjective impression is often that the neglected language completely fades away from our memory. But does "use it or lose it" apply to foreign languages? Although it may seem we have absolutely no memory of the neglected language, new research suggests this "forgotten" language may be more deeply engraved in our minds than we realize. http://phys.org/news173009276.html Medicine & Health Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:09:21 EST news173009276 Interim results from an international research project which looks at bilingual education reveal that children can learn a second language as early as preschool. http://phys.org/news171783969.html Medicine & Health Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:30:01 EST news171783969 The more empathy one has for another, the lighter the accent will be when speaking in a second language. This is the conclusion of a new study carried out at the University of Haifa by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim and Dr. Mark Leikin of the Department of Learning Disabilities and Prof. Zohar Eviatar of the Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa. The study has been published in the International Journal of Bilingualism. "In addition to personal-affective factors, it has been found that the 'language ego' is also influenced by the sociopolitical position of the speaker towards the majority group," the researchers stated. http://phys.org/news169119979.html Medicine & Health Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:10:01 EST news169119979 A new study carried out at the University of Haifa sheds light on how first and second languages are represented in the brain of a bilingual person. A unique single case study that was tested by Dr. Raphiq Ibrahim of the Department of Learning Disabilities and published in the Behavioral and Brain Functions journal, showed that first and second languages are represented in different places in the brain. http://phys.org/news166264947.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:42:59 EST news166264947 (PhysOrg.com) -- Three Penn State Harrisburg faculty researchers have proven an educational program built around a simple disposable camera enhances learning for both children and teachers in preschool settings. http://phys.org/news162059213.html Other Sciences Wed, 20 May 2009 17:27:58 EST news162059213 (PhysOrg.com) -- Parlez-vous français? If you were quick at learning foreign languages at school, it could be because your brain has an enhanced ability to remember sequences. http://phys.org/news156705624.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:20:56 EST news156705624