Scientists today are mostly in agreement that children are born with the ability to learn languages, but they just don’t get around to even trying it until they are about one. As Gracie Allen famously said, “When I was born, I was so surprised, I didn’t say anything for a year!” Even after that, a child will not combine words until about age one and a half or put together any coherent sentences until age two or three.
The world of words truly is a magical place, and not only for the reason that we humans can protect ourselves, create images, entertain, court and perform so many other tasks without using any other organs than our mouths. The magic of how we create words is just as fascinating and myriad.
Learning a new language isn’t easy. Some of us adapt to it well, picking up words and phrases easily, whilst others find it difficult to memorise the simplest of words.
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