Subscribe now

Letter: Letters : Late learning

Published 9 August 1997

From Douglas Boote

Stockport, Cheshire

Although many secondary school pupils spend five or more years studying a
foreign language, few speak it fluently as adults, and very few are accent-free.
Could this be because the “new brain area” that Joy Hirsch and her colleagues
(This Week, 12 July, p 7)
discovered in some of their bilingual subjects is a second best?

Issue no. 2094 published 9 August 1997

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers.

Sign up
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop