Study shows that's easier to learn Italian than English

Adam   Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:12 pm GMT
È Più Facile Imparare l'Italiano dell'Inglese!

You Are What You Speak

Does it ever seem as though people speak some foreign languages at 78 rpm, while your English-speaking brain is going at 33? There may be good reason. New research published in the January 2000 issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, found that the primary language a person is raised with affects the way he or she thinks and processes information. The researchers studied Italian and British college students and found that the Italians read and process information faster, even when reading words from other languages.

The findings come as little surprise to linguistics experts, who've long held that our primary language forms our minds and our perceptions. Since, for example, Western languages are written from left to right and top to bottom, it's believed that when glancing at a photograph, a Westerner will begin at the top left corner and end at the bottom right. People from Asian nations, who read from right to left or top to bottom, however, process visuals differently.

A Cultural Effect on Brain Function

What's different about the current research, which was performed by a team of Italian and British scientists, is that it offers what's believed to be the first proof that linguistics have an impact upon our brain physiology. Brain scans of the students using positron emission tomography (PET) showed that Italians have more active superior temporal regions, while Brits have more active left frontal and posterior inferior temporal regions.

While researchers said the immediate importance of the study lies in the area of teaching language and reading, it's sure to play a role in future anthropological research seeking to explain the differences between cultures. Unfortunately, there are no studies yet of what impact Pokemon-speak has on neurotransmission in young brains.
Sander   Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:25 pm GMT
=>Study shows that's easier to learn Italian than English
<=

?! Where does it say that?!
Cro Magnon   Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:05 pm GMT
I'm sure it's easier for a Spanish speaker to learn Italian than English. I don't think Italian would be easier for a Dutch or German speaker to learn than English.
Adam   Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:05 pm GMT
English has more than 1100 combinations of letters that are used to produce the 40 commonly used sounds of the spoken language. It becomes a problem when words share the same phoneme but spell it differently. This occurs with the "e" sound in me, tea, tree, key, country, piece, and reprise. In addition, many English words have the same letter combination but are not pronounced the same. This is the case with mint and pint, clove and love, as well as cough and bough. By comparison, the 33 sounds used in Italian are spelled with only 25 letter combinations. Italian words are spelled just as they are pronounced. Consequentially, Italians rarely have to ask each other "how do you spell your name." It is not surprising that English is a far more difficult language to learn. It is also much more difficult for people who are dyslexics.
Sander   Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:58 am GMT
I've learned and tried a lot of languages and English just is and was the easiest of them all!