#languagedevelopment — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #languagedevelopment, aggregated by home.social.
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Ask yourself these 5 questions before committing to a Language Learning Program.
#LanguageLearning #LanguageDevelopment #Hebrew #Learning #HebrewLanguage
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DATE: August 9, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The hidden architecture of forgotten first languages in the human brain
URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-hidden-architecture-of-forgotten-first-languages-in-the-human-brain/
Babies exposed to a tonal language during their first months of life maintain a unique structural wiring in their brains as adults, even if they completely stop speaking that language before age two. A recent study published in Communications Biology found that international adoptees who forgot their birth language still possessed the neural architecture resembling that of native speakers. These findings demonstrate that early linguistic environments shape brain development in ways that persist entirely independently of ongoing practice or conscious memory.
White matter tracts are the bundles of nerve fibers that connect different regions of the brain, acting like cables that transmit information. Two of these tracts, the arcuate fasciculus and the superior longitudinal fasciculus, play a leading role in how humans process language. The arcuate fasciculus connects areas located in the temporal lobe, which process auditory sounds, to frontal regions responsible for speech production. This pathway is heavily involved in mapping the sounds we hear to the physical movements required to articulate them. The superior longitudinal fasciculus connects similar frontal areas to the parietal lobe, creating a loop that helps individuals monitor and organize the speech sounds they are trying to produce.
In most people who speak non-tonal languages like English or French, these language connections are heavily concentrated in the left hemisphere. However, tonal languages like Mandarin use pitch to determine the meaning of words. Because processing pitch generally engages the right side of the brain, speaking a tonal language requires both hemispheres to work together to integrate the sound’s tone with its linguistic meaning.
Elise Barbeau, a researcher at McGill University, along with neuroscientist Denise Klein and a team of colleagues, wanted to know how this early sensory environment alters physical brain development. Specifically, they sought to determine whether the structural changes associated with learning a tonal language are maintained if the person stops hearing and using that language entirely.
To test this, the researchers compared brain scans from four distinct groups of young people and adults living in Canada. The first group consisted of 36 international adoptees born in China who were exposed to Mandarin early in life but were adopted by French-speaking families between the ages of three months and two years. After adoption, they spoke and heard only French, with no conscious memory of Mandarin.
The second group included 26 Mandarin-French bilinguals who learned Mandarin from birth and French later in childhood. The third group was made up of 33 people who grew up speaking only French. Finally, a fourth group included 25 English-French bilinguals who had never been exposed to a tonal language. All participants were highly proficient in French and used it in their daily lives.
Using an imaging technique called diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, the team mapped the nerve fiber bundles in the participants’ brains. This specialized scanning method tracks the movement of water molecules along nerve fibers, allowing researchers to reconstruct the shape, direction, and volume of white matter connections.
The researchers isolated the specific sections of the arcuate fasciculus and the superior longitudinal fasciculus responsible for language processing. They then measured the total volume of these tracts, which indicates macro-level size. They also assessed their fractional anisotropy, a metric that reveals the microstructure of the tracts, such as how densely packed the nerve fibers are and how thickly they are coated in insulating myelin.
The brain structures of the international adoptees closely mirrored those of the Mandarin-French bilinguals. In both of these groups, the language pathways were distributed more symmetrically across the left and right hemispheres. They also exhibited a smaller total volume in the left hemisphere tracts compared to the groups unexposed to tonal languages. The participants who grew up speaking only French, as well as the English-French bilinguals, displayed the classic pattern of highly concentrated, larger pathways strictly in the left hemisphere.
The inclusion of the English-French bilingual group allowed the researchers to isolate general bilingualism as a factor. Because the English-French speakers shared the heavily left-leaning brain structure of the French monolingual speakers, the researchers concluded that the symmetrical brain wiring was a specific response to the demands of processing a tonal language, not just learning multiple languages.
The differences between the groups were strictly related to the overall size and volume of the tracts, as the researchers did not find statistically significant differences in the microstructural density of the nerve fibers. This suggests that the early language experience changed the physical shape and layout of the connections without necessarily altering the internal makeup of the individual fibers.
The team also examined how these brain connections grew over time by comparing the tract volumes across different ages. They found that in the international adoptee and Mandarin-speaking groups, the nerve fibers in both the right and left hemispheres continued to grow in volume as the individuals aged. In contrast, the French-only speakers mostly experienced age-related growth in the left hemisphere.
For the international adoptees, this continued structural development was not tied to the age at which they were adopted, but rather to how many years they had been speaking their new language. The early tonal experience essentially set a bilateral blueprint that the brain continued to follow even as it adapted to speaking only French.
This age-related growth pattern was specific to the arcuate fasciculus. The superior longitudinal fasciculus did not show the same continued volume increases over time, likely because different parts of the brain mature at different rates. The pathways connecting the temporal and frontal lobes tend to develop later in childhood than other regions, making them more susceptible to the long-term influence of early childhood environments.
While the results point toward early language exposure as the primary driver of these differences, the researchers note that ethnicity or genetics could play a role in brain anatomy. The groups exposed to Mandarin were of Asian descent, while the other groups were predominantly Caucasian. To address this, the researchers checked the total intracranial volume across all participants and found no disparities between the groups.
Past studies have also shown that learning a tonal language later in life induces identical changes in Caucasian learners, making early experience the most probable explanation for the current results. Still, future research comparing genetic differences alongside linguistic backgrounds could help definitively separate these factors.
Additionally, each study group consisted of less than 40 participants, making this a small study. Larger sample sizes in future studies could help confirm the consistency of these anatomical variations across broader populations. Exploring whether this enduring neural architecture gives international adoptees an advantage if they attempt to learn a new tonal language later in life remains an open question. Tracking infant brain development over time in a longitudinal study could also provide direct evidence of exactly when these permanent physical changes take place.
The study, “Early but discontinued exposure to a language exerts lasting effects on white matter architecture in the brain,” was authored by Elise B. Barbeau, Lara Pierce, Stephanie Deschamps, Shanna Kousaie, Annie Gilbert, Jen-Kai Chen, Shari Baum, and Denise Klein.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/the-hidden-architecture-of-forgotten-first-languages-in-the-human-brain/
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #languagedevelopment #tonallanguage #neuroscience #brainarchitecture #whiteMatter #arcuatefasciculus #superiorlongitudinalfasciculus #diffusionMRI #bilingualism #earlyexposure
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Computer-Aided Language Development in Nonspeaking Children (1968) [pdf]
https://archive.org/details/colby1968-computer-aided-language-development-in-non-speaking-children
#HackerNews #ComputerAidedLanguageDevelopment #NonspeakingChildren #EducationalTechnology #LanguageDevelopment #HistoryOfAI
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ICYMI:
Read Part 3 of my Substack Series & Learn The Last Two Hebrew Marks That Make Everything Click:
Quotation Marks and the Makaf
Explained! 👇🏻#LearnHebrew #BibleStudy #hebrewlanguage #LanguageDevelopment #hebrewforbeginners
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Learning Hebrew is not just memorizing words. It is learning how another people feel, think, connect, argue, bless, mourn, celebrate, and love.
Somewhere along the journey, you stop simply converting language and begin expanding your understanding of the world itself.
That is when Hebrew truly starts to live inside you 💙
#LearnHebrew #LanguageDevelopment #Growth #Mindset #HebrewByInbal
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Half million 'Words with Spaces' missing from dictionaries
https://www.linguabase.org/words-with-spaces.html
#HackerNews #WordsWithSpaces #MissingDictionaries #Linguistics #LanguageDevelopment #WordGames #DictionaryUpdates
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Struggling with Hebrew doesn’t mean you’re “not good at languages.”
It means you were never shown how it works.Age isn’t the issue. Talent isn’t the issue.
Clarity is.With the right approach, Hebrew clicks—and progress comes fast.
#LanguageDevelopment #LearningGoals #LearnHebrew #HebrewByInbal
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Received a request to share a short Hebrew lesson on counting numbers.
Here it is Heather and tell your class I am thrilled to share Hebrew with them!
Remember to scroll through my videos on here, I have many bite sized lessons perfect for any teaching occasion.
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Are you ready… 👀
✨ to finally start (not “someday”)
✨ to stop feeling intimidated by Hebrew
✨ to let go of the fear of sounding wrong
✨ to actually speak, not just memorizeIf you’ve been waiting to feel “ready”… this is it.
Start your Hebrew journey with me — one confident step at a time 🤗🥳#AreYouReady #Learning #HebrewForBeginners #LanguageDevelopment #HebrewByInbal
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This is an eloquent post describing the process of language acquisition for Gestalt language processors - a term I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't know until I read this. Truly a beautiful read - and really helpful for those of us who want to learn how to better communicate with people of different neurotypes.
Read here: https://autside.substack.com/p/the-shape-of-language-revisiting
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You make My Hebrew By Inbal Book Series Best Sellers with your support and amazing feedback!
#HebrewBooks #bestsellerbook #LearnHebrew #languagedevelopment
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Want to speak Hebrew without sounding like a lost tourist? 😅
You don’t need to sound Israeli—just be clearly understood.
Steve nailed that by lesson 2 with a few simple tweaks. That’s why Practically Speaking Hebrew starts with pronunciation.
From “please don’t make me say that” to actually enjoying conversations 💪
👉 learn.hebrewbyinbal.com
#SpeakHebrew #LanguageDevelopment #Hebrew #HebrewByInbal #LanguageGoals -
You don’t need the alphabet.
You don’t need to memorize.
You can start speaking Hebrew fast — without tutors or big $$.✨ My method separates speaking from reading
✨ Uses English-based Hebrew (no guessing sounds)
✨ No memorizing — just real, practical learning🎯 Speak Hebrew: https://learn.hebrewbyinbal.com
📝 Read + write Hebrew: https://hebrewbyinbal.com/order-direct#LearnHebrew #LanguageLearning #Hebrew #LanguageDevelopment #HebrewByInbal
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WHICH is now!
I was so moved by an Amazon review of Hebrew 1—not just by the kind words, but by the photo they uploaded with it. In the picture, you can see their Hebrew 1 workbook open to the very last page—the one that congratulates them on finishing the book and encourages them to start Hebrew 2 immediately to keep the momentum going.
They even highlighted the words “which is now”—a beautiful act of commitment to themselves and their Hebrew journey! Even better? Hebrew 1 is resting right on top of their Hebrew 2 workbook in the photo—they’re ready to keep learning!
This is exactly what the journey is about: staying motivated, celebrating milestones, and leaning into great resources that support real progress. Learning a language takes consistent effort—but it also takes heart, and this student clearly has both
Mazal tov to this dedicated learner, Rosalinda! Ready to keep learning with us? Start at https://hebrewbyinbal.com/order
#BookReview #ReadAndWrite #Hebrew #Book #LanguageDevelopment
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Where does the word “alphabet” come from — and what does it have to do with Israel?
It all started in ancient Canaan — the same land that became Israel.
Thousands of years ago, people there carved the first-ever alphabet. The first letters? Aleph (𐤀) and Beth (𐤁), drawn from daily life.
The Hebrews made it their own: the alef-bet — rich with meaning and spirit.
The Phoenicians spread it. The Greeks adapted it (alpha + beta). The Romans passed it on. And that’s how “alphabet” eventually landed in English.
So next time you say “alphabet,” remember:
You’re speaking a little piece of ancient Israel.#Alphabet #HistoryLesson #LanguageDevelopment #Hebrew #Letters
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Lindsay is diving into Hebrew 2 — where she’s now learning Cursive Script, the essential next step after mastering Print letters in Hebrew 1.
In Israel, signs, menus, and everyday materials are often written in Cursive — so if you want to really read Hebrew out in the world, this is a must.
The Hebrew 1-2-3 series takes you from absolute beginner to confidently reading and writing in Hebrew —
Fast, simple, and fully supported.
You can bring these books to your kids’ school, your synagogue, or your community group —
They are perfect for any classroom where Hebrew is taught, and for individual learning
Because Hebrew belongs to everyone, and this makes it accessible at any age!
Every book comes with a free course where I walk you through step-by-step, answer your questions, and give you my personal feedback 💬✨
Order directly from me for the best price, or grab them on Amazon in 15+ countries 📚🌎
Let’s go ➡️ https://www.hebrewbyinbal.com/order
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Which is your new favorite?
#Hebrew #Words #favorites #languagedevelopment #lessonoftheday
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Most Hebrew apps teach sentences like “The cat writes a letter.”
Cute—but not helpful if you want to actually talk to Israelis.
If you’ve been learning for months (or years) and still feel stuck, it’s not your fault.
It’s the method.
I teach Hebrew differently—real-life conversation, real connection, real results.
Let’s get you unstuck.
#LanguageSkills #Hebrew #languagedevelopment #learnhebrew #LanguageMatters
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Happy #NationalASLDay! 🌟
Dive into the transformative impact of signing characters in media on deaf children's language learning.
Grate interview - on Science Friday: 'How Signing Characters Help Deaf Children Learn Language' https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/deaf-sign-language-learning-media/ #ASL #Inclusion #DeafEducation #LanguageLearning #MediaRepresentation #DeafCommunity #InclusiveMedia #LanguageDevelopment #DeafAwareness #Inclusive #Education #MediaInnovation #LanguageLearning -
📣 LOWEST PRICE EVER on Hebrew 1- 2 - 3
Wherever you are in the world — U.S. included — this is your moment.🛒 Go to https://hebrewbyinbal.com/order-direct
Or ✍️ comment Discount to get the link to your dm
✅ Choose your book(s)
🧾 Add to cart
🎁 Use code WRITING10 at checkout for an extra 10% off the already lowest price anywhere
This special Passover deal ends April 18 — don’t miss it!
#BookSale #Hebrew #ReadAndWrite #BestPrice #LanguageDevelopment
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The C3 programming language (C alternative language)
#HackerNews #C3ProgrammingLanguage #CAlternative #LanguageDevelopment #OpenSource #ProgrammingLanguages
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A new educational project supports socially disadvantaged children in developing #AIskills. Supported by our university and the Roland Berger Foundation, it promotes #AILiteracy and #LanguageDevelopment: http://go.tum.de/799519
📷 Andreas Kusy Photography
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Harvard Gazette: Landmark studies track source of Indo-European languages spoken by 40% of world. “A pair of landmark studies, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, has finally identified the originators of the Indo-European family of 400-plus languages, spoken today by more than 40 percent of the world’s population.”
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In my quest to create the perfect Hebrew learning tools, my perfectionism and deep care for my students' success play pivotal roles.
Hebrew 1 and 2 focus on completing your writing skills in both print and cursive scripts - because in Hebrew you need to know both. Then, Hebrew 3, a comprehensive textbook, rounds out your reading skills by teaching you the Nikud vowel system. Because so many of you asked for a hardcover version and its textbook nature, Hebrew 3 is formatted left-to-right. So you can get Hebrew 3 in a premium hardcover format.
Each comes with supportive videos to ensure smooth sailing. Plus, you’ll always have my personal support just a message away.
If you haven’t grabbed your copies yet and are eager to dive into reading and writing Hebrew with ease, check out the long list of benefits each book offers on their Amazon product pages.
✍️ Comment the word WRITE and I will DM you the link to order my books.