Babies can be bilingual right from womb

Hearing 2 Languages In Natal Stage Helps In Picking Up Both

Washington: Babies who hear two languages regularly when they are  in their mother's womb are more open to being bilingual,a study said.

                 Psychological scientists from the University of British Columbia and a researcher from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in France tested two groups of newborns, one of which only heard English in the womb and the others who heard English and Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines.

                To determine the babies' preference for a language, the researchers studied the new-borns sucking  reflex; increased sucking by  a neonate indicates interest in a stimulus.

               In the first experiment, infants heared 10 minutes of speech, with every minute alternating between English and Tagalog. The English - only infants were more interested in English than Tagalog - in other words, they "exhibited increased sucking behaviour" When they heard English than when they heard Tagalog being spoken. The infants exposed to two languages, on the other hand, showed an equal preference for both English and Tagalog, suggesting to the researchers that prenatal bilingual exposure prepares infants to listen to and learn about both of their native languages.

               The researchers also tested the newborns to see if they could tell the differences between two languages-key to becoming bilingual. The infants listened to sentences being spoken in one of the languages until they lost interest, and then heard sentences in the other language.