[FoRK] No More Cursive?

[Ken Ganshirt @ Yahoo]

--- On Wed, 8/24/11, Dave Long <dave.long at bluewin.ch> wrote:

> > According to the Critical Theory
> Hypothesis, they may do fine, but there's a certain window
> when second, third, fourth language skills are at their
> peak.  Some say it ends at 6 or 7 and others say it
> ends at puberty.  11 would fit right into that theory.
> > 
> > Adults, on the other hand, need a lot of motivation
> and hard work to learn one.
> 
> 
> A critical period for a first language makes sense, and
> appears to have been observed in practice.
> 
> For second languages, however, this seems unlikely. 
> ...

I don't understand why you would distinquish (first, second, third)?? It seems to me if there is a critical period for learning language it would hardly discriminate? It is during that observed critical period that it's easiest to learn language; your first and second and third, etc.

           ...ken...