Gift of the gab

Children's speech development is like a journey with the same destination whatever language they are using, says Penny Tassoni - but success depends on their guides

The journey of how children learn language is a fascinating one. It is a two-part journey that follows more or less the same route regardless of the language that a child is being brought up in.

Packing suitcases
The first year of a baby's linguistic life could be compared to the packing stage of a journey. The baby collects up the skills that will be needed to communicate effectively. This stage is often referred to as the pre-linguistic stage. In this first year, no 'proper' words are likely to be spoken, but the baby will be learning how to make eye contact, draw the attention of the listener through intonation and to use facial expressions. As well as learning about the skills of communication, the baby 'tunes' into the language that is being used. By three months, babies can distinguish between their carer's and other voices, and by ten months babies are thought to understand about 15 words.