Remembering a language from your childhood

My mother is almost 80 years old and she spoke Ukrainian as a child. Now she has not used the language for most of her life.  For the last 30 years she claims she has forgotten the Ukrainian language completely. She has repeatedly said she does not even remember a word.

However, I am in the USA visiting her now with my family and when we speak Polish, which is a different language from Ukrainian, she can understand us perfectly.  Not only does she remember everything, but at some level she can interpolate between two related languages, that is Polish and Ukrainian and come up with an understanding of our conversation.

This anecdotally confirms one of my beliefs that most memory problems are a retrieval problem.  That is, memories are formed fairly easy and stay with us a lifetime, however, the issue is to call up the information when we need it in a meaningful way.

This is why again I think that language learning a us a little like riding a bike, once you have learned it you just need to get back in the saddle.

Learning a language as an adult and not forgetting it

I studied French for seven years however, have not used it in twenty. After being in Paris this week, it was not a big deal for me to understand what was being said.  I do not think I could form a perfect French sentence, but with a little time in the country I am confident that I could speak French. Your brain does not forget what you have learned.

If you have been exposed to a language use it

If you have every been exposed to a language as an adult or a child, have the confidence to try to learn it.  Do not be afraid of failing or you have forgotten it, learn it.  What if you lived in say a Spanish area as a child but never spoke Spanish?  Why not try to learn it?  I think subconsciously your brain as picked up a lot. Your memory has almost infinite capacity to store and retrieve. It does not matter if your memory was formed as a child or as an adult. Your memory will be different for a language your learned a child more native, but that does not mean adult exposure is less useful.

If you calculate all the possible connections your memory has formed in your lifetime, you should be how shocked how rich you are in terms of neural connections. So much of your brain is latent just waiting for you to use it.

Many people as me should they use hypnosis to recall experiences or languages they were exposed to once. Sure if you want, but there is not need to.  Just simply, reimmerse yourself again.  If you herd Spanish as a child take a trip to Argentina.  If your parents spoke Polish or Ukrainian or Russian, take a trip to Europe and try it out.

Here is a study that confirms my thesis.

Remembering a language from your childhood

Two researcher did a study of children who were exposed to languages when they were young, yet moved abroad in their childhood.

The results were very enlightening. Here is an external resources that validates the above:

• Remembering childhood languages

Let me me know what you think of this idea or if you have every had a similar experience, I would be interested to hear about your exposure to a language as a child.

I am not going to restate obvious facts that about how your interaction with your baby from 0 to 8 will influence how your baby’s brain develops. Instead here is a list of things you can do to help your baby’s brain. Starting as early as you think.  Some people start these at 3 months or before.

• Play classical music from birth
• Give them a musical instrument like a small keyboard so they can start playing it and know that when they press a key a sound is made.
• Drawing
• Using the computer keyword or mouse for a drawing program with bright colors
• Holding and looking at chess pieces and spatial relationships
• Learning another language, even via youtube
• Reading
• Counting
• Have them feel different textures and smell different things
• Be demonstrative

People do the above at age 4 or 5 years old.  But remember Mozart was writing music by this time as his father taught him music from the start.  I wonder if you interact with your baby with the above tasks at 4 or 5 months not 4 or 5 years if this would help enrich your baby ‘s brain?

The brain of a rich child is different than the brain of a poor child’s brain.  This is the conclusion of a new study. This is no suprise to me.  It as if the frontal lobe of a poor child’s brain is almost damaged.  They perform lower in almost every way.  What is the reason?  Stimulation.  For whatever reason poor children do not get a critical level of stimulation that needed.  This stimulation could be speaking and communication, or games, or even computer games, which are known to be good for the brain.  Or the way poor parents emoutionally relate to children could affect a child.

I did not create this study, I am just mentioning it.  I think more important than saving for your kids education, to send them to Harvard,  is spend time with them when they are young.  I personally work at home.  I am very lucky.  But I also made choices.  I lived in Boston and worked in finance and choose to work in less in Poland a lot less.

Not everyone can do this for one reason or another. But if you ever wonder if you should spend more time at the office or with your kids, consider which is more important, a well developed child’s brain or money for their education in 20 years.

More important than eating for a baby is to learn.  This is almost unbelievable. However, if a baby does not eay it will be hungry for a few hours, but if a baby does not learn, its whole life it will be lost.  So deep in the programming of a baby is to learn, or rather to learn a language.

Babies respond to sound

Now when you shake your keys in front of a baby so it will stop crying you think the baby is just listening to a nice sound.

Let me tell you what is really going on.

Babies and Star Trek

Babies are thinking:  “Must identify sound”,  must analysis, must compute.   Prime directive is to analysis sound.  Must obey prime directive.

The baby tries to determine if the sound is important and if any recognizable pattern is contained in the sound.  This is their prime directive. More important then whatever is bothering them and making them cry at the moment.  This is the real reason baby’s get distracted with sound.  They are obeying the prime directive, that is learning a language.

There is a lot of talk about ‘the Mozart effect’, super learning with alpha waves, etc. I will my own experience with alpha brain waves and learning. If you ever want to give your foreign language learning a jump start you might have considered alpha waves.

What are alpha brain waves

Alpha waves are a brain state in which your brain resonates at between, 8 and 12 hz. These alpha brain waves come from synchronous electrical activity of thalamic pacemaker cells in the human brain. They can be detected on EEG and NEG and predominantly originate from the occipital lobe during relaxation. Brain waves are real an not science fiction or speculation.

Why are alpha brain waves important for learning

During an alpha brainwave state your brain is more receptive to learning new information. I do not have to quote studies here, just use common sense, when you are stressed you can not learn as efficiently as when you are awake and alert but relaxed.

My personal experience with brainwaves

I have been fooling around with brainwaves, since the first the 1990. They do help you learn better, primariy because you are more focused and relaxed while learning. Most ‘super learning’ programs are brainwaves in the alpha state. These are not radical or deep enough to have any real impact on learning. However, at deeper states brain waves are real help. However, you have to listen to them, after, you do you learning. What I mean is you can just listen to classical music if you want to achieve an alpha state. You can study to baroque music for example. However, if you really want to help your brain, put it in a theta or delta state after you study, rather than during your studying of your foreign language or any other� This will replicate the process of sleep and your brain can start to assimilate, organizes and process the information you just learned. Your brain grows when you sleep. basically. However, most of the super learning buzz is about alpha states while studying, which in my opinion is marginal help. People just recycle information they read, rather than trying it out for themselves and this changes science or at least experience into pseudo science or speculation. If you want to know more about alpha brainwaves or other brain waves, I will create a program based on this or just leave a comment and ask.

I am partial because I like classical music. However, I noticed that when I study a foreign language with classical music in the background, I can focus better. I think everyone believes they have a level of ADD (attention deficit disorder) and if you are one of those people, then try studying to classical music. Now a lot has been written about listening to Mozart and the Mozart effect, some say Bach, for me Gregorian Chants work the best when trying to learn and I want something to help me stay focused.  I think it depends on how much your brain needs to be slowed down to be able to focus. Mozart being the fastest means you focus pretty well, Baroque music is slower and your brain focuses ok but needs helps and Chants the slowest this is me.  I think my brain fuctions at a fairly high cognitive speed and needs to be put in first gear to be able to focus.  So for me to sit and study a foreign language for any period of time without me getting bored I need to be lulled into a clam relaxed stated with Gregorian chants. For me this significantly helps my ability to study. Many sites make super learning claims, I am not doing that. I am saying this works for me. I could get into the brainwave theories etc, but I would rather convey anecdotal evidence of what helps me learn a language. If anyone has any other experiences with other types of music please let me know.

My parents spoke Polish and Ukrainian. However, they did not teach these languages to me when I grew up. In the 1960s it was not in vogue to be anything than a WASP. I and my parents have often regretted the fact that I did not simply acquire these languages when I was a child, I would have been a native speaker in 3 languages and could have bridged this to other languages.

Years latter I learned Polish and my next language will be Ukrainian of course. Even though I do not speak Polish perfectly without an accent like a native, I speak Polish. Further I moved to Poland.

Now here is the advantage of learning a language instead of having it bestowed upon you as a child (my children I hope will be bilingual). When I moved to Poland I was special. I was a foreigner who spoke Polish. If I was a native people would treat me just like they treat any other guy on the street.
But now a complete American (I am very American), experienced what I would call the hollywood effect. Think of how women in the States or UK often go for some exotic guy with an accent. Accents can be sexy. And apparently in Polish I have one.

I was a star. I foreigner who did not simply assume the whole world spoke English. Of course it was hard to learn the language, but it was good for my brain.

What if you are already bilingual? No problem, learn a third or forth language.

The truth is all times and ages are good to start a child with a language. However, the question is do you want them to speak like a native or like a foreigner. I live in Krakow, and many parents say they will start their children young with learning English, like 8 years old. I think this is great. Bravo, as few American do this. I know I am an American, and although my parents were native Polish and Ukrainian speakers as well as English of course, they only taught me English, this is America.

When are the most important years for a child to learn? -5 months to 0 to 3 years old. I remember when I was 2 and 3 years old I was already conscious and I have clear conversational memories to this day. Children grow brain cells before they are born. Their brains are complete before they are born. At the age of 0 to 5 years they prune away brain cells not needed. But no new cell growth really occurs only connections. Therefore, teaching a child a new language at 8 is like teaching a person at 28 almost. So why not start when the child’s brain has no pruned away the brain cells and can still naturally differentiate sounds. I would rather give my kids a tutor speaking to them as babies then a Ivy league education. IQ is formed very early as are many talents and the first 8 years are very important to a babies cognitive development including language skills. I think from conception to age 8 at most, IQ is formed and from 8 to 18 emotional intelligence is formed. So if you want your children to speak a language as a native – start early. Many people are busy with their jobs, but my reply is what more important job in the world could there be than raising a child. And although being bilingual is not a must for a child, its a nice gift to give your children.

Taking mushrooms is called “shrooming”. This is the second article I am writing on Lion’s mane as a smart drug.

I used this mushroom to try to increase cognative function after a brain lesion. The results were an improvement but I am not sure if it was as a result of shrooming, that is taking these magic mushrooms.

In vitro this mushroom does appear to help stimulate NGF, per a few studies. But do these mushrooms really work. However, what I might do is try this again with ceteris paribus, that is no other smart drugs or supplements and measure it objectively, with a battery of cognitive tests. I am just one person and this will be my personal experience but I am curious if other people have tried this? Right now all the studies I have seen are more hype than science but based on my initial experience I would try this again. There is no question mushrooms do have chemicals that can affect brain chemistry. The question is can Lion’s name effect NGF or just ‘jazz up’ your thinking temporarily.

Hericium Erinaceus in Latin, is a mushroom that grows on wood. I grew these a while back as I read Lion’s mane mushrooms should have a positive affect on your brain, and I had a brain lesion. Also I am always looking for ways to increase cognitive function as it is good for language learning. What shiitake mushrooms are suppose to do for your immune system Lion’s mane mushrooms are suppose to do for your brain. They actually are suppose to stimulate nerve growth factor. What is proven is they have D-threitol, D-arabinitol, and palmitic acid which are antioxidants, this does not impress me, everything now days is an antioxidant. What I really wanted to know is if they help my cognitive function.

You can buy these for a pretty penny in a whole food store, but since I am in Poland now and make a pittance compared to my American income, I grew them on my own. I grew them because in Poland where I live you can not pick them, although Poland is the land of mushrooms, you can not pick lion’s mane mushrooms in the wild. So I grew them in my Kraków flat. They grew pretty fast and over the course of three months I used them in cooking.

Does Lion’s mane mushrooms work for brain repair

My conclusion was maybe, but no super evidence. I did felt more lucid after using them for about three months, but this was combined with with other vitamins and essential fatty acids (brain oil). It also could have been a huge placebo effect. So the bottom line is it is inconclusive if Lion’s mane mushrooms helped my brain. I might try them again, but I would be interested if anyone else has had any experiences with Lion’s mane mushrooms, and please try to be objective as objectivity is the essences of intelligence.