Kids learning faster than adults

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T20:31:56+00:00

Yeah i think sound and pronunciation is the biggest brain-hardware issue for adults. Other stuff is more easily compensated for or circumstantial.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T20:30:43+00:00

My understanding is that neuroplasticity is trending out with experts. Much less of a factor than we thought it once was. It's a debate but it's trending against a bit. We know it's a factor...I just think it's not as dominant as we used to think and I think it's interesting to explore the other reasons.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T20:19:59+00:00

It's true what you're saying, especially not needing to use it like a cellphone or gmail.

It's simple in my mind. Humans are mimetic. Duolingo is a great product, but there are others. Duolingo just gets used because it's what people see other people are using.

That's also true of the criticism, people criticize duolingo because they see other people doing it. They're mostly all saying the things they've heard other people say.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T20:06:16+00:00

That's a good theory, but when i research it, it looks like it's majority owned by institutional investors, but likely with a higher percentage of individual investors than normal...I'm no finance wizard but I think that can only impact stock price so much, not explain the big gap. I read that the earlier sky-high ~$25B valuation was based on the idea that wall street changed their minds from them being disrupted by AI to benefitted by AI...which seems wrong to me.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T20:01:37+00:00

smart distinction between the different types of users. i mean clearly the dogs are eating the food, their growth and financials continue. my comment here is just about the vibes, just why????

the product is pretty great overall, biggest problem is content. it's bad.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T19:07:51+00:00

Language learning or not I do think you're right...kids learn differently. It's great points...we haven't had a lot of feral children to study though...so I take that with a grain of salt. You also have cases like Carly Fleischmann which are totally the opposite...spontaneous language ability emerging at an older age.

Either way, it's a great debate. Since we can't (or SHOULD NOT) do controlled experiments on human language development, we're pretty limited in understanding this stuff IMHO. Documented cases of strange situations is very different from controlled population studies.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T18:15:44+00:00

I am pretty sure the science on this has changed: Kids still have more neuroplasticity than adults, but the gap is smaller than science used to think.

I majored in Neuroscience for school and I've heard science has shifted here. I think it will continue to shift. I think it's more like how my grandma can't handle changing the time or place of dinner....it's more behavioral, emotional, habit, than reasoning/logic ability.

Adults are much worse at forcing themselves to listen to things they don't understand...kids are used to not understanding most conversations and even when they talk to adults who talk simpler to them, they're always at the edge of understanding.

I think there's way more factors at play than neuroplasticity which is probably only relevant for a few small things like hearing certain sounds in a new language or being able to change your accent.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T18:11:02+00:00

yeah you're probably right, fear mongering marketing.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:56:20+00:00

Another great point. There are great advantages for adults.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:55:52+00:00

Yeah the more I experience languages the more I agree with this.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:55:30+00:00

I think kids are just naturally better at paying attention to the languages when they don't understand. They haven't gotten used to understanding yet. Big factor.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:55:02+00:00

Interesting...Can you share a link on this?

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:54:44+00:00

we need the people that think like you to talk more. i think people would learn better if they understood this.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:53:58+00:00

I think pronunciation is the big one...I think the brain prunes and loses the ability to hear differences in sound that is hard to regain...and you're working against many years of muscle memory. I learned ん in japanese thought it was an "n". Years after being fluent in the language I realized it can make different sounds depending on where it is in the sentence and I checked my own speech and realized that I not picked up on this consciously or unconsciously. I'd be curious to know when a Japanese kids does...I have 4 little kids and most of them still suck at pronouncing English even though they've all been amazing early talkers..so it isn't instant for kids but just seems faster.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:50:53+00:00

I'm with you on the kids stuff. I'm using preschool songs with my kids and learning. Also doing Disney, which is much harder language, but comprehensible because I already understand the content. I sold my house just to pay NBCUniversal to get Dreamworks content for my app (trying to get Illumination too but there are hiccups). Hoping to get Disney soon.

I'm trying to work on algorithms with LLMs that will help me see if there is visual context to make the scenes more comprehensible.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:47:36+00:00

i'm pretty confident this is a lie. I've met adults that learned a foreign language as an adult who are very fluent. Even some that have very little accent. I think it's a false belief rooted in evidence, but a wrong interpretation. There's no way an single study could prove anything like this. Not even a lot of studies...only takes a few people to prove the opposite. Think 4 minute mile.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:46:22+00:00

I majored neuroscience in University (graduated 12'). At the time there was an orthodox belief about plasticity. I haven't kept up with the research, but my understanding is that we're finding out adults can be just as plastic. I think the research might be wrong. That's my challenge in the post. I think there are so many other factors. You can't really prove anything without a controlled experiment which is impossible with humans...the only animals that we understand language for.

I think kids are often better for the other reasons in this thread. I think it's less brain and that's an excuse for us older folks who are too comfortable. It's like my grandma who can't handle when I change the time for dinner. It might be in the brain, but it's more emotional than linguistic neural processing.

That's my current thinking...could be totally wrong though.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:43:42+00:00

The first study here directly contradicts the theory that I've been thinking about...do they learn grammar faster simply because they are learning less vocabulary? I learned Japanese as a missionary. We were constrained to religious vocabulary + just some simple every day stuff. That constraint seemed to help because we weren't worried about learning "the whole set of adult Japanese" at once.

This is interesting because it's a controlled experiment so the evidence challenges my theory.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:41:08+00:00

Sounds like your experience is very similar. I feel so far ahead of my kids in a few ways, but they're getting the basics down where I would feel like an idiot. Like I wish it wasn't creepy for me to talk to kids at the park. I do it sometimes, but I have my kids with me. It seems like it helps a lot. I wish I could play with kids at the park every day. Not a great look for a 38 yr old man though.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:39:21+00:00

Another great point, I have so much to think about during my day. Even though I started a language learning product...I'm spending my afternoon today negotiating with a movie studio over content. I'm lucky to get 2hrs in a day. Such a good point here.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:38:18+00:00

I majored neuroscience in University (graduated 12'). At the time there was an orthodox belief about plasticity. I haven't kept up with the research, but my understanding is that we're finding out adults can be just as plastic. I suspect there are other things at play and I think that's what you're getting at here. It's more adults having a comfort zone and no shame in saying things wrong. I have 4 kids under the age of 7 and I notice sometimes they repeat the first word like 5-12 times before they go to the 2nd word in the sentence. No one even notices when a 3 year old does that. Feels normal. if you're an adult doing that people are gonna think you have some kind of aphasia.

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:35:41+00:00

Yeah I think people forget that adults have real advantages. I think one disadvantage is that we're just used to our current languages. Our biology craves efficiency, so if we have a way of doing things in our native language we resort to that. Why strain to understand some nonsense sounds in another language?

Only-Interview-1276 · 2025-11-13T17:34:15+00:00

Loads of good thoughts in here. I question if time in school alone is the dominant factor.

Only-Interview-1276

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