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A comment on Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear. Parent comment

Re:Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear by poulsbohemian on Wednesday January 24, 2024 @02:37PM (#39121699)
>As far as I can tell, the only difference between those with and without an accent is conscious effort.

In my completely unscientific sampling, I'm going to agree with you. This holds true too for native speakers who make no effort to improve their grammar and vocabulary. If one wants to be a better speaker, writer, and communicator, they will be by effort.

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Re:Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear by zadokshi on Wednesday January 24, 2024 @07:53PM (#39124792)
Yes, this is the real answer. The claims being made are not as articulate as they should be. You could perhaps say “before 12 a person can pick up an accent for ‘free’” but after twelve its certainly possible to pick up correct accent but it requires conscious effort, which many people are not interested in after they get their spoken L2 to the “good enough” point.
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