Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study suggests

Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by saraid216 on Monday October 08, 2012 @12:31PM (#4627595)

I suspect it doesn't. The reason I don't think so is because programming languages aren't spoken; even when we learn a dead natlang, like Latin, we are taught how to speak it even if we're missing the social context.

But that's a guess on top of a guess, so grain of salt and all.

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Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by Todd on Monday October 08, 2012 @01:44PM (#4627960)

I would agree with that. Programming languages are more about logic and modeling (algorithms and data structures).

Learning a human language uses a part of the brain which has evolved for that purpose. It not only requires learning thousands of words, and mapping them to concepts, but also learning how they fit together (syntax) and change (morphology). And this needs to be done in real time, both recognition and production.

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