<p>I am aware of immersion methods as well as mnemonics such as the one Daniel Tammet mentioned in <a href="http://www.danieltammet.net/blue-day.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Born on a Blue Day</a>. I read that Kim Peek's lack of corpus callosum enabled his brain to absorb information faster with his whole brain but that hindered other daily activities.</p>

<p>But my motivation was the folklore legends of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Parents_and_upbringing_.281898.E2.80.931909.29" rel="nofollow noreferrer">William James Sidis</a> who is supposed to have <a href="http://www.quantonics.com/The_Prodigy_Review.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">acquired a language in one day</a>.</p>

<p>My question thus is two-fold:</p>

<ol>
<li>Are there any medical conditions which allow one to learn a
language faster? For instance, consider John Travolta's character learning
Portuguese in a half-an hour car drive.</li>
<li>What are some current theories in cognitive science that allow one to acquire a language faster? For instance, see the book <a href="http://www.babelnomore.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Babel No More</a>. At the end the author mentions a trick of using the whole body to learn a language as well as the accent.</li>
</ol>

<p>So, how would an artificial intelligence programmer view language learning? What sort of model would he attempt to create?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-15T15:31:39.620Z
*"I read that Kim Peek's lack of corpus callosum enabled his brain to absorb information faster with his whole brain."* Where did you read this please?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-10T05:57:51.880Z
The one program I'm aware of is duolingo, which is a free language learning tool.
Alex Stone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-11T22:40:52.847Z
I checked it out. Pretty much cut-and-dried classroom setup. Also my question was not a software request rather theory from field of cognitive science dealing with accelerated learning. I have edited my question further.
Sniper Clown
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-12-12T02:48:30.237Z
Regarding AI Programmer and language learning, this lecture helped me: http://videolectures.net/nips2010_tenenbaum_hgm/ . It discusses how the brain might create models of how words relate to each other through trees and priors.
Alex Stone
<reference-request><intelligence><language>
Are there any cutting edge techniques that would enable one to acquire a foreign language at a relatively fast pace?
Sniper Clown
# Are there any cutting edge techniques that would enable one to acquire a foreign language at a relatively fast pace?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-12-10)

I am aware of immersion methods as well as mnemonics such as the one Daniel Tammet mentioned in [Born on a Blue Day](http://www.danieltammet.net/blue-day.php). I read that Kim Peek's lack of corpus callosum enabled his brain to absorb information faster with his whole brain but that hindered other daily activities.

But my motivation was the folklore legends of [William James Sidis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James_Sidis#Parents_and_upbringing_.281898.E2.80.931909.29) who is supposed to have [acquired a language in one day](http://www.quantonics.com/The_Prodigy_Review.html).

My question thus is two-fold:

1. Are there any medical conditions which allow one to learn a
   language faster? For instance, consider John Travolta's character learning
   Portuguese in a half-an hour car drive.
2. What are some current theories in cognitive science that allow one to acquire a language faster? For instance, see the book [Babel No More](http://www.babelnomore.com/). At the end the author mentions a trick of using the whole body to learn a language as well as the accent.

So, how would an artificial intelligence programmer view language learning? What sort of model would he attempt to create?

**Tags:** reference-request, intelligence, language

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: The one program I'm aware of is duolingo, which is a free language learning tool.  
> **username_0**: I checked it out. Pretty much cut-and-dried classroom setup. Also my question was not a software request rather theory from field of cognitive science dealing with accelerated learning. I have edited my question further.  
> **username_2**: Regarding AI Programmer and language learning, this lecture helped me: http://videolectures.net/nips2010_tenenbaum_hgm/ . It discusses how the brain might create models of how words relate to each other through trees and priors.  
> **username_1**: *"I read that Kim Peek's lack of corpus callosum enabled his brain to absorb information faster with his whole brain."* Where did you read this please?  

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## 0 answers

