Language, you are reading one right now. But how do we, as humans, learn language? What parts of the brain and who is most responsible for our acquisition of a new language? Language is a mystery to a lot of people, but with more modern technology and science it has become less of a mystery, and we can now determine when and how we learn our first words. We can address linguistic acquisition by age group:

Birth to 1 Year

This is known as the response stage. For the first year there will be little to no understandable vocalizing. Instead, at this age, the infant will primarily be responding to things like their name. The baby will also develop an early skill of distinguishing a person’s mood or tone of voice, meaning they can tell whether or not you are mad or happy. Due to their inability to vocally respond, most responses will be physical in nature, such as touching, reaching and looking.

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When I was an undergraduate I used to turn my journalistic bent towards contributing articles, interviews and reviews to various printed and online publications. I always considered this a hobby rather than a gateway to the industry, nevertheless I was shocked when an acquaintance, working as freelance writer, told me “you won’t get anywhere like that. You should never work for free. It means you’re cheap.”

Today that statement sounds very dated indeed. Nowadays, no matter what industry you’d like to break into after completing your studies, it’s almost certain that, without having undertaken some form of internship or work placement, you won’t be getting too far. For many people this will involve working for free.

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Living (and loving) Life

In terms of quantity, more history books could be filled with stories of people to gave up, were told to quit and did, or never even tried in the first place than could be written of those who eventually succeeded. But then again, that wouldn’t make for very interesting history.

Here are 25 people – past and present – who failed, were discouraged, or otherwise had reason to throw in the towel, but didn’t. And because of their persistence and dedication, they eventually made it into the history books.

1 – Albert Einstein: The man who won the Nobel Prize and became the authority on physics was, as a child, thought to be stupid and was eventually kicked out of school.

2 – Zane Grey: After following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a dentist, Grey continued his first passion of storytelling. Despite multiple rejections of his books, he was eventually published and became a very well-known author.

3 – Charlie Chaplin: The iconic character almost never came to be as he was initially turned down by studio executives.

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Today we find ourselves living in an ever smaller world, and many people are finding it necessary to learn a foreign language in order to communicate with our new neighbors, co-workers and friends.

Here in the United States we have a large (and growing) Spanish peaking population, and more Americans than ever are interested in learning to speak Spanish for obvious reasons. If you happen to be one of them, here are five free online resources for helping you learn to speak, read and write in Spanish:

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Every parent knows that it is a wonderful experience when you teach your child how to read. Most parents believe that this is supposed to be left to the specially trained and experienced teachers, but you as a parent should actually be the first to educate your child on how to read. If you want to take part in this important developmental stage, here are a few tips that you can follow.

Reading is a part of the language development of your child. Teaching your child how to speak and at the same time teaching him/her how to read will have a lasting effect on the child. Furthermore, it will help the child acquire reading skills well ahead of his/her peers.

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