Patterns

New research suggests that your ability to learn a second language can be predicted by your ability to learn patterns.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, was conducted using American student participants in an overseas programme, and measured how well they picked up some aspects of Hebrew. The students were tested once in the first semester and then again in second semester, along with a task to test their pattern detecting abilities.

The data revealed a strong association between statistical learning and language learning: Students who were high performers on the shapes task tended to pick up the most Hebrew over the two semesters.

“It’s surprising that a short 15-minute test involving the perception of visual shapes could predict to such a large extent which of the students who came to study Hebrew would finish the year with a better grasp of the language,” says Frost. (Source: Science Daily)

Whether you’re good at detecting patterns or not, learning a new language can be fun, especially if you take classes with others, like these Portuguese classes in New York!