OK, I stand corrected!
Could the ability for differentiating similar sounds in a different language correlate to a 'perfect musical “ear?” ’ I ask because my brother, a musician, was able to learn Viet Namese in a short period of time–and he started with a Southern accent!
Thats an interesting statement and an interesting case. How fast did he learn, and to what level? Did he already know a tonal language or any other Asian languages?
Knowing a lot of people that study Vietnamese, I think that progression from absolute beginner to pre-intermediate level (the ability to have short conversations about a past holiday, discuss whats good and bad about the town you live in, that kind of level) takes about a year for the average person. But the phenonmenon of some people being able to learn languages spookily fast is a very interesting research area!
I’ve been trying to get in touch with my brother to fill in some of the details, but he answers e-mail maybe once a month. So I did some other digging around and found it was Korean rather than Viet Namese that he learned. This was way after either war, by the way, and I was in grad school, out of state, working two jobs and teaching as a TA, which is probably why I’m hazy on details.
Anyway, he learned Korean at the language school in Monterey as an Army Officer. Korean is a tonal, Cat. 3 language, which means you have to have a pretty high score on the entrance exam in order to be admitted. The classes are full immersion and accelerated, most take 120 days. J. was deployed as a military trainer/adviser to the So. Korean army so I imagine he had to be proficient in the language before he left. He must have been, because the Gen. who was the American head honcho in So. Korea at the time, requested that J. be his personal aide. My brother turned the job down–he didn’t like the Gen.
Now, about J. He’s a natural musician; i.e., he learned to read music before he was 7 and, again, in a very short time, or so the family story goes. He could pick up any instrument and learn to play it in less than a week-end. Although he was a trombonist in high school, he could play reed instruments, double reed instruments, percussion, and, of course, any brass instrument, including french horn, and cathedral organ. He’s now a cellist.
The only foreign language he knew before Korean was German; we all pretty much did since Dad was stationed in Germany a couple of times as we were growing up. He went to h.s. and college in the South and married a southern girl, which accounts for his southern accent.
I think there have been studies made, perhaps not specific studies, but studies that show a relationship between musical talent and language learning. There is, apparently, an area in the brain that processes both musical and language tonalities in the same way.
You’re right, it is an area of interest and one I’ll have to research. I’ll let you know what I learn.