Can the environment affect your ability to learn multiple languages? Some researchers argue that exposure to multiple languages at an early age (from birth to 8 years old) develops the child’s brain in such a way that when s/he grows up they will have better language acquisition abilities than children who grew up learning only one language. A common example given is that there are more Europeans who can speak multiple languages than US Americans, and a European often has an easier time learning a foreign language such as English than an American would learning, say, French or German. Researchers believe that European brains are just better wired to pick up a second, third, or even forth language because they tend to grow up in a multi-language environment (in the case of Switzerland, grocery store product labels are printed in up to four languages). I am curious to know if people here believe in this theory -- can exposure to multiple languages at an early age really improve your ability to learn new languages later on in life?

Why don't people say what they mean and mean what they say? I'm a strong believer in the maxim “say what you mean and mean what you say.” However, having lived in different Asian societies for many years I am beginning to realize that this concept is foreign to most Asian people. Take Thailand for example: there it is customary for girls to play "mind games" where they push away guys that they like in order to test how hard the guy would work to win their love. So why is so hard for people in Asian societies to say what they mean and mean what they say? All this doublespeak is making me feel like I'm living in a Brave New World.

Should italki be just limited to human language exchanges? I think it would be neat if italki could expand to allow computer programming & scripting language learning in addition to human language learning. For example, a Ruby developer learning the Lisp language could befriend a Lisp developer learning the Ruby language; a KiXtart guru could trade notes with an AutoIt guru. Do you think this is feature creep or something that would actually be useful? Opinions welcomed.

If extraterrestrials (aliens) were to visit Earth, how would we communicate with them? I've always been fascinated with the possibility of other life forms "out there" -- this universe is way, WAY too big for just one intelligent species to exist (ignoring the multiverse theory of Baby Universes). Let's say E.T. does come knockin' on our door; do we communicate with them using language, math, hieroglyphs, missiles, or something else?

What happens to civilization as languages evolve and old ones die off? According to one global watch group: “‘Language death’ has accelerated to a current rate of 2 languages lost per month. As last speakers die, carrying their languages to their graves, repositories of information and understanding that took thousands of years to gather… gone. From a probable peak of 20,000 we are already down to only 6 or 7 thousand extant languages. Experts estimate that of these, 3,000 more will become extinct in the next 30 years, further gutting the storehouse of human knowledge.” (Source: http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2008/02/20/intl-mother-language/) Not only do we have to worry about preserving animal species, but also languages and dialects within languages. Let's not forget that, lest our great, great, great grand kids grow up speaking only one global language: a dumbed down, dried out, derivative English lacking all the flourishes of Shakespeare or rhythmic beauty of Sanskrit-based languages.

What free software can I use to make my own dictionaries? I'm compiling a list of English<->Vietnamese translations in an RTF document, but this format is too limited (e.g., no automatic sorting). Ideally, I'd like to use a free or open source dictionary maker that features automatic sorting, Unicode support, fast searching that ignores accent marks, and the ability to do partial matches instead of forcing an exact match on a term. Any suggestions?