ABSTRACT
We are all capable of speaking a foreign language-we all learnt English as children and that is one of the most difficult languages there is (sic).
(advertisement for a self-study language course) The conditions in which we learnt our native tongue were, however, quite unique. We were surrounded by the language for some years before we actually started talking. Not wasted time, although it is difficult to quantify what was happening; we heard sounds, intonation, patterns-and we were making connections about meaning. We were not under pressure to start using language. None of us started talking before we wanted to-our parents could not force us to start.
