Steven Pinker Quotes

The child, merely by going on with his life, learns to speak the language belonging to his race. It is like a mental chemistry that takes place in the child.

Sentence structure is innate, but whining is acquired.

Obviously no language is innate. Take any kid from any race, bring them up in any culture and they will learn the language equally quickly. So no particular language is in the genes. But what might be in the genes is the ability to acquire language.

The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything!

For remember that in general we don't use language according to strict rules-- it hasn't been taught to us by means of strict rules, either. We, in our discussions on the other hand, constantly compare language with a calculus preceding to exact rules.

I listen to people talking sometimes, that great river that is language, with all its undercurrents of grammar and nuance, and I wonder how we all learn so quickly to speak it, given that we begin when we are barely old enough to stand upright. I have no memory of finding it hard. Indeed, I have no memory of it at all.

Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don't need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.

It is not easy, but young people have to learn languages.

You always speak the language you hear most.

I just can't stop doing Telugu films just when I have started speaking a little better Telugu.

I was born and brought up in London, so I couldn't speak Hindi properly. But as I am socialising more with my Hindi speaking friends, I'm getting better at the language.

I taught myself English. My English teacher was the sitcom 'Friends.' Back in the days when I was, like, 15, 14, it was like a syndrome for Korean parents to make their kids watch 'Friends.' I thought I was a victim at that time, but now I'm the lucky one.

Learning German will be always kind of hard to me. But I'm getting the basics right.

My English isn't that good, maybe just 40 per cent fine by normal standards.

I've studied Spanish, but I need to improve. I'll probably improve when I work in the country one day. For most people, when they travel to a country, their language becomes better.

I can speak a little bit of Hindi but understand every word.

My mother is a Telugu, so I have been familiar with the language since childhood.

If something interesting comes up, I would love to do something in Bangla in future, especially since I can speak Bangali fluently.

It took me just three months to pick up Hindi. I guess I'm a fast learner when it comes to languages.

I've been working in three-four languages. I'm happy to do it.

The linguistic clumsiness of tourists and students might be the price we pay for the linguistic genius we displayed as babies, just as the decrepitude of age in the price we pay for the vigor of youth.

Because education is such a broad area, I chose to focus on language learning.

A man who is ignorant of foreign languages is also ignorant of his own language.

Different persons growing up in the same language are like different bushes trimmed and trained to take the shape of identical elephants. The anatomical details of twigs and branches will fulfill the elephantine form differently from bush to bush, but the overall outward results are alike.

For me, language is something that I've always loved. When I read, that's what I look for. When I write, that's what I strive for.