Language Learning in 50 Questions

In the preface the author introduces himself first of all as a «language learner»: a curiosity that began in the 1990s with translating English song lyrics from Blue Jean magazine and following NBA finals in English turned him into an academic training English teachers at Gazi University. The book's method is notable: 1,500 questions were collected via teachers, students and people in other professions across Turkey, and the 50 most frequent were selected.

The first question — «How did languages emerge?» — offers a wide panorama, from the Tower of Babel and an Aboriginal legend to traditional hypotheses, Chomsky's universal grammar and Dean Falk's «motherese» hypothesis. The author honestly admits that the origin of language is one of science's hardest questions and has no definitive answer.

In «Was English always this popular?», the author shows that the most widely spoken language is actually Chinese, but English is the common language of more than 510 million people and makes up about 65% of internet content. British colonialism, American economic power and scientific-technological terminology are explained as the main reasons for its global dominance.

The difference between acquisition and learning is explained with reference to Krashen and Chomsky: a mother tongue is acquired through natural interaction, while a foreign language is learned within limited time, usually in a classroom. In the section on children's language development, Deb Roy's experiment — recording more than 90,000 hours of his son's first three years with cameras throughout the house — and the Hart–Risley study, which found that children of affluent families hear 45 million words by age three versus only 15 million in the poorest families, are particularly memorable.

On multilingualism the author debunks a common myth: children do not need to master their mother tongue first, and exposure to several languages from birth does not confuse them. According to De Houwer's research, bilingual toddlers at 18 months understand on average 71% more words than monolinguals. The story of Eva Spekhorstová, a Czech teenager fluent in many languages at fifteen, brings the point to life.

On teaching babies a foreign language at home, the author gives practical advice: rather than translating words, provide «quality input» through songs, games, puppets, stories and digital reading platforms. He also warns that if a parent who doesn't speak the language well uses only that language with the child, incorrect pronunciation and structures may «fossilize» in the child's speech.

• The question-and-answer format lets you dip in anywhere
• Each answer ends with a list of scholarly sources
• The author's personal experience and real examples enliven the text
• Some answers are brief and superficial; Part Four is tied closely to the Turkish context