Why children are good at languages

I can see why children are good at learning languages.  No, this isn’t going to be a technical blog about the psychology of language (although I’m sure that would be interesting).  But I got thinking about this the other day when I heard Hannah singing.

Now, Hannah likes to make up her own songs.  I can’t imagine where she got the habit from, but she got it.  Sometimes the songs rhyme, sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes they make sense, more often they don’t.  But the interesting thing is that they sound like other songs.  For example, she makes up songs that sound like worship songs.  They have the same kinds of phrases, the same kinds of tempo and tune.

This is why children are good at languages (among other reasons).  They listen to things as they are, without imposing their expectations on them.  When Hannah hears the letter “d” in Spanish, she doesn’t think about what a d ought to sound like, or how that word is like an English word.  She just tries to copy it like it sounds.  We’re going to continue to learn a lot from her when it comes to Spanish!

Then, on another topic, I got thinking about worship songs again.  I realized that I’ve heard a lot of worship songs lately that sound like someone just wrote them to sound like a worship song.  They have the same terminology, a catchy tune.  Some of these songs are hits.  But they don’t really say all that much.  They’re all alike, more or less.  What happened to that personal passion, that awareness of how God is working in our own lives, in our own church?  After all He’s done, all He is, why is it that we can only think of singing,”bless the Lord” or “I worship You”?

Sometimes, just sounding “like” something isn’t enough.  It’s great for kids learning a language, but eventually they need to learn to say things that are real.  Look at the rich tapestry of emotion and praise in the Psalms.  We all need that kind of worship that springs up from our encounters with God, His people, His world and His Word.  Let’s engage our brains, engage our passions, and really appreciate the Almighty in reverence and awe.  Has He done anything for you today?