Rousseau on Learning Language Term Paper by Nicky

The paper discusses Rousseau's belief that when children are subjected to intense pressure and the artificial acceleration of their natural learning of language, it can make them unnecessarily shy and self-conscious, it reinforces the wrong pronunciation and it promotes lazy speech. The paper also explains Rousseau's assertion that the French tradition of ensuring that everyone sounds the same detracts from the ability of the individual to express himself completely. The paper emphasizes Rousseau's belief that some children simply begin speaking later than others, and that if they were left alone and allowed to absorb language at their own pace, they would not necessarily suffer any lasting consequences of starting to speak later than other children.