 | Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Browse | Search | E-mail Us |  |
1-800-218-2737
| |||||
|
Order Toll Free 1-800-218-2737 |
||||
|
Thanks for reading the Multilingual Books newsletter, your source for foreign language news, information, and product information and specials from Multilingual Books. This is also available as a web page at our website, www.multilingualbooks.com. In this issue:
Send to a Friend
Unsubscribe/Subscribe Information If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to subscribe, we offer automated subscription: Subscribe, or, send an e-mail from the address you want to subscribe to multilingualbooks-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com. Thank you. |
| ||||
|
|
Tone language translates to perfect pitch
New research shows Mandarin speakers more likely to acquire rare musical ability
Public release from eurekalert.org
Could it be that cellist Yo-Yo Ma owes his perfect musical pitch to his Chinese parents? While we may never know the definitive answer, new research from the University of California, San Diego has found a strong link between speaking a tone language such as Mandarin, and having perfect pitch, the ability once thought to be the rare province of super-talented musicians.
The first large-scale, direct-test study to be conducted on perfect pitch, led by psychology professor Diana Deutsch of UC San Diego, has found that native tone language speakers are almost nine times more likely to have the ability.
Results will be presented Nov. 17 at the meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in San Diego.
Perfect, or absolute, pitch is the ability to name or produce a musical note of particular pitch without the benefit of a reference note. The visual equivalent is calling a red apple "red." While most people do this effortlessly, without, for example, having to compare a red to a green apple, perfect pitch is extremely rare in the U.S. and Europe, with an estimated prevalence in the general population of less than one in 10,000.
Tone languages, such as Mandarin and Vietnamese among many others, are those in which words take on entirely different meanings depending on the tones in which they are enunciated. In Mandarin, for example, the word "ma" means "mother" when spoken in the first tone, "hemp" when spoken in the second tone, "horse" in the third and a reproach in the fourth. (Tone is not to be confused with shades of meaning imparted by intonation; saying something sarcastically, for instance, or rising at the end of a sentence to indicate a question.)
Deutsch and her co-authors measured the prevalence of perfect pitch by means of a direct, on-site test in two populations of music students: a group of 88 first-year students enrolled at the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, all of whom spoke Mandarin, and a group of 115 first-years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, none of whom spoke a tone language.
The test consisted of 36 piano notes spanning a three-octave range, generated by a Kurzweil synthesizer. To minimize the use of relative pitch (a much more common ability where listeners rely on reference notes for help), all intervals between successive tones were larger than an octave. Perfect pitch was defined as a score of 85 percent correct.
"We found a very clear difference between the two populations," Deutsch said. "In Mandarin speakers, perfect pitch appears to be not rare, but rather a readily acquired ability. "We also found a striking effect of age of onset of musical training," she said.
In both groups, the earlier an individual began music lessons, the more likely he or she was to have perfect pitch. But the incidence was substantially higher in the Chinese Mandarin speakers of the Central Conservatory.
For students who had begun musical training between ages 4 and 5, approximately 60 percent of the Chinese speakers tested as having perfect pitch, while only about 14 percent of the U.S. nontone language speakers did. For those who had begun training between 6 and 7, approximately 55 percent of the Chinese and 6 percent of the U.S. met the criterion. And for those beginning between 8 and 9, the figures were 42 percent of the Chinese and zero of the U.S. group.
The study results, Deutsch said, "are very like what you would expect if you were dealing with a speech-related system. Tone appears to be analogous to vowel quality and other linguistic features acquired during infancy.
"The findings support the notion that babies can acquire perfect pitch as part of learning a language, which can later generalize to musical tones," Deutsch said. "Indeed, the results for acquisition of absolute pitch in tone and nontone language speakers reflect a very similar picture, in terms of timeframe, to the critical periods inferred by linguists for acquiring first and second languages."
The study follows up on one Deutsch led in 1999, which found that native speakers of Vietnamese and Mandarin exhibited a "remarkably precise and stable form of absolute pitch in enunciating words," leading Deutsch to hypothesize then that pitch was an extra-musical ability.
Read the full article at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-11/uoc--tlt110804.php
Send to a Friend
Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above.
| Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Top of Page |
Spanish And More "On The Go" On Preloaded MP3 Players
 Spanish On The Go |
The product starts with a well-regarded language course such as the Platiquemos Spanish course, featuring over 40 hours of audio instruction and over 800 pages of text for the full 8 levels. Supplemental materials such as Musical Spanish, which introduces Spanish through popular music, are added for a well-rounded learning experience. The course materials are then rendered to digital format using MP3 for audio and the industry standard Adobe Acrobat for the course books, and delivered on DVD-ROM or preloaded on Dell players. The audio content can be played on portable players, laptops, or any other device that can play MP3s. The course book content can be viewed or printed on any desktop computer, laptop, or other device that can view or print Acrobat (.pdf) files. Although the amount of material included is extensive, after digital conversion the materials occupy no more than 1.5 GB, leaving most of the player's capacity available. These products are priced to offer a substantial savings on the course materials in standard CD/tape and book format or, to look at it another way, includes a MP3 player almost free of charge with purchase of the course package.
See our newsletter specials for introductory savings on these hot new items!
More information and ordering for Spanish On The Go...
More information and ordering for Arabic On The Go...
April Top Products
Send to a Friend
Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above.
| Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Top of Page |
|
Last month's trivia questions and answers: Spring is here! What is the English translation and language of origin of these springtime-themed words? 1. Duben - April; Czech 2. Ducha - Shower; Portuguese 3. Odavisz - Bring; Hungarian 4. Mayo - May; Spanish 5. Kukka - Flower; Finnish This month's winner is Janine Libbey. Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to this month's winner. This month's trivia quiz: The spring and summer months are a great time to take a vacation. What is the English translation and language of origin of these travel-themed words? 1. Flugzeug 2. Voz 3. Samochód 4. Vliegveld 5. Valigia The answers and the winner will be in our next newsletter. Winner will receive their choice of one Talk Now or World Talk language CD-ROM! No purchase necessary to enter. E-mail your entry to:
info@multilingualbooks.com |  |
Send to a Friend
Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above.
| Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Top of Page |
iLoveLanguages.com
The grandaddy of all language links lists, grown from a page of 12 links in 1994 to a massive collection of language resources. From the site: iLoveLanguages was born as "The Human-Languages Page" in May of 1994 to address the lack of an organized list of language-learning materials on the Internet. iLoveLanguages' purpose is to list, categorize, and promote Internet resources related to language learning, education, and use.
Check it out at http://www.ilovelanguages.com/index.php.
Send to a Friend
Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above.
| Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Top of Page |
 
|
Save 10% On Any Audio Course! Great savings on your choice of language course! For a limited time, we are offering our newsletter readers 10% off any audio course purchase. Choose your course, language, and number of levels - save $20 on FSI French 1, or $60 on all 8 levels of Platiquemos! See our finest lines of language courses below.
Multilingual Books FSI Courses
Platiquemos Spanish Course Order any audio course such as FSI or Platiquemos and get 10% off for one week only! Use promo code MB-10C-424 to receive this special. Order today! |
|
Save $40 on the NEW "On The Go" Series of Preloaded MP3 Players! Multilingualbooks.com announces the release of new language learning products for the iPod and other portable digital music players. The "On The Go" series features high-quality language learning products in digital format, available both ready to load on your player or preloaded on Dell MP3 players. The "On The Go" series is currently available for Spanish and Arabic. The product starts with a well-regarded language course such as the Platiquemos Spanish course, featuring over 40 hours of audio instruction and over 800 pages of text for the full 8 levels. Supplemental materials such as Musical Spanish, which introduces Spanish through popular music, are added for a well-rounded learning experience. The course materials are then rendered to digital format using MP3 for audio and the industry standard Adobe Acrobat for the course books, and delivered on DVD-ROM or preloaded on Dell players. The audio content can be played on portable players, laptops, or any other device that can play MP3s. The course book content can be viewed or printed on any desktop computer, laptop, or other device that can view or print Acrobat (.pdf) files. Although the amount of material included is extensive, after digital conversion the materials occupy no more than 1.5 GB, leaving most of the player's capacity available. These products are priced to offer a substantial savings on the course materials in standard CD/tape and book format or, to look at it another way, includes a MP3 player almost free of charge with purchase of the course package. For a limited time, save $40 on the new "On The Go" series preloaded MP3 players! Save with our newsletter special for one week only! Use promo code MB-OTG-424 to receive this special. |
|
Save $25 on Talk Now and World Talk Bundles! Talk Now and World Talk CD-ROM Courses
For a limited time, get a Talk Now and World Talk bundle in any of over 20 languages for just $69! $94 purchased separately, you save $25! Order today to save with our one week only newsletter special! Use promo code MB-TW-424 to receive this special. |
Send to a Friend
Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above.
Unsubscribe / Subscribe Information
This newsletter is intended as a service to language enthusiasts and customers of Multilingual Books. You have received this because our records indicate you have ordered products from us or have asked to join our mailing list. If this message was unwanted, we apologize and offer an automated unsubscribe service: Unsubscribe, or, send an e-mail from the address you want to unsubscribe to multilingualbooks-unsubscribe@topica.email-publisher.com.
| Contact Us: Address: 1309 NE Ravenna Boulevard, Seattle, WA 98105 - Phone: 206-328-7922 - Fax: 206-328-7445 - Order Toll Free: 1-800-21-TAPES - (1-800-218-2737) - E-mail: info@multilingualbooks.com |
 | Quick Links | Multilingual Books Home | Top of Page |  |
|
Multilingual Books Internet Language Company 1309 NE Ravenna Boulevard Seattle, WA 98105 |
Business: 206-328-7922 Sales: 206-369-8242 Fax: 206-328-7445 E-mail:info@multilingualbooks.com |
| Copyright © 1996-2004 Internet Language Company | |
Tell Me More Language Software