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Originally Posted by BadNick
As far as learning languages, and I hope this is not too far off the intended topic, but with first language acquisition by around 6 or so, I heard something along the lines that around that same age there are brain connection developments that occur that result in no "accent" when speaking the second language, but if the second language is learned after that age, the accent is almost never lost.
Is there any basis to this and does it apply to most people who learn a second or third... language later in life?
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Everyone has an accent of some sort or another. That's how we recognise each other on the phone!
I am very skeptical about such claims. First of all, a child's life depends on learning language. That's usually not the case with adults. After all, adults already know how to speak. Second, what else can an infant do but learn? Sleep and eat perhaps. An older language learner has many more distractions.
Most important in regard to the issue of some organic limitation of the human brain, speaking exercises not only the brain, but also muscles in your mouth and face. Starting early is definitely a plus, but frequent practice and a good ear can go a long way. So can starting from a language that shares many phonemes with the target language.