A Test That Quantifies Basic Language-Learning Ability
Teaching An Old Dog New Words A U.S. Air Force Academy cadet at the board in Chinese class. U.S. Department of Defense Until recently, it's been used exclusively in U.S. government agencies and military schools. But now, a test for how easily a person will become fluent in a foreign language could be made available for civilians. Nautilus calls the test "one of the first civilian benefits to come out of America's war on terror." Nautilus looks at some of the science—and yet-unproven theory—behind the test, called the High Level Language Aptitude Battery, or Hi-LAB. In short, some of the latest thinking posits that some people have better brain hardware for reaching high-level fluency in another language as an adult. You've probably heard a lot about how the brain is primed for learning...