D:       It's time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag...

Y:        A listener writes: 

            Dear AMOS,

            Why can some people learn a new language easily but others struggle?

D:        Good question!  How many languages do you speak, Yael?

Y:        Four.

D:        Really?!

Y:        Yep--English, Canadian, British, and Australian.

D:        Ha ha.  Very funny. 

Y:        Sorry.  But really, I'm terrible at languages.  But I have a friend who speaks like five.  She'll travel some place and within a few weeks, it seems, she's asking for directions and having conversations in a completely new language.

D:        That could be because she has a large Heschl's Gyrus.

Y:        What?

D:        Heschl's Gyrus--it's a brain structure about the size of a finger--one in the brain's left side, one in the right.  And scientists think that the bigger your left Heschl's Gyrus, the greater your chances of being good at learning languages.

Y:        Huh--is that because the Heschl's Gyrus plays an important role in how the brain processes language or something?

D:        Actually, no.  Heschl's Gyrus is usually associated with the basics of sound processing, like pitch and volume.  But it's not directly connected to speech.

Y:        But wait--are you saying that if I happen to have a small left Heschl's Gyrus I can't learn a new language?

D:        Not at all.  It might just mean that you learn languages differently.  And, sure, it could mean that you don't learn new languages as easily as someone with a larger Heschl's Gyrus.  But you can still learn.