Automagic language acquisition
One of the numerous myths people cling to here in Taiwan says that if you play some English or Japanese music or children program to children, they will automagically pick up the language, without the need for your intervention. Miraculously, this myth is especially popular with people who do not have very close ties to foreign languages.
And it goes so far that now, with the availability of compact computers (including mobile phones), children even get their dose of meaningless animation or other films while they are supposed to eat.
Yes, I know, language acquisition is slightly different between children and adults, but that doesn't mean children will pick up a language just by being presented with some material in it. Children require interaction, response. They will of course observe their environment and imitate, but they oly imitate what they have seen/heard a few times.
You may have noticed that children pick up special habits their parents have, vocabulary, sayings, responses. That's because they saw those more than once. Just playing an animation that was made by a team of unmotivated people who's only goal was to stretch the film to the desired length does not equal that.
This is not better than placing children in front of a telly and leaving "education" to that device...
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