A team of scientists recorded the cries of 60 newborn babies, 30 from France and 30 from Germany.

After analysing the recordings, the researchers say that babies must pick up important parts of their language while still inside their mother.

When French adults talk, they tend to make their voices go up at the end of a sentence. Germans will make their voices go down at the end of their sentences. In this study, the French babies tended to cry with a melody that goes up towards the end, and the German babies’ cries would go down towards the end.

Scientists say that the babies are copying the melodies of the voices that they have heard during their last three months in the womb. They say that the babies do this to attract the mother and encourage her to be close to them.