Students will speak a second language with an accent if they learn the language after the age of six. It does not matter how motivated and clever they are, the accent will not go away. Only a few gifted students can speak a second language flawlessly. The exact reasons for this phenomenon are unknown. Although a large number of hypotheses have been put forward, the phenomenon is still a puzzle to most language educators. We have conducted some preliminary studies with a computer system to verify some of the hypotheses and determine the relationship between listening abilities and language learning. These efforts will form the basis upon which to obtain a better understanding of the process of learning languages and, over the longer term, to devise better methods for learning languages.