Yahoo Lifestyle Raising a bilingual child
Did you know children pick up languages more easily than adults? They can even develop native-speaker-like pronunciation, which is rare if you start learning after puberty. As well as being pretty fun, teaching your little one a second language can also boost her future job, social and travel prospects and it works on her brain, too: a 2011 study in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology shows bilingual children have more focused attention spans than kids who only speak one language. These little learners also find
it easier to pick up other languages later on and are thought to be better multitaskers. And get this: a 2004 York University study found those who speak more than one language are mentally sharper and less likely to experience mental decline in older age, while more recent research claims bilingualism can delay the onset of dementia symptoms and Alzheimer’s disease by years.
So you want to teach your child another language but don’t know how? Read on!
Starting early
“If one or both parents speak another language, introducing the second language from birth is ideal,” says Sydney-based bilingual speech and language pathologist Sonia Bestulic. Research shows this is because the brain is at its most ‘flexible’ and is most open to detecting different language sounds before the age of one.
Think that’s too young? Scientists from the University of British Columbia claim that language-learning starts in the womb! They exposed two groups of newborns to two different languages: English and Tagalog (languages from different rhythmic classes).
One group’s mothers only spoke English and the other group’s mums spoke both Tagalog and English while pregnant. By measuring what’s known as ‘high-amplitude sucking-preference procedure’ (in a nutshell, where increased, non-nutritive sucking means increased interest in the topic at hand), they discovered the latter could already distinguish between the two different language sounds.
A study by University of Washington second-language-learning researcher Patricia Kuhl shows the more foreign-language exposure a baby has, the larger the vocabulary she’ll develop in that language as a toddler.
But if you’ve missed the newborn timeframe, don’t panic – time is on your side! “Children are geniuses at learning other languages until they turn seven,” Patricia says.
Lessons in language
When it comes to teaching your little one a second language, you don’t necessarily need to be fluent in another tongue yourself. In fact, it might just end up being a fun learning experience for the both of you!
If, for example, you’d like your littlie to learn Italian, you could enroll her in an Italian class (give ‘children’s language classes’ a Google, or take her to a preschool or playgroup where the language is spoken so she’s exposed to it. You could watch Italian-learning DVDs with her and encourage her to repeat the words with you, make use of language-learning apps on your smartphone and read books and sing songs in Italian.
You could also have Italian cooking and culture nights at home, and even buy her an Italian-speaking doll (you can find toys programmed to speak numerous phrases in other languages online, from sites including
Octopus Kids).
“This won’t result in a fluent, bilingual (two-language) speaker, but it does offer great exposure to another language and adds variety to the little one’s learning,” says Sonia.
Going bilingual
If you do speak a second language, it can be surprisingly simple to encourage your child to come to speak both fluently. There are two key ways to support this development:
Have one language per parent
With this approach, while one parent speaks to the child in English, the other speaks to her solely in the second language. “This involves consistency of the speakers to maintain that language with the child,” stresses Sonia. “So in a household where Dad speaks English only and Mum speaks both Spanish and English, Mum should consistently use Spanish with her child – though yes, there will be extra work for her having to translate for Dad,” she adds.
Speak one language at home, another in the community
With this approach, you speak to your child in the second language at home, while she learns English through exposure and immersion at daycare or preschool. This is a great method for single parents.
If your child, who happily spoke the home language in her earlier years, starts speaking English at home after starting preschool, don’t get upset! “Some children don’t like to feel different to their peers,
so it’s important to not force kids to use the home language and make it a chore. Instead, encourage the language through enjoyable methods,” suggests Sonia.
Some of her ideas to do this include:
Involving your child in cultural activities specific to your home language (for example, if Greek is used at home, take your littlie to Greek dancing or Greek language classes).
Socialising more often with friends and family members who speak the language.
Seeking or starting up your own language-specific playgroup for littlies.
Finding a childcare or preschool that has classes in your home language (some centres may have staff that speak and use it, too).
Playing games, teaching fun songs and rhymes and reading books that your child
will enjoy in the home language.
Making regular phone calls to relatives and friends in your background country, which is
an opportunity for your child to hear you speaking the language and practise it herself. This is
a good way for her to pick up on phrases and slang terms that are unique to your background country as well.
Causing confusion?
If you’re thinking of teaching your child a second language, you may be worried that she’ll end up getting confused between the two. Surprisingly, this doesn’t usually happen! “Children are amazing at adapting to new things. They don’t tend to get confused,” says paediatric speech pathologist Donna Rom. In fact, research from the University of British Columbia shows eight-month-old babies familiar with two languages can tell when a different language is being spoken just by looking at the speaker’s facial cues and lip movements.
Impressive, huh?!
Sonia adds that bilingual children often tend to associate a specific language with a specific person. “So Grandpa may drop the child off to daycare as they happily chat away in Italian, saying ‘Arrivederci’, and then the child, without too much conscious effort, will turn to her teacher and greet her with ‘Good morning’.”
It’s normal, however, for kids to mix both languages in single sentences. This is called ‘code switching’. “This is a typical period bilingual kids go through while strengthening their vocabulary systems as they borrow words from the other language to express themselves more clearly,” explains Sonia.
Bilingual adults do it, too. It often happens when the word for something in one language isn’t known, or a word from one language captures the intended meaning better than the other. Bilingual kids are more likely to code switch if they hear adults doing it around them.
Double trouble?
Another worry parents often have when it comes to teaching a second language is that it may delay the overall development of speech skills. But, Sonia says, exposing a child to two languages alone won’t cause speech or language delays.
“If a child has a delay with language as a system, however – whether it’s comprehension or expression – this delay will be apparent in both languages. If she has a delay with her speech, for example in producing sounds accurately or stuttering, this will also be present in both languages,” she explains.
If you think your child has a speech or language delay, see a paediatrician or speech pathologist for proper diagnosis and treatment.
If you’re worried about your child having a smaller-sized English vocabulary than her monolingual peers, consider what psychologist and childhood bilingualism expert Janet Werker has to say: “A bilingual child of age two has the same size vocabulary on average as a monolingual child aged two, but it might be divided across her two languages. So she mightn’t have as many words in each language, but she’s still learned just as many words and even just as many concepts that those words are attached to.”
More on your toddler's development:
