Language Facts
Children are able to acquire two languages simultaneously, and speak them both separately. The child might be puzzled at first at a new way of talking but after a while does not find it strange that a “horse” should be called “Pferd” in German than that the horse’s name “Blacky” should be called “horse”. The child accepts both and is not confused. Children’s power for acquiring languages is remarkable.
Every child can learn multiple languages from birth.
Parents around the world have taught their children to navigate comfortably in more than one language. Families live in countries where more than one language is routinely spoken. Recent studies show an infant’s brain is prewired to learn all the different languages of the world! Some linguists believe children can learn as many as seven different languages without getting confused. Newborns can distinguish between subtle sounds of different languages; in fact, they show a preference for their native languages within four days of life! It is the way the brain is wired. How easily any child learns depends on many different factors, including age, environment, and innate language ability. Just as some people are better at math, music, science, or painting, some individuals are more gifted at language. However, you don’t have to be a math genius to become competent at math. Language learning requires motivation, instruction, and practice in the same way it takes to learn anything. Stimulation is key to ramping up the learner’s proficiency, since fluency is directly proportional to what we hear, speak, write, and read.
It is normal for children to mix languages as they learn them.
Children expand on the language that they hear and use the most. Even a person who is bilingual will not always find just the right words in both languages. There is no automatic guaranteed proficiency on demand even when one is in the process of learning a language. It is part of the natural course of learning. As children, we used to laugh at my father for speaking what we called “Gerglish” at times. Emigrating from Germany at twenty-six with his new wife, he was immediately immersed in English when he came to Canada. He never lost his mix-ups entirely - and he even chuckled when we called him on it. To children, of course, none of this matters. Their main goal is to communicate their needs and wants. The child’s brain is developing as he is learning languages - and the very act of learning languages can impact how the brain develops. Research has established that children are aware that they are speaking different languages by the age of three (though my two-year-old grandsons beg to differ when they break out in major giggles every time I speak one word of German to them already!) switching between them and identifying each language. As their brains continue to mature, bilingual children typically become more efficient at separating languages. Certain children will mix languages a lot during this maturation process, while others will do it only briefly or not at all. This is a natural process until mid-childhood. Different children mix languages in various ways like adding the English “ing” to the end of a verb in another language or creating compound words out of two separate words from two separate languages, or switching from one language to another while speaking. Mixing languages is common and second nature for most bilinguals, especially in the early stages.
A child can learn a language well beyond the preschool years.
Experts generally agree that earlier is better. In the second part of a baby’s first year of life, his brain shifts to concentrating on the languages he’s exposed to, as the nerve pathways in the brain start to consolidate and specialize. Once that specialization begins, a baby starts to lose his ability to absorb the sounds of languages that he’s not exposed to frequently. But this dimming doesn’t happen overnight. The ability declines slowly until puberty. After that, a new language is no longer a “mother tongue” and it seems, according to studies, a different part of the brain is activated making it a process distinct from childhood. Learning a new language fluently and speaking without an accent in adolescence or adulthood becomes more of an effort. But there is absolutely no deadline beyond which the human brain fails to learn a new language. So we certainly don’t need to abandon the idea of learning a new language. An adult can learn another language along with their children, providing a role model as well as guidance in the learning process. There are many advantages to learning a new language at any age!
Bilingualism is not the cause of language learning difficulties.
Language learning problems in English are four times more common in boys than girls. This number holds true for bilingual children as well as monolingual ones. Children learn languages in the context of their environments. If they speak Polish at home, they will learn words pertaining to the home, like names of dishes or rooms - in Polish. When they attend English school, the Polish child will learn school-related words - bus, eraser, desk - in English. And some words will be used in both environments, such as lunch, water, door, and paper. However, because the child may not know how to say “broom” in English, this might stand out in the classroom. A bilingual child usually knows the same number of words as her monolingual peers. Any discrepancies wane over time and the bilingual child may actually end up with greater word comprehension than her monolingual counterpart. There is no scientific evidence that dropping one language spurs development in another. Any concerns would be assessed by a speech and language therapist in both languages.
Monolingual parents can raise a bilingual child.
Parents should speak the language he or she is most fluent in with their children. When you speak a language fluently, your child is exposed to a much wider vocabulary and to correct grammar which encompasses expressions, poetry, songs, story-telling, and sayings. All these elements represent communication at a sophisticated emotional level. But know that if you are monolingual, you can still teach your child a foreign language. Families who move to foreign countries all hit the books, and the entire family starts to learn the language. Generally, everyone is surprised at the level of efficiency they can achieve. Even if you don’t have the advantage of living in another country, it is still possible to raise a multilingual family. You can learn a language with your children using a variety of foreign language activities and resources. You are being a role model for your children as you guide them. If you have a nanny who speaks a foreign language, you may never have to learn the foreign language yourself. Bringing in a foreign language teacher a couple of times per week is another option if you are willing to stimulate your children with other foreign language activities during the rest of the week.
Adequate language stimulation is a must.
Children don’t absorb a language passively, “like a sponge.” A poor language environment can lead to a child becoming a “passive” learner. Even though an infant can readily absorb and retain different sounds, it soon specializes in only one language if the environment does not continue to provide the necessary stimulation in the second or third language. The child will soon lose the ability to learn and remember more than the one language he is exposed to. If the child hears a second language being spoken at home but is never encouraged to read and speak it, he will become quite good at understanding. Case in point - my nieces quickly began to understand German when their parents spoke “secrets” to each other in front of them. However, spoken, written, and reading fluency will be limited by the lack of active engagement. Understanding a language is a first step - a solid one, but parents often regret not advocating active use of another language.
Addendum:
Historically immigrants have been expected to learn English at the expense of their languages of origin; more often than not, by the third generation of an immigrant family, children may not speak or understand the language of their grandparents at all. This is a tremendous loss.
Most immigrants learn English at a proficient level. Today’s immigrants are actually becoming fluent in English faster than in previous decades. English has a firm foothold in the world of international commerce and technology. One-quarter to one-third of all people in the world understand and speak some English; foreign countries have made and continue to make an impressive effort to teach English at early ages in schools.
At the same time, many people are now aware that English is not enough. They want their children to experience other cultures through other languages and view multilingualism as a way to explore the world and deepen one’s respect for the many different cultures surrounding their own.