Why it’s Awesome to Grow-up Multi-lingual
If you have ever watched a bi-lingual child switch back and forth with ease, while you struggled to learn how to say “Where’s the bathroom?” in another language, you probably understand how amazing it is. As someone who grew up mono-lingual I am always a little bit jealous of someone who was raised bi-lingual. As it turns out, there is a lot more to being bi-lingual than being envied by adults (which is awesome in itself). There are many positive aspects to growing up bilingual. We’re going to talk about some of the things that are great about bilingualism, as well as to diffuse some of the usual misconceptions.
Benefits of raising your child multilingual
1. Being able to speak two languages perfectly
The most obvious – and most important – benefit of raising your child multilingual is the fact that your child will be able to speak two (or more) languages fluently – without much work on their part! In our time, multilingualism is becoming one of the main criteria in finding a good job. In nearly all fields, being able to speak two languages is at least beneficial to your career, if not integral. Especially in international companies being able to speak two languages is the norm. So by raising your child bilingually, you’re giving them early on the means to be more successful in the business world of the future.
2. Picking up other languages more easily
It will take your child less effort to pick up a new language if she already knows two. That is because the understanding of the subtle differences in sounds, word order, stress, rhythm, intonation and grammatical structures is growing with each new language. Also, in languages related to each other such as all the Romance languages, vocabulary is often very similar and therefore easier to learn if there are two languages you can compare it to.
3. More languages = more variety
Knowing more than one language helps a child feel at ease in different environments. It creates a natural flexibility and adaptability, and it increases her self-esteem and self-confidence. The child will also develop an appreciation for other cultures and an innate acceptance of cultural differences.
4. Improved cognitive performance
Growing up bilingual also has been shown to improve the cognitive performance of children, which can be seen, for example, in the fact that (in general) bilingual children start reading earlier than the average monolingual child and score higher on standardized tests such as the SAT’s. Of course, each of these developments differs from child to child, so the statement that bilingual children are better universally at anything is inaccurate. But there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that the strengths we see in these children is directly related with the greater stimulation the brain receives when learning two languages instead of one and connecting two words to one object, concept or person instead of just one. This prepares the brain to think abstractly, which is a huge help in logical subjects such as math, science and technology. Some experts say that growing up bilingual also affects the classification skills, concept formation, analogical reasoning, visual-spatial skills and creative thinking in a positive way.
Scientists are still discovering more advantages of multilingualism but recent additions to the list include everything from delayed dementia, to better concentration, to better blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
Common misconceptions about bilingualism
1. Mixing languages
One of the greatest fears of parents is that by raising their child bilingual, the child will have trouble in both languages such as a smaller vocabulary, a worse understanding of both languages and the development of a “mixed language”, a combination of both languages that result in the child not being able to speak both languages properly. But these fears are mostly irrational and unfounded, as there have been no proven drawbacks in these fields. But it is completely normal that a child has a “stronger” language, one where it feels more comfortable in and that is easier for him to speak, so the “weaker” one may not have the same level of proficiency. This phenomenon is common in adult bilinguals as well, so there is no reason to worry about it.
2. Speech impairments
The general consent of parents is that the bilingual child may experience some slight delays in their speech, but those are only temporary, in the overall development of the child they are irrelevant and in no case do they influence the child’s speech in the long term. It is only natural that a child having to learn twice as many words and grammatical structures might experience a delay in comparison with a child who only has to learn half. But that does not mean that in the long term, there will be any drawbacks or lingering aftereffects for a bilingual. The old fears that learning two languages early on would delay a child’s development have been laid to rest. Bilingual children tend to reach language milestones at the same time or sooner than their monolingual peers.
Raising your child bilingual has numerous advantages but also requires a lot of effort on the parents’ part. It has to work for your family. There is more research being done each day. Look into it!
For more information:
http://www.brainfacts.org/sensing-thinking-behaving/language/articles/2008/the-bilingual-brain/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201304/advantages-being-bicultural Biculturals show greater creativity and professional success Post published by Francois Grosjean Ph.D. on Apr 19, 2013 in Life as a Bilingua
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/neuroscience-bilingual-brain-judy-willis-md
By Dr. Judy Willis M.D.
https://voxy.com/blog/index.php/2012/05/bilinguals-fine-tuning-better-listeners/
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/pages/040312-bilingual-advantage.aspx
http://canal.ugr.es/social-economic-and-legal-sciences/item/63121-bilingual-children-have-a-better-%E2%80%9Cworking-memory%E2%80%9D-than-monolingual-children
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-24836837
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2014/10/08/raising_bilingual_kids_should_you_speak_to_children_in_your_second_language.html
