Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a New Language

Maybe you’ve gotten heard that introducing your little one to a different language will confuse them and trigger them to be a late talker. Or perhaps you don’t know the place to start to show your little one a brand new language. It might be that you simply don’t converse a second language. Maybe your wonder if it will likely be attainable in your little one to study a second language.

As a bilingual speech-language pathologist, I steadily hear these considerations. Once I work with households, I assist them perceive the advantages of elevating bilingual youngsters. I additionally assist them perceive how bilingual improvement differs from a toddler studying just one language. Right here’s how one can assist your little one grasp a second language at any age and in any circumstance. 

Advantages of Bilingualism

Apart from the plain benefit of realizing multiple language, there are various social and cognitive benefits for youngsters who study a second (or third!) language from a younger age. 

Social

When youngsters study to talk two languages, one of many first issues they do is work out who speaks which language. In a family the place every mother or father speaks a special language, the kid will start to make use of completely different intonation patterns with every mother or father as early as three months old. The kid will finally use the suitable language with every mother or father. Because the little one will get older, this talent carries over outdoors the house. The bilingual learner “marks” audio system of various languages.

This talent permits bilingual learners to learn social cues higher as they alternate between two languages. In addition they start to navigate two cultures. The result’s youngsters who’ve larger social flexibility and a definite set of instruments that may assist them adapt to completely different social environments (2).

Cognitive

Along with the social advantages, there are additionally many cognitive advantages to realizing a number of languages, which might proceed into previous age. When the kid learns two vocabularies, the phrases are mapped in a different way within the mind. The bilingual speaker should determine which language to make use of throughout conversations and block the opposite language from interfering.

For instance, when a bilingual individual speaks, they depend on one language map. This permits them to make use of the grammar and vocabulary of the language they’re talking, whereas the opposite language system will get “shut down.” These expertise profit an individual’s executive functioning skills. That’s, it turns into simpler for an individual to plan, problem-solve, and ignore distractions, which makes duties like puzzles or block designs simpler (1).

When to Educate Your Little one a New Language 

With so many benefits to being bilingual, you’re most likely questioning when you can begin (and if it’s too late so that you can study a brand new language, too!). The reply is that it’s by no means too early or too late to start studying a brand new language. However youthful youngsters can study a language with larger ease than somebody of their thirties.

Infants start to tell apart between the sounds of various languages in-utero and proceed to type out the sounds of various languages all through early infancy. Amazingly, newborns can differentiate between the sounds of all languages on this planet (600 distinct sounds!) till round six months of age. Then they start to deal with producing solely the sounds of the languages they’re uncovered to at residence (3).

As a result of youngsters have such adaptable brains which might be creating new connections on a regular basis, they will study languages with native fluency till about ten years previous. An grownup making an attempt to study a language could have a way more troublesome time studying easy methods to map the grammar onto their present language. However they’re definitely able to studying to speak in a brand new language! 

Completely different Fashions of Language Growth

There are lots of alternative ways to reveal your youngsters to a number of languages, even should you don’t converse the brand new language your self (however once more, there’s at all times time to study!). Publicity doesn’t need to be precisely 50/50 for a kid to study a language. However the little one will obtain extra publicity to the culturally dominant language of the nation when watching TV, visiting shops, attending college, and many others.

One Mum or dad, One Language

The most typical methodology of bilingual improvement is “one mother or father, one language.” This implies every mother or father chooses one language to make use of with their rising little one on a regular basis. There are professionals and cons to this methodology of educating. One main drawback is that it eliminates household conversations if one mother or father doesn’t converse the brand new language. A significant plus to utilizing this methodology is that oldsters have a novel alternative to bond with their youngsters and introduce them to their tradition.

Each Mother and father, Each Languages

If each dad and mom are audio system of every language, “each dad and mom, each languages” can also be efficient. Mother and father who use this educating methodology usually marvel if publicity is “equal.” In these conditions, I recommend selecting every day routines the place the dominant language will change every day. For instance, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are Spanish tub instances, whereas Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are English tub instances.

No Mother and father Converse the Language

In instances the place neither mother or father speaks the brand new language, it’s nonetheless attainable for youngsters to get the advantages of studying a brand new language. Some alternatives for language studying embrace:

• Nanny/Caregiver who speaks a special language
• Twin language daycare/preschool
• Music class or different enrichment class within the new language

There isn’t any proper or improper approach to train your little one a brand new language. Whichever methodology you determine is true for your loved ones will profit your little one’s general improvement in numerous methods. It is going to additionally expose them to a brand new world and tradition. That, in and of itself, is a real reward. 

References:

1. Bhattacharjee, Y. (2012, March 17). Why Bilinguals Are Smarter. New York Instances. Retrieved February 12, 2022.

2. Ikizer, E., & Ramírez-Esparza, N. (2018). Bilinguals’ social flexibility. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(5), 957-969. doi:10.1017/S1366728917000414

3. Werker, J.F., Yeung, H.H., & Yoshida, Ok. (2012). How do infants turn out to be native speech notion specialists? Present Instructions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 221-226.