Bilingualism good for the brain

[Sammy Boy]

A friend shared this interesting article with me, thought I'd share it with you:
http://news.discovery.com/human/bilingualism-language-brain-function.html

[Yuki-Anne]

Bilingual people are so cool, and I am constantly in awe of anyone who can switch fluidly from one language to another.

[Atria35]

I remember talking about this in a few of my classes. I do know that raising a bilingual kid can be a bit of a challenge, though, even though it overall is an excelent way to raise a kid- it often delays how long it takes them to speak (one girl I know has bilingual brother, and he hardly spoke at all until he was about 8)

[Stella]

I am English/Japanese bilingual, and when our daughter was born, I researched far and wide to determine IF and WHEN I should try to introduce both languages, etc.

Regardless, of when/how, I firmly believe that early language learning is ideal.

After extensive research, I found that EACH child is different.
There is no single RIGHT way.

There are several methods:

1) Introduce both at once, as soon as possible
Which could delay initial language development.
It could also create confusion with monolingual caregivers.

1a) Have one parent speak only one language, have the other one speak the other language.
If only one parent is bilingual, the other/monolingual parent can feel disconnected.

2) Introduce one first - in this case, we are living in America, so English would be the primary language.
Then around 3-5, introduce the second 'layer' of language.

3) Complete immersion
Surround with language and cultural at every opportunity. Form a cultural bubble around the child.
This method has obvious challenges:
- how do you do that in any country?
- how does that teach a child to function in their native language/culture?

I know I pointed out just the downside of some methods. Obviously, these can be effective for different children.

There are pros and cons to every method.
You also never know, what developmental issues a child may have, until 'it' starts delaying their progress.

[Rusty Claymore]

Bilingualism is good. Quadrilingualism is better. n.n/)
...says a mono&1/10-linguist...

[Edward]

I think bilingualism is awesome. Living in America, I feel kind of cheated that I had to wait until high school to learn another language without my parents having to shell out hundreds of dollars for software and classes. I will definitly make sure my kid(s) start learning another language at about 5 or 6 years old, and have them learn more as they get older. With luck, theyll be pentalingual by the time their an adult.

[FllMtl Novelist]

I too think bilingualism would be awesome. Also, I wish that things beyond foreignlanguage/English dictionaries weren't so expensive, that I could pick a language, and that I started years ago. XD

But yeah, being bilingual would be cool, I think.

[Furen]

I wish I spoke another language as well (even a dead language)

[Arya Raiin]

^.^ Yay! I had thought about making a thread on this before! Iz so happy now... I want to raise my kid(s) to be Bilingual. Especially with the fact I'm so good with Spanish (of course... far from fluent. :/). Your kid knows that secondary language that is required to graduate from high school too.

[shooraijin]

I try very hard to speak Strine and American. Simultaneously if possible.

[Shao Feng-Li]

I wish I could speak something other than English. Heck, I wish I can barely even speak that half the time.

[ABlipinTime]

Bilingualism is good. Quadrilingualism is better. n.n/)
...says a mono&1/10-linguist...

i second that

[Syreth]

If only work and studying didn't eclipse all of my available time, I would learn Spanish.

[ShiroiHikari]

I would feel fairly accomplished if I managed to make any of my future children bilingual, but I'm not sure how to go about doing it and I don't want to force them to do it if they don't want to.

[Sammy Boy]

I agree with the article when it talks about how people from a bilingual background may possess less vocabulary from either language.

There are still loads of English words that I don't know, and whilst talking about my faith in Cantonese and Mandarin is doable, I have to quickly revert to English if the conversation gets deeper and more complicated.

I was also wondering if this following point applies to other bi/multilingual people here - sometimes, when you've speaking very quickly, especially when you're excited or your mind's racing, do you actually blurt out words from your mother tongue?

I know that I've unintentionally spoken Cantonese at work a few times, good thing I caught myself before the second word was out!

[bigsleepj]

I am very proficient in English (particularly writing it) but in the end I like to, nay, prefer to talk in Afrikaans. It is my first language, hangups, double negatives and all, and I just feel more comfortable conversing in it. Less stammering too.

En met danke aan Google kan jy dalk verstaan wat ek hier geskryf het! Pasop die dooie perdekar!

[FllMtl Novelist]

Your kid knows that secondary language that is required to graduate from high school too.

I have seen no such requirement.

I would feel fairly accomplished if I managed to make any of my future children bilingual, but I'm not sure how to go about doing it and I don't want to force them to do it if they don't want to.

Also, what language would you teach them?

I wonder what would happen if my parents taught me, say, Greek when I was really little.

[Atria35]

I have seen no such requirement.

It depends on the state. A lot of them require at least one year of foriegn language, some require two. And then some don't require any at all.

[Nate]

1) Introduce both at once, as soon as possible

This is the best thing you can do to become bilingual.

Which could delay initial language development.

This isn't true at all though.

Studies of the human brain and studies of language have shown it is extremely easy for children to become bilingual. This is why most kids who are raised by non (or poor) English speaking parents but go to public schools are proficient in both languages...because they grow up hearing both of them.

After a certain age (I can't remember if it's around 8, or in the teen years) the brain sort of "closes off" to language acquisition and after that point, it becomes exceptionally difficult to learn another language. It can be done, obviously, but it is easier to learn a language the younger you are when you do it.

It depends on the state. A lot of them require at least one year of foriegn language, some require two. And then some don't require any at all.

In my school, the graduation requirements stated that you must take 3 years of one foreign language, or two years of two. So yes, at least where I live, you were required to learn a foreign language to get your diploma.

[Nekomimi]

Interesting article & theories... I have friends who are multilingual. One is because he was raised by a Korean grandmother, then moved in with his Filipino mother, & went to ESL classes. Another is a native English speaker & learned Japanese through school, as well as a lot of self-study & getting into fandoms, & started studying Korean, too ;D And yet another grew up in a multicultural neighborhood on the East coast, learning Spanish that way, then got interested in learning Dutch (her late husband was of Dutch-descent), and after age forty, Japanese & Korean. They're all pretty proficient in the languages they picked up/studied, although the first guy's better at speaking than reading/writing, while the second's better at reading/hearing, & the third is good at speaking/reading. I have a number of other friends who are bilingual, mostly because they're immigrants from Asian countries & had to learn English the hard way.

That said, yes, it's possible to be bi/multilingual at whatever age, it's just a matter of how much you need/want to learn the language. It does help if a child is raised hearing/speaking another language in order to be bilingual, but if you really want to learn another language, you will, even if it's just the basics.

Oh, one more thing: My late Okinawan grandmother reverted to speaking Okinawan the year before she died, although she spoke basic conversational English (& pidgin English) before that. But she was still pretty sharp, considering she was in her 90's

[Yuki-Anne]

That said, yes, it's possible to be bi/multilingual at whatever age, it's just a matter of how much you need/want to learn the language. It does help if a child is raised hearing/speaking another language in order to be bilingual, but if you really want to learn another language, you will, even if it's just the basics.

That's so true. As an English teacher, I've noticed that no matter how smart my students are, in the end it's the ones who genuinely want to learn English who do the best.

[Kaligraphic]

I intend my children to speak classical Latin as their primary language. Perhaps I'll add in ancient Persian as a second language. Maybe Aramaic?

[Yuki-Anne]

...you hate kids, don't you?

[Atria35]

^ Latin isn't too bad, really. I hated classical Greek more.

But I think I would raise my kids trilingual- Italian and Japanese would be their other languages ^.^

[Yuki-Anne]

I think whether you raise your kids bilingual should be dependent on the potential usefulness of those languages in your location. Or... you know... whatever languages bilingual parents might speak. Where I grew up back in New Mexico, Japanese would have been an odd, somewhat impractical choice. My parents raised me with some basic (very basic) Spanish, and I studied Spanish, Latin, and Japanese in high school, but if my parents had raised me with any 2nd language, Spanish would have been the most practical.

Whereas if I got married and had kids here in Japan, I would definitely raise them to speak English and Japanese.

[Rusty Claymore]

I've heard it helps with the brain.

So if anything, learning any other language develops cognative skillz, as well as broadens ones perspective of thought. Or something like that.

[GeneD]

I am pretty much 100% bilingual, Afr my home language and I went to an English school throughout my schooling career. My writing/reading is better in English though. Another thing besides the "tip of your tongue" the article mentioned is mixing your languages, which is terribly easy to do and sometimes it takes an effort to keep either language "pure" or clean of the other.

I think whether you raise your kids bilingual should be dependent on the potential usefulness of those languages in your location. Or... you know... whatever languages bilingual parents might speak.

I agree completely. I would like to learn another language if I can, either another of our National ones or Japanese, but right now I don't have the motivation.

[Yamamaya]

...you hate kids, don't you?

Nah if he really hated his kids he would just teach them Klingon or better yet Huttenese.

[blkmage]

I don't know if I can say I'm bilingual. I can certainly converse in Cantonese below-averagely if I need to, but I can't read Chinese (either traditional or simplified) at all. I started out with only Cantonese before I started school and then almost immediately switched full-bore into English once I started school. And then, in my province, we get at least five years of French imposed on us. I'm pretty sure if I needed to, I could probably feel my way through reading French, but it'd be impossible for me to carry out a conversation.