Raising a bilingual child

[dispozo]

This subject came up in a different thread and Sandro43 posted a link. I see many familiar faces when I read this thread. So thought what about a updated.... If you like. I did not want the hijack the other thread.

We plan to have children and they will be bilingual. I like the idea of one parent speaking one language and the other parent speaking the another language.

[Blues Fairy]

I wonder how it's possible to speak two languages to the kid if one of the parents understands English only and the other has to use it all the time, getting very used to even thinking in it.  In fact I find myself speaking English even to our cat Pushkin, even when we're alone in the house.

[Misha]

I wonder how it's possible to speak two languages to the kid if one of the parents understands English only and the other has to use it all the time, getting very used to even thinking in it.  In fact I find myself speaking English even to our cat Pushkin, even when we're alone in the house.

Well, in my experience people in a bilingual setting associate languages to people. If you are used to speaking to a person in a given language, it is hard to switch in my experience. A child will associate a parent with one language and as a parent you will associate speaking to children in your mother tongue.

[mendeleyev]

I will echo what Misha has said as that is our experience.  Our youngest (19, student at Mos State U) speaks Russian to Aya and English to me although as my skills have progressed we mix it up on purpose. Since most relatives don't speak English more and more I find myself "switching" depending on where we are geographically.  In the US it seems that Aya and I find English is better to help her adjust but back in Russia it's reversed.

My teen years were spent in the Netherlands Antilles, Dutch Islands in the Caribbean.  The kids there must navigate Dutch, Spanish, Portuguesse, English and Papiemento.  I was always jealous because they could do this so easily while I had to struggle because of a late start.  Dutch was spoken in my home as a child but English the primary language and since we children were never tutored in Dutch we struggled to speak it in conversation outside the home.

Professor Laura-Ann Petitto is a cognitive neuroscientist teaching at Dartmouth College, where she also serves as Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory for Language & Child Development in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Education.

Her research indicates that the brain is not designed to be "monolinguistic" and in fact can handle more than one language easily--especially for children who begin early.

She writes that, "a child who's exposed early in life to two languages achieves each and every milestone on the same timetable as the other language -- and also on the same overall timetable as a monolingual child. There was no timing deviance. These children were acquiring language on the same developmental time course in each language."

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/oela/summit/Petitto.htm
 
I think this study supports what you are thinking, Sandro.

[Shadow]

I remember that on one of my first trips to Italy (I was 5 at the time) in two weeks I gathered enough skills to assist my parents in buying things at a shop. Similarly my German knowledge was mostly built on interacting with the locals. including some slang.
Our child will most probably be three-lingual and hopefully continue these skills with age.

Abouts pets... while interaction with people is usually done on feelings and intonation (try to say 'bad dog, stupid dog' in a sweet voice) I have noticed pets to 'acquire' foreign languages.
The prime example was when my sister decided to buy a dog after some absence. When the dog arrived the older cat, used to having a dog around, greeted the new arrival with 'dog language', while the younger one who got her first experience had no clue as how to communicate with this alien. After some time the dog was known to have some  'cat-manners' like rubbing her head to people.

[SANDRO43]

I think this study supports what you are thinking, Sandro.

Yes, it does. It stresses early, continued exposure to more than one language, but I think it omits to mention a major factor: motivation, i.e. the emotional rewards from communicating with family at home and peers at school, since Man is basically a social animal. In other words, the child soon learns that it feels good to communicate, and this stimulates his/her efforts. Given the early age, the playful aspect of this activity is probably also important: it's a rewarding game .

The article makes another very interesting and important point:

We're finding that these young children who have rich and early exposure to two languages are remarkably -- and this is quite an exciting finding - cognitively more advanced than their monolingual peers on certain highly sophisticated cognitive tasks to do with attention and abstract reasoning. And we think it's because they are switching languages and have access to multiple meanings, have part of their brain massaged like a muscle. Then there's the spillover of that amazing honing of their linguistic abilities, making them more cognitively advanced.

I.e. polygloxy sharpens learning skills in general, not only specific language-related skills. Which makes sense, since language is our primary medium for teaching/learning things.

This touches on something I didn't mention here, but elsewhere some time ago: I've always thought that exposure to more than one language makes an individual mentally richer. In subtle ways, a different language is really a different world view, and having different perspectives can IMO be only beneficial to personal development.

[Misha]

Yes, it does. It stresses early, continued exposure to more than one language, but I think it omits to mention a major factor: motivation, i.e. the emotional rewards from communicating with family at home and peers at school

This touches on something I didn't mention here, but elsewhere some time ago: I've always thought that exposure to more than one language makes an individual mentally richer. In subtle ways, a different language is really a different world view, and having different perspectives can IMO be only beneficial to personal development.

Well, motivation is nice, but it still does not compensate for age. I consider myself very fluent in Russian and have been at it for 10 years. However, I do not delude myself in thinking that I will ever speak as fluently as a native speaker or a speaker who learned it as a child.

I remember when I started studying Russian close to 15 years ago, I struggled while my fellow classmates who were Ukrainian and Slavic speakers picked  it up so much faster. Age played a role (they were 5 or 6 years younger), but the fact that they spoke related languages was an even bigger factor.

Motivation is useful, but it will only take you so far.

I do agree wholeheartedly with your last comment. Better to learn (no matter how imperfectly) a second language and gain insight into another world view than to not even try. It is also good for the brain to force it to continue learning throughout life 

[Vaughn]

Misha and Sandro - I'm finding this exchange entertaining and to a degree, therapuetic. As I read your
thoughts and theory, my own stages of progress and setbacks in learning Russian are well-mirrored.

In 1971, I knew not one word of Russian. The USAF actively sought airmen with language aptitude,
and my high school Spanish (three years) was my ticket to the Presidio of Monterey. For some, the
motivation was forced - failure to learn meant reassignment to usually less desireable duty. My own
motivation to excel was natural - and I relished the prospect of an overseas assignment. At 21, I was
able to soak up the basics. 8 hours/day, 5 days/week. After 4 or 5 months, some of us began to dream
in Russian. At the cafes, we totally discarded English...then came the whammy - the curriculum took a
sudden plunge into military terminology. This part of the course, as I saw it, would be totally useless
as conversational Russian.  In 1972, I arrived in West Berlin to begin a 2 year stint during which 100% of
my time was spent listening to native Russian chatter, with very little of it conversational.

In 2001, I had not really used the language for 25 years - and had forgotten much. When I encountered
Elvira, who spoke no English, I found a new (and exciting) motivation to reteach myself the words, the
grammar. all distant memories. The foundation on which to build was present - but, and I can only attribute
this to age - my progress was poignantly slow, and remains so to this day - as if I possess a mental block
against moving right along to the next level.

In some matters I can speak with eloquence. In others, like watching the 9PM news on Channel One, I
realize my limitations in both speaking and comprehension. It's humbling.

[Misha]

I was 25 when I started learning Russian. Those first months were excruciating. I knew two languages (French and English), but I had known these practically from birth. It was frustrating as I would spend half an hour or an hour studying basic words such as "кто это, что это, кто он" and when I would come back from the break I remembered nothing. The hardest part was almost getting my brain to learn how to learn another language. It took a great deal of motivation and a lot of work to get the first breakthroughs.

Now that I am much older, I would  not want to learn another language unless it is somehow related linguistically to the languages I already know 

[SANDRO43]

otivation is useful, but it will only take you so far.

Maybe you're not motivated enough .  Anyway, I was referring to children's motivation in my post, not to adults' .

My personal motivation is a fascination with symbolic systems in general, and languages in particular: www.floriani.it/lingue-eng.htm

[mendeleyev]

Concerning animals learning another language, Avista, a legit language company seems to think so:

[Misha]

Maybe you're not motivated enough .  Anyway, I was referring to children's motivation in my post, not to adults' .

Children learn a language through playing. Also, children don't fear looking foolish if they say the wrong thing, so they just talk, which facilitates learning. Much different from adults.

[Bruce]

Our daughter is now a bit more than three years old.  She speaks both languages fluently for a child her age.   So far so good, but my Russian has been getting way worse since my wife and I pretty much only speak in English.  The only time our daughter gets to hear broken Russian is when I speak to MIL and FIL  .   

[ConnerVT]

Mostly for SANDRO, but interesting for all:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_healthbeat_bilingual_tots

Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – Tue Jul 21, 3:08 am ET
WASHINGTON – The best time to learn a foreign language: Between birth and age 7. Missed that window?

New research is showing just how children's brains can become bilingual so easily, findings that scientists hope eventually could help the rest of us learn a new language a bit easier.

"We think the magic that kids apply to this learning situation, some of the principles, can be imported into learning programs for adults," says Dr. Patricia Kuhl of the University of Washington, who is part of an international team now trying to turn those lessons into more teachable technology.

Each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday....

[SANDRO43]

Mostly for SANDRO, but interesting for all

Thanks Conner, interesting read. It does confirm my oft-expressed view that the problem in learning foreign languages for grown-ups lies in their EARS (blocking out 'unnecessary' sounds), not so much in their vocal apparatus - it's hard to reproduce sounds one cannot discriminate accurately - and the corollarium, confirmed by Tamara earlier on, that musicians - whose ears are trained to be more alert to sounds - make better students in terms of fast phonetic acquisition .

As for the suggested technique of repeating monotonously the same sound (L) until it's eventually grasped, I think only the Japanese could tolerate that .

The conclusion could be that if parents miss that golden 'window of opportunity', they should have their children learn to play some instrument, it'll help them with foreign languages too, eventually .