Myths about bilingual children

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The ability of some children to speak two languages at once is shrouded in myths and horror stories. They say that learning two languages causes a developmental delay, so that the child will understand everything, but will not be able to say anything. Here are some persistent myths about bilingual children and their scientific rebuttal.

Myth # 1. Bilingualism causes a child's developmental delay

In fact, learning two languages provides many benefits such as development, (the ability to perceive a language as an abstract unit), (adaptive information processing), etc.

Bilingual children develop, but in some cases they lag behind a little on some criteria.

Myth No. 2. Bilingual children lag behind their peers and then cannot catch up with them

This is a common mistake as all children are different. Some bilingual children generally develop language skills.

There is an assumption that may occur from the fact that it is difficult for a child to master two language systems at once. But even if a bilingual child lags behind peers by some criteria, he tightens his language skills by the age of five and speaks on an equal basis with children of his age (do not confuse this with delayed speech development).

Myth No. 3. A child will confuse two languages

There is some controversy as to when children start to separate the two languages.

For a long time, it was believed that at first two languages for a child were merged together and begin to separate only closer to the age of five. Recently proved that a child can separate languages much earlier.

Already at 10-15 months, children babble in different languages, depending on who they are with. For example, a child babbles with the sounds of English when talking with mom, and the sounds of French when talking with dad.

This suggests that children are sensitive to who they talk to from a very early age.

Five tips for parents raising a bilingual child

1. Be patient and praise your child more often. He will have to solve more complex problems than a child who learns to speak only one language.
2. It is very important that the language has a specific function. After all, language is primarily a means of communication. So, if the child does not have a practical benefit from speaking the second language, he will stop speaking it. Therefore, it is very important to place the child in an environment where he needs it. And it's better that he has to.
3. Many parents worry about balance, so that the child knows both languages equally well. In fact, even experienced adults have bilinguals, so it is simply impossible to know two languages equally well.
4. Some parents worry that their bilingual children mix up languages when speaking. Do not worry about this, it is part of the normal development of a bilingual child. Even bilingual adults.
5. If you are worried about the development of your bilingual child, show him to specialists: speech therapist, speech pathologist, psychologist. Any child can experience speech delays, whether bilingual or not. And the sooner you find them and start treatment, the more successful it will be.