Bilingualism
How Do Children Become Bilingual?
There are several ways to bring up your child with more than one language. The One Person-One Language pattern is a common way of doing it. This pattern is primarily used by families to which parents speak different different native languages. For example, the family might live in Australia and the mother may speak English (the majority language) to the children, but the father might be from Switzerland and choose to speak his native language, Swiss-German (the minority language) to the children. This is also known as simultaneous bilingualism. This pattern has a lot of advantages as parents are able to connect with their child in their own languages and the child is able to speak both languages, but does require some planning and persistence.
Another common way to bring up your child bilingually is when parent speak the same minority languages. This is sometimes called the minority language pattern. For example, two parents might have migrated from Peru to Australia and speak Spanish to their child, while their children go to a English speaking school. This method has the advantage that the children receive a higher level of exposure to the minority language through both parents. However as parents, you may often feel pressured from others in the community to stop speaking your home language to your children. This method is also known as consecutive bilingualism.
Parents who want their child to do really well in the minority language should aim to offer a higher level of exposure to the language. Be consistent with your language choice and support each other when using it in and outside of your home.
Another common way to bring up your child bilingually is when parent speak the same minority languages. This is sometimes called the minority language pattern. For example, two parents might have migrated from Peru to Australia and speak Spanish to their child, while their children go to a English speaking school. This method has the advantage that the children receive a higher level of exposure to the minority language through both parents. However as parents, you may often feel pressured from others in the community to stop speaking your home language to your children. This method is also known as consecutive bilingualism.
Parents who want their child to do really well in the minority language should aim to offer a higher level of exposure to the language. Be consistent with your language choice and support each other when using it in and outside of your home.
Myths and Misconceptions
Myth 1: "CHILDREN WILL BE CONFUSED"
Children are very capable of learning two or more languages simultaneously. They can also demonstrate they can distinguish between two languages at a very young age. Your children will learn quite early on that they need to speak German to Grandma, but English to the teacher.
Myth 2: "THE CHILD'S ENGLISH WILL SUFFER"
It has been shown that knowledge of a home language can actually help with the acquisition of the language of the community, for example English in Australia. Children with solid foundation in their home language go on to learn a majority language more proficiently and achieve high academic success than those whos home language is not supported.
Myth 3: "CHILDREN WILL HAVE PROBLEMS READING AND WRITING"
Studies have shown that bilingual children who are exposed to two writing systems go on to achieve higher levels of reading and writing, and may even have a better understanding of the relationship between language and meaning than their monolingual peers.
Myth 4: "BILINGUALISM DELAYS LANGUAGE ACQUISITION"
There is little evidence to support this statement. Research shows that bilingual children acquire language at the same rate as monolingual children. Some bilingual children may start to speaking a little later than their peers, but then so do some monolingual children.
Children are very capable of learning two or more languages simultaneously. They can also demonstrate they can distinguish between two languages at a very young age. Your children will learn quite early on that they need to speak German to Grandma, but English to the teacher.
Myth 2: "THE CHILD'S ENGLISH WILL SUFFER"
It has been shown that knowledge of a home language can actually help with the acquisition of the language of the community, for example English in Australia. Children with solid foundation in their home language go on to learn a majority language more proficiently and achieve high academic success than those whos home language is not supported.
Myth 3: "CHILDREN WILL HAVE PROBLEMS READING AND WRITING"
Studies have shown that bilingual children who are exposed to two writing systems go on to achieve higher levels of reading and writing, and may even have a better understanding of the relationship between language and meaning than their monolingual peers.
Myth 4: "BILINGUALISM DELAYS LANGUAGE ACQUISITION"
There is little evidence to support this statement. Research shows that bilingual children acquire language at the same rate as monolingual children. Some bilingual children may start to speaking a little later than their peers, but then so do some monolingual children.
Stages of Bilingualism
Children raised bilingually generally follow a similar path in acquiring their respective language, as compared to learners of a single language. These stages give a outline for children developing simultanious bilingualism and also hold some extent for consecutive bilinguals.
Stage 1: A child's vocabulary contains words of both languages, and the words are not usually translations of each other.
Stage 2: As children move into the telegraphic stage, which they ae able to produce two-word utterances, words from both languages may be used within the same utterance, but the rate of mixing declines as they enter the third year of their life.
Stage 3: As the child's vocabulary grows, one way it is filled out is by acquiring words in each language concept , but development of seprate morphological, syntactic, and discourse subsystems take a little longer to develop.By this stage, as the child enters his fourth year, the child is aware that he is speaking more than one language.
Stage 1: A child's vocabulary contains words of both languages, and the words are not usually translations of each other.
Stage 2: As children move into the telegraphic stage, which they ae able to produce two-word utterances, words from both languages may be used within the same utterance, but the rate of mixing declines as they enter the third year of their life.
Stage 3: As the child's vocabulary grows, one way it is filled out is by acquiring words in each language concept , but development of seprate morphological, syntactic, and discourse subsystems take a little longer to develop.By this stage, as the child enters his fourth year, the child is aware that he is speaking more than one language.