3) How much exposure?

There have been published many articles lately about the quantity of time someone should talk a language – or more than one – per day. Probably the number 20% sounds familiar? The amount of exposure per day or week depends on your goal: do you want your child to be perfectly fluent or would it be enogh for him to understand a conversation?

Laura-Ann Petitto points out that “systematical exposure is more important than  the amount of time  of the exposure.  The human brain doesn’t work on quantity but on quality. Therefor, regular systematic exposure  “with stable users across different contexts which are rich and varied” will help a child to reach fluency. This means that immersion exposure at school only is not enough to become utterly fluent. It has to be enriched by “cultural material, linguistic material, movies etc” also outside the schoolday.

4) Do all children have the same ability?

This is like with everything in life: some are more prone to learn languages, others are better in other sectors. Ellen Bialystock points out that “our minds are prepared to do is make everybody a competent speaker of a language that is in the environment without additional effort” (11. 00 ssq.). And to answer the question: “some [children or adults!] will find this fun and exciting and some will find it more effortful”.

5) Will children always have one dominant language?

We all know that there are differences even among multilingual siblings about their language preferences. And Laura-Ann Petitto confirms that “children have preferences for languages and the preferences are set by various things outside of our biology” (12:45 sq). It depends on the language their friends, their family are speaking. Children are also very economic in their language choice ( The concept of economy – a tenet or tendency shared by all living organisms – may be referred to as “the principle of least effort”, which consists in tending towards the minimum amount of effort that is necessary to achieve the maximum result, so that nothing is wasted.” cfr. Alessandra Vicentini, Università di Milano, The Economy Principle in Language. Notes and Observations from Early Modern English Grammars). If the children know that their parents understand all the languages they’re supposed to talk, they will probably prefer one of the dominant languages in their social context (the host country, school etc.), using the “minimum amount of effort to achieve the maximum result”.

The human biology enables us to extract patterns from one and the other language and to compare and fit them, but language acquisition is more about the need to speak this language.

6) Do multilinguals know less vocabulary than monolinguals?

Don’t worry about the vocabulary a child has in one of the languages he is acquiring. Usually, multilingual children are a bit “behind” their monolingual peers, but this doesn’t mean that they’ll never catch up. We know from many studies that a bilingual (or multilingual) child knows at least as many words and probably more and at least as many concepts and probably more as monolinguals. (15:20 ssq). – And we should never forget that these are all averages!

If you look at the distribution of the data, “most children are in the normal part of the curve where it could go either way. The bilingual could have a higher English (or other language) vocabulary than the monolingual” (15:50).

If you take the vocabulary tests that are used to assess vocabulary – and the intersting part is, that they’re usually given out only in one language! –  “and you devide the words up into words they are likely to encounter at home and  words they are likely to encounter at school there is no difference!” (16:20 ssq).

There is definitely no accademic risk or compromise to the main purpose for learning many languages (from an early stage on!).

Two final, very encouraging quotes for every multilingual from Laura-Ann Petitto:

The human vocabulary  stays open to work for life.

The brain is not biologically set to learn only one language.

• One year expatsincebirth (expatsincebirth.com)
• Challenges raising bi/multilingual kids… (3rdculturechildren. com)
• Raising Bilingual Kids Blogging Carnival: Hidden Opportunities (headoftheheard.com)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: Being multilingual, Multilingual children, Multilingualism, Raising TCK's, School, TCK's

Tagged as: Ellen Bialystock, language, Language immersion, Laura-Ann Petitto, multilingualism, University of Toronto, University of York

How many languages ​​can a child learn?

Sooner or later, every parent thinks about whether it is worth teaching his child foreign languages. After all, the child will not need them right now, but at school they will teach everything. Moreover, several foreign languages ​​is a difficult task that requires a lot of time and effort, taking up the amount of time that can be successfully spent on preparing for school, section, or just relaxing. Many parents are all the more afraid of overloading their child, or depriving him of the opportunity to concentrate on more important things - mathematics, physics . ..

Nevertheless, it's worth it.

Learning new languages ​​will have a very strong impact on your child's development. For the same purpose for which you and I learned poems and whole poems by heart in childhood, today, from early childhood, several languages ​​are taught. The development of long-term memory, syntactic and phonological competence, as well as preparation for a promising future, since in our time a person who knows several foreign languages ​​has much more opportunities. nine0003

This article contains the most popular questions that arise when parents want to teach their children foreign languages, and our answers to them.

When should children be taught a new language for them?

Although there are an incredible number of articles on this issue on the Internet, many parents still do not have a clear and precise answer to this question. Of course, from early childhood! As early as possible, from the youngest nails, when your child still cannot walk. Any languages ​​are easy to learn at the age of five, after - every year it becomes more and more difficult. In childhood, the human brain is soft and malleable, easily absorbs incoming information, and is reluctant to part with it even over time. nine0003

How many languages ​​can a child learn?

Many. There is no set "recommended" or "optimal" number of languages. Just like any other person, by virtue of his desire or ability, he can learn any number of them, so children can comprehend many different languages. Of course, as in most life issues - you should not be too zealous in this vein and teach your baby three or four languages ​​\u200b\u200bat once, this can adversely affect the dialect and vocabulary after a few years. nine0003

Will vocabulary suffer if you learn more than one language?

It will suffer, but we hasten to please you - not much. Insignificant losses will be in any case, and will be the greater, the more languages ​​you begin to teach your child. However, this can be easily avoided by attending educational classes for children. In addition, do not forget that a person's vocabulary is replenished throughout life, in contrast to the ability to learn languages, which fades over time. nine0003

Will the child be fluent in all languages, or will one of them dominate?

Of course, it is best to remember the speech that the baby will encounter most often, his native language. It is a well-known fact that even brothers and sisters who know several languages ​​often prefer different languages. Even if there are completely different people in the child’s social circle, easily communicating in different languages, one of them will dominate, the one that seems to the little man the most simple and understandable. This is due to the concept of economy - the most effective result, in this case - the transfer of information, with the least effort. nine0003

How much time should be devoted to language learning per week?

Such a question is incorrect in itself, but it should sound like: “how much time per day should I devote to learning a language?” It all depends on the goal that you set for yourself. Therefore, to begin with, decide what result you would be satisfied with? Is it enough for you that your child is fluent in a foreign language, or do you want him to be fluent in this language? Or maybe you strive for fluency in writing? Be that as it may, the most effective ratio is 20% to 80% per day, of which 20% is a foreign language. So simply learning on your own may not be enough for your purposes, and English courses for children may be the best option. Thus, you can kill several birds with one stone, since another nuance that you should pay attention to is the duration and frequency of classes. Not so sometimes, but always, it is better if the classes are regular than long. This is one of the fundamental rules of teaching foreign languages. nine0003

Can a teenager learn a new language as quickly as a child?

The answer is yes, it can. If you have enough desire, enough diligence and, of course, time. A teenager will have to devote much more time than a baby to learning the language at the same level. The ability to learn new languages ​​is gradually lost with adulthood, however, it is still possible early on.

How many languages ​​can a child learn?

Have you ever asked yourself how many languages ​​a child can learn at the same time due to circumstances or if there is an opportunity to learn a foreign language? Is it "too late" to learn a foreign language? Is it possible for a child to learn many languages ​​at the same time? And what are the cognitive benefits of learning more than one language? nine0003

In this article we will tell you about how children learn a second, third and even fourth language. You will also understand whether it is worth making incredible efforts to teach children foreign languages ​​from childhood.

From the numerous articles on the topic of learning foreign languages, you probably know why learning a language for a child is good. Experts have long proved that a child can grow up and learn 3-4 languages ​​from early childhood (0-5) and at the same time will not experience "embarrassment" or discomfort, and everything will be "sorted out" in his head. Below we will look at the questions that parents most often worry about. nine0003

language?

At an early stage of life, when the child is at the stage of learning the first language, the child will use the same brain tissue for all languages. But if the child starts learning the language later, then different parts of the brain will be involved, since the part of the brain that is responsible for language processing matures according to a certain schedule and we know this schedule very clearly. Interestingly, this does not apply to absolutely all parts of the brain that are responsible for learning the language. Some parts of the brain remain "open for development and comprehension" throughout life - for example, vocabulary replenishment, and some parts, on the contrary, fit into the development schedule. Our brain enters a stable language processing capacity and then stops working in "cognitive mode" because it has already reached a stable level of understanding. At the moment, it is difficult to determine when this occurs, since the maturation process affects different parts of the language differently. nine0003

Early language exposure is essential for the development of good syntactic competence as well as for phonological competence, where early language learning is ideal. In Europe there are several programs that allow toddlers and older children to immerse themselves in the language environment, and these programs really have a very positive effect on children and their development. We all know that learning a language at an older age, when we already know our first language (and learned it in school), is a completely different task, which is much more difficult to cope with. nine0003

2) Can adults learn a new language as well as children?

There is only one very clear answer: yes, they can. If an adult really wants this and he has time for this, then he will succeed. Linguistics experts emphasize that children are given the opportunity to learn languages ​​in such a way that at every stage they are helped in this and everyone they turn to reciprocates in order to help them learn the language. If adults had such an opportunity and they would quit their job for about five years, use the services of a teacher who would communicate with them just at the level that they need, they would achieve overwhelming success. Usually life does not give us such chances and this is the main difference between learning a foreign language in childhood and learning a foreign language in adulthood. nine0003

If an adult really wants to learn a foreign language, then full dedication to the learning process and the very desire to learn a foreign language are the most important components of success. The suggestion made by many teachers concerns those who want to learn a new language "at home", who do not have the opportunity to learn the language in schools abroad. But if you have to learn the language because you moved to the country, then most likely you will get to a good level in a fairly short time. If full immersion is not possible, then there are many other opportunities to create a monolingual immersion in the language you want to learn, and this can be both in real life and online. nine0003

3) How strong should the influence of language be?

Recently, many articles have been published regarding the amount of time one should communicate in a foreign language - perhaps even more than once a day. Perhaps you have already heard the figure of 20% somewhere? The number of conversations per day or per week depends on your goal: Do you want your child to communicate freely or will it be enough for him to understand what the conversation is about?

Pay attention to the fact that systematic studies are more important than the duration of these studies. The human brain does not work with quantity, but works with quality. Thus, regular and systematic interaction with "stable users in various contexts, which are themselves rich and diverse" will help your child learn to communicate fluently in a foreign language. This means that just studying at school is not enough to be fluent in a foreign language. This knowledge needs to be enriched with "culturological material, linguistic material, cinema, etc. " - all this knowledge must be obtained outside the school. nine0003

4) Do all children have the same abilities?

Some people are more prone to learning languages, while others are better in other areas. Scientists claim that "our minds are prepared to make everyone a competent speaker in a given environment without additional effort." And hence the answer to your question: for some [children or adults] the process of learning a language will be fun and funny, and for some it will be necessary to make more effort.

5) Will the child always have one dominant language? nine0005

We all know that there are differences in language preference even between siblings who speak multiple languages. All children are prone to certain languages, and these propensities are determined by various things outside of our biological data. It all depends on what language their friends communicate in, as well as in what language communication is conducted in the family. Also, when choosing a language for communication, children are quite economical. The concept of economy - the tendency or tendency to which all living organisms are prone, can also be called the "principle of least effort", which consists in the tendency to the minimum amount of effort required to achieve maximum results, so that nothing is wasted. If children know that their parents understand all the languages ​​they should be speaking, then they are more likely to prefer the language that dominates their social context (country of residence, school, etc.) in order to use the "minimum amount of energy for maximum results. nine0003

Human biology allows us to select parts from several languages ​​for the purpose of matching and comparing them, but learning a language is about more than having to speak that language.

6) Do those who speak more than one language have a smaller vocabulary than those who speak one language?

Don't worry about your child's vocabulary in one of the languages ​​they are learning. As a rule, multilingual children are slightly behind their monolingual peers, but this does not mean that they will not catch up with them. We know from numerous studies that a bilingual (or multilingual) child knows as many words and likely more or as many concepts, or likely more than monolinguals. And we should never forget that these are all average figures! If you look at the distribution of the data, most children are within the normal portion of the straight line and can either improve or worsen. A bilingual person may have a better vocabulary in English (or any other language) than those who speak the same language. nine0003

There are definitely no academic risks or compromises regarding the main goal of learning different foreign languages ​​(early!).

And a few more interesting facts in the end:

• A person's vocabulary is replenished throughout life.
• From a biological point of view, the brain is not tuned to learn only one language.

  ---

  Learn more

  • 
    How to stop someone from claiming your child on taxes
  • 
    How to discipline a child without corporal punishment
  • 
    Vomiting water during pregnancy
  • 
    How do newborn babies get jaundice
  • 
    How to legally abandon a child
  • 
    Cvs a&d ointment
  • 
    Calculating due date of delivery
  • 
    Can 4d ultrasound detect down syndrome
  • 
    6 months constipated baby
  • 
    Flu medication in pregnancy
  • 
    Pregnant and don't feel like eating