How to teach bilingual child
Learning Two Languages
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Anyone can learn a new language. Some people find it easier than others, but all of us can do it. Learn more about becoming bilingual.
On this page:
- Teaching Your Child To Be Bilingual
- Learning More Than One Language
- Ways To Help Your Child Become Bilingual
- Talking With Your Child
- Other Resources
Children can learn to speak more than one language. They can learn languages at home, at school, or in the community. Some children can speak both languages easily. But sometimes they know one language better than the other. The language your child knows better is her dominant language. Over time, the dominant language may change. For example, a child who speaks Spanish at home may start to use English when she starts school. Her dominant language could change from Spanish to English.
Speaking two languages is like any other skill. You need a lot of practice to do it well. Without practice, your child will have a harder time using both languages.
Teaching Your Child To Be Bilingual
There are a number of ways to teach your child to speak more than one language. You can:
- Use two languages from the start. Many children grow up learning two languages at the same time.
- Use only one language at home. Your child can learn the second language when he starts school.
- Give your child many chances to hear and practice both languages during the day.
Learning More Than One Language
Every bilingual child is unique. Learning two languages depends on the amount and type of practice your child gets. The following are some basic guidelines:
- Most bilingual children speak their first words by the time they are 1 year old. By age 2, most children can use two-word phrases. Phrases like "my ball" or "more juice" can be in one or both languages.
- From time to time, children may mix grammar rules. They might use words from both languages in the same sentence. This is a normal part of becoming bilingual.
- Some children may not talk much when they start using a second language. This “silent period” can last for several months. Again, this is normal and will go away.
Ways To Help Your Child Become Bilingual
- Books. You can read to your child in both languages. You can find the books you need at bookstores, at libraries, and on the Internet.
- Music.
Singing is a great way to introduce a second language to your child. And, it can be a lot of fun!
- TV and videos. Children’s programs are available in many languages. These programs teach children about numbers, letters, colors, and simple words.
- Language programs. Children can learn other languages at camps or in bilingual school programs. These give children the chance to use two languages with other children.
Talking With Your Child
Your child might have trouble using both languages. In this case, talk to your child in the language you know best. You should do this even if your child uses a different language at school. A good language model gives your child the skills he needs to learn other languages. But try not to make a sudden change in your child’s routine. This can be stressful.
Remember, children all over the world learn more than one language all the time. Learning another language will not cause or worsen speech or language problems.
Bilingual children develop language skills just as other children do.
If your child starts having trouble in both languages, he may need help from a speech-language pathologist, or SLP. To find a speech-language pathologist near you, visit ProFind.
Other Resources
This list does not include every website on this topic. ASHA does not endorse the information on these sites.
- Bilingual Language Development (YouTube video)
- Can Special Needs Kids be Bilingual? (YouTube video)
- ¡ Colorín Colorado! (bilingual website for educators and families)
- Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center: Resources for Families
- International Literacy Association
- Myths About Bilingual Children (YouTube video)
- National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition
- National Association for Bilingual Education
- Quick Tips – Talk to Your Baby in Your Own Language
Learn More
- The Advantages of Being Bilingual
- Accent Modification
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How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages
written by
Shannon Kennedy
Full disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
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This past year, my husband and I welcomed a new addition to our family. While we were awaiting his arrival, we discussed whether or not we’d raise him to be a bilingual baby and speak multiple languages. For this article, I’ll call the little guy our “Little Linguist”.
First things first: Is it beneficial to raise a child with multiple languages? There are arguments on both sides of the fence. However, according to the majority of scientific studies, teaching your child two languages is beneficial. The benefits of being a bilingual child include:
- The ability to communicate with extended family
- Open-mindedness and acceptance
- Future job opportunities
- Being a “language friendly learner”. They’ll find it easier to acquire more languages later on in life.
- A more diverse cultural upbringing (with literature, films, perspectives, music, games, culture, and so on.)
- An increased ability to focus
- Neuroplasticity
- Delayed onset of Alzheimer’s disease in comparison to monolinguals
Are there any reasons not to have a bilingual baby? The greatest argument against introducing multiple languages at a young age seems to be that teaching a child more than one language will confuse them or cause delays in their learning.
But recent research is proving this wrong.
Growing up, I often heard my father lament the fact that his father had never taught him and his brothers Croatian (his native language). This had huge impact on me – and is one of the reasons I’m now learning Croatian.
After hearing my father’s story, I swore to myself that I never wanted my children to feel the way my father felt. I never wanted them to feel that I had shorted them in some way by not sharing my languages and cultural heritage. If later on in life they choose not to learn several languages, then that’s their decision to make. But the least I can do is offer them the languages I speak.
Here’s How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages (or more!)
When it comes to successfully bringing up a bilingual baby, there’s no one size fits all approach. It’s all about finding what works best for your situation and your child.
There are four methods for raising bilingual kids that seem to be the most widespread, so we’ll focus on them and how they can support your child’s bilingual development.
One Person One Language (OPOL)
The One Person, One Language method is where each parent consistently speaks a different language to the child. This could mean that the mother speaks her native Portuguese with her children, while her partner speaks to them in English.
This method is also effective when the two languages used by the parents are different to the main language used outside the home. In other words, it’s still okay even if neither parents’ language is the majority language where the family lives. In the example I used, with a Portuguese speaking mother and an English speaking partner, the family could live in Japan, and thus, the child would learn a third language through school.
The One Person, One Language approach is often regarded as the best method for teaching a child two languages because it is believed that it results in less mixing. It also ensures that your baby has regular exposure to both languages.
That said, it requires a lot of dedication from the parents to avoid mixing languages.
Minority Language at Home (ML@H)
While children need support in every language they speak, many parents find that a minority language needs extra support. When this is the case, many families adopt the Minority Language at Home approach.
This means that the minority language is used at home by both parents with the children.
For example, both parents speak French at home (whether it is the native language of both parents or not) while living in Germany (where the child learns to speak German outside of the home).
Time and Place (T&P)
The Time and Place method is commonly used in bilingual schools. This could mean that during the morning, everyone speaks one language and in the afternoons everyone speaks another language. Alternatively, it could mean that Tuesdays and Thursdays are for the majority language, while Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays are spent with the local minority language.
Families can adjust this approach as it suits them, and it could even mean a seasonal approach.
Perhaps the majority language is used most of the time, while the minority language is used over the weekends or during summer to coincide with a family vacation to the country where the language is spoken.
Mixed Language Policy (MLP)
With the Mixed Language Policy, parents use the language that is appropriate to the situation. For example, the majority language may be used to help with school projects while the minority language may be used to discuss personal topics.
Teaching a Child Three or More Languages
All the methods I’ve shared so far can be used to teach two or more languages. There’s one more method for families interested in going beyond bilingualism and teaching their children more than two languages.
Two Parents, Two Languages (2P2L)
The Two Parents, Two Languages approach is for parents who are bilingual themselves. This may mean, for example, that the mother speaks to her child in English and German while the father speaks to the children in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Combining Methods for Teaching Bilingualism to Children
Each of the methods I’ve outlined can be combined with one another depending on what is most appropriate for the situation.
Regardless of which method you choose, your child will need as much consistent input and support as possible in each language.
If you need help getting started, we put together a few resources to help support your child’s language learning:
- Spanish resources for kids
- French resources for kids
Our Approach to Bringing Up a Bilingual Baby
At home, my husband and I already talk to one another in both French and English. With a baby in the house, it has just become a matter of mixing the two less often.
Outside our home, my family speaks English while my husband’s only speaks French. As such, the decision to teach Little Linguist both French and English was easy. For him to be able to communicate with his family, he’d need to know both.
However, we decided we wanted to do more to give him every leg up, so we made the decision to speak to him in Mandarin Chinese, too.
We are currently using the OPOL method, where my husband speaks to him in French and I speak to him in Chinese. Since we live in the US, we aren’t too worried about his English for now. We’re also certain he’ll pick it up from my parents and later on in school.
Of course, as time goes by, we’ll probably need to adapt our methods based on what language support Little Linguist needs as he gets older. I’m sure our strategies will constantly evolve as he grows.
What about you? Have you decided to teach your baby two languages or more? What methods are you using to support their language development?
Shannon Kennedy
Language Encourager, Fluent in Months
Shannon is Head Coach for the Fluent in 3 Months Challenge. She is currently based in Southern California where she performs as a professional musician. Her passions are cooking, reading, traveling and sharing her adventures in language learning.
Speaks: English, French, Mandarin, Russian, Croatian, Japanese
View all posts by Shannon Kennedy
A child speaks two languages: how it affects his development
Bilinguals have advantages over other peers, but it is not always easy to master two languages at once
Bilinguals are people who speak two languages from birth or from an early age .
Bilingualism most often occurs in immigrant families and in interethnic marriages. Such children have advantages, but mastering two languages at once in order to speak and write fluently in them is not always easy.
Usually a child becomes bilingual naturally if mother and father speak different languages with him or if they speak Tatar at home, but Russian on the street and at school. How useful is this skill for the child? And does it make sense to artificially achieve bilingualism from a child, for example, by specially hiring a foreign-speaking nanny for him?
“My son started speaking English at the age of one and a half, it upset me and surprised me, because I spent more time with him,” says the mother of a preschooler (the family lives in England). - Then I was upset, but did not give up, continued to speak and read a lot in Russian, never focused on the fact that my son answered me in English, did not pretend that I did not understand him. Trusting relationships were more important than Russian.
Exactly at the age of three, something went wrong in his brain, and he switched to pure Russian with me, my parents and his Russian-speaking girlfriend. nine0003
Specialists distinguish between congenital and acquired bilingualism. “The ability to learn two languages at the same time is preserved until the age of 7-8 years,” says linguist and teacher, specialist in bilingualism Ekaterina Protasova. Congenital bilingualism occurs in a situation where parents have different native languages or if a family with a small child has moved to another country. And acquired - when a child who already speaks one language begins to master the second.
Benefits of bilingualism
Statistics show that about 70% of the world's population is fluent in two languages. In Russia, bilingual children more often grow up in families of foreigners, representatives of national minorities and small peoples. Bilingual children usually have at least one parent who does not speak the language spoken in the country.
Cognitive flexibility
A large number of studies show that a person who is used to speaking two languages from childhood develops a special cognitive ability - he can more easily navigate in a changing situation, make decisions faster, he develops the ability to abstract thinking earlier, than children who have only one language. nine0003
Career Opportunities
Being able to speak two languages can open up great opportunities in the future. When a child knows several languages, he solves problems better, he has a good memory, knowing two languages, the child will more easily and willingly master the third.
Double vocabulary
Sometimes it happens that bilinguals have less vocabulary in one of the languages compared to their peers. But if you combine their "dictionaries" in two languages, it will, of course, be much larger than that of monolinguals. nine0003
Cultural background
Research also shows that bilingual children can have better control over their behavior, which helps them fit in better with their peers.
If a child speaks more than one language, he has the opportunity to communicate with people of different cultures. He can be included in another culture and interact with it from the inside, and not just observe or read about it.
How to preserve a child's native language in a foreign language environment
In cases where the family has moved to another country, parents are faced with the task of preserving their native language. Will the child forget how to speak Russian if the family moves to the USA? Bilingual children who can speak two languages fluently are common among blended families, both for Russian families living in the United States and, for example, for Armenian families living in Russia.
To preserve your native language, you need to use it as often as possible for communication in the family. If all family members speak the same (native) language, but due to circumstances have moved to another country, the recommendations are as follows: speak only your native language at home (and speak the local language outside the home).
It is important for parents to monitor their speech - the child must hear the correct pronunciation. nine0003
It is recommended to read Russian literature to your child, learn poems, sing songs in Russian, watch Russian TV. even for a short time in a language environment will have a positive effect on language acquisition. Also in many countries there are Russian schools, clubs, summer camps and Russian language courses for foreigners. It is very important that the child has a lot of language material that comes to him "at the entrance" and on the basis of which he will be able to develop his speech. nine0003
When a bilingual child has a speech delay, many tend to believe that the reason is bilingualism: the child was overloaded, he did not cope. This is absolutely not the case, says Ekaterina Protasova: bilingualism itself cannot be the cause of difficulties in mastering both languages. Bilingual children may indeed begin to speak later than their monolingual peers. And this is not surprising, because they need to process twice as much linguistic information.
But the difference in linguistic competence between them is erased by the age of 5. But bilinguals overtake monolinguals in cognitive development, abstract thinking and creativity. nine0003
If parents start to worry that their child is not yet talking, a very simple test should be done. Check if the child understands when spoken to. If he understands, but does not respond, then the language is already forming in his head, but he just needs more time to establish the process of reproducing the language.
There is a danger that a person will not be fluent in any language: he has forgotten his own, he has not fully mastered the new one. Such people (they are sometimes also called “heritagers”, from the English heritage language, inherited language) have to learn their forgotten native language again in order to master it not only passively, but also actively. nine0003
How to talk to bilingual children
Generally, bilingual children are spoken to in the minority language at home and in the majority language in kindergarten and school.
Create opportunities for communication
You need to choose an approach that suits your family. Some parents will be happy that their child simply understands the second language without speaking it (passive bilingualism), while others will want their child to eventually read, write, understand and speak both languages. nine0003
Separate languages
Make sure all the words and phrases you use belong to the same language to avoid confusion. If dad and mom are of different nationalities and each has their own native language, then they should each speak with the child in their own native language. Experts advise not to mix two languages, not to use words from two languages in a sentence. “Children mix languages only if their parents mix languages,” says Ekaterina Protasova.
Talk more
Give your child the opportunity to hear, speak and practice both languages throughout the day. Speak as much as possible, whether you are raising a monolingual or bilingual child. The main thing is to be patient. There will be moments when children will not understand you or will hear a question in one language and answer in another - you just need to keep communicating.
Give freedom
And do not turn language learning into hard work and force children to learn the language. Language lessons will be effective only if they are interesting and bring benefits to the child that he himself feels. It is worth remembering that the child may end up choosing both languages, or may be stronger in one language than the other. In any case, knowing two languages, even at different levels, will enrich his life. nine0003
Sources:
9000 ., Rodina N. M. Multilingualism in childhood. Zlatoust, 2013.How to raise a bilingual child
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Sociologists believe that by 2020, 70% of the inhabitants of developed countries will be bilingual. If, in our childhood, knowing English was a valuable asset, by the time our children graduate from school, it will become a necessary condition - like the ability to write or use a computer. And this skill needs to be developed as early as possible. The later a person begins to learn a language, the lower the chances that he will speak it as a native.
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Modern parents no longer postpone learning languages for school time and try to lay the foundations in early childhood. Studies show that the best period for learning languages is from birth to 9 years. After this age, children already develop social expectations, they are afraid of making a mistake and learn much more slowly than toddlers.
How to raise a bilingual child? Let's consider what scenarios can be for solving this problem in different situations. nine0099
Situation 1.
It doesn't matter what language the parents speak to each other. The main thing is that everyone speaks with the child in their own language, in no case switching to “alien” - neither at home, nor at a party, nor at the reception in the clinic. If the mother speaks Russian to the child and the father speaks English (or vice versa), the child will learn to speak both languages in parallel. Growing up in such an environment, already 3-year-old bilingual children can not only speak two languages, but are also able not to translate verbatim, but to interpret: that is, they not only understand, but can also retell the essence of the conversation in their own words. nine0099
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Situation 2. They speak one language at home, but another on the street
All families who decided to move to live abroad faced this problem.
And many experienced some pressure. “Speak the local language with your child at home. He doesn't understand us! - advise kindergarten teachers, teachers at school and even neighbors. But don't worry about this. In less than a year, the baby will speak no worse than his peers. But this process will be less painful if you prepare for the move in advance, especially if your child is already in school. Teaching will be conducted in English, but what happens if you ask a child who barely knows this language to read a paragraph from an English-language physics textbook? nine0099
It is not difficult to spend a year on learning a language at home. If for some reason it was not possible to complete the course at home, you can catch up with the locomotive by enrolling in online English courses. Reasoning in the spirit of “Why does he need a tutor, he still speaks English with classmates all day long” can lead to the fact that the child will no longer keep up with the school curriculum, and this is not just extra stress - it is a risk to his future.
In some European countries there are special classes where children additionally study the language, but this opportunity is not provided in all schools. nine0099
Situation 3. Both at home and on the street everyone speaks Russian
It's good if one of the parents is fluent in English. Then you can start right from birth: one speaks to the child only in English, the second - only in his native language. This technique can be used if someone close speaks English at the native level.
But since such a situation is rare in our families, we will have to get out somehow differently. For example, hire an English-speaking nanny or governess. From about 3 years old, you can start targeted English classes with a teacher. It may seem that 3 years is still too early. In fact, this is the best moment: the child will perceive a foreign language in the same way as his native language, he will immediately learn to think in it, and not translate words from Russian into English.
