Draft

Parents’ Misunderstanding the Benefits of Raising Their Children as Multilinguals

Zamir Asliev

University of Cincinnati Blue Ash

26 February 2018

People raising children in a foreign country think that exposure to two or more languages causes confusion and it is extremely difficult for their children to learn those languages simultaneously; usually the parents ignore and do not support the communication in their native language. However, if parents resist communication in their native language then the child has more likelihood to grasp both languages simultaneously with no possible confusion. Also, multilingualism or ability to speak in more than one language improves their cognitive brain functioning, and has many other advantages. “If you do not have the correct supportive structures to raise the child bilingually, the child will not be comfortable in either linguistic community” (Hedges). “…parents should feel comfortable speaking one language with the children responding in another, thus preserving comprehension skills in the second language” (Hedges).

Bilingualism or multilingualism can be very challenging or difficult to learn in a country where only one language is adopted or is dominant. Also, many people, especially immigrants, think that learning two languages at the same time may cause confusion and delay in a child’s speech when they are exposed to two or more languages at an early age. However, researchers have found that is not the case. Multilingualism may cause a temporary delay but in the long run it has many positive benefits. For example, if an infant who grows up in a bilingual family where they receive correct and balanced support of both languages then, there would not be any issues or difficulties for an infant to acquire both languages at the same rate. Ramirez reports, "At birth, the baby brain has an unusual gift: it can tell the difference between all 800 sounds. This means that at this stage infants can learn any language that they’re exposed to. Gradually babies figure out which sounds they are hearing the most" (2016). As a result, doctors should encourage their young patient's families to teach their newborn children a language that may be beneficial later in life. Knowing this, these same families can find that children know two languages or more with lots of ease.

Learning another language and ability in two or more language causes lack of confidence in their performance. Therefore, it is difficult to assume that multilingualism is always beneficial. This ability is called metacognition and is associated with, but separate from, other areas where bilinguals have been shown to have an advantage (Folke & Ouzia,). Forcing a child to speak only one language at home might as well disrupt the child parent relationship or social life. This will have consequences in school and in the child's identity; a child can feel alienated and removed from those around him."(Hedges)

Multilinguals can be able to speak or write multiple languages but they might have issues with having smaller vocabulary than their monolingual peers and sometimes they often struggle explaining something clearly and easily. Parents of bilingual children also worry that their children will not know as many words as children who are raised with one language(Ramirez)

Some parents find out that their children have a language delay and worry that if they speak their home language causes negative effects and their children will not learn the majority language. Therefore, the parents give up the home language, and they speak the majority language all the time so the children learn that language fully, and start teaching a second language after their children are fluent in the first language. Some parents attempt to speak the majority language to their child because they want their child to learn that language, even if they themselves are not fluent in the majority language (Lowry, 2016)

Parent should not ignore the importance of the benefits of multilingualism, and support their children in both the native and the language where they live in in order to prevent their future social lives. Educators say that parents must often be content with children's lack of total proficiency in their second language, usually the one spoken at home but not in the country where they live. But "if parents have given the child some knowledge of the second language, they have still enriched the child's life,"(Hedges)

Baby brains are capable of learning any language without any possible negative cause because their brain is not fully developed, and can assess any language they are exposed to. As the baby brains are capable of differentiating about 800 sounds, each language has roughly 40 sound which mean super baby brains are able to learn them very easily.

When a child borrows some word from as many languages the child is exposed to it does not mean that the child is confusing the languages. The child is simply doing what multilinguals do on regular basis. “Another common concern is that bilingualism causes confusion. Part of this concern arises due to “code switching,” a speaking behavior in which bilinguals combine both languages.” (Ramirez)

Ability to speak more than one language has many practical benefits rather than simply earning multilingual status, and one of them, according to Bhattacharjee’s article on New York Times, is their higher intellectual level. In the research, scientist have tested intellectual levels of monolingual versus bilingual infants. They were assigned two similar tasks such as ordering items by color and then by shape. In the first task, both monolingual and bilingual infants learned equally. However, in the second task bilingual infant adept it more quickly than monolingual. Bhattacharjee (2012) asserts, “… bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.” The reason behind this ability is that bilinguals switch between languages on regular basis therefore they adapt to new task easily and quickly.

Multilingualism has many intellectual and health benefits alongside being able to speak more than one language. It can prevent you from symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and switch between languages or tasks with no complications. Until 1960’s, people have been told that raising a bilingual child causes negative cognitive effects, and they tended to raise their children with one language (Diamond, p.332, 2010). However, recent study showed that was not the case. Instead, bilingual children have same perception or more than monolingual children. When both monolingual and bilingual children given the same task, their comprehension was same but when it was opposite bilinguals learned after a couple trials whereas monolinguals could not. Additionally, it can delay the Alzheimer’s as Diamond (2010) reports, “Hence, you may be more impressed by recent results suggesting a protective effect of lifelong bilingualism against symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease” (p.332). The reason is that when monolinguals do no use that part of the brain, which bilinguals do, the cells start to degenerate (die) and it causes dementia. Therefore, when a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s tends to play brain soaking games like Sudoku but it is a brain exercise for a moment whereas bilinguals use their brain all the time which proves why they are less likely to get dementia.

Children who grow up in a bilingual family and environment usually face many issues in their lives while their monolingual companions are saved. They can feel disconnected in both languages and societies when floating between languages. Also, it may even damage child-parent relationship if the parents demand their children to speak only one language at home, usually their native language. In order to prevent the issues Hedges (1991) suggests, “Educators also say that parents should not limit vocabulary and concepts in either language, even if the child fails to grasp all that is being said.” For example, if Spanish speaking parents utilize Spanish only at home their children have higher chance to learn both languages simultaneously. Those who do not utilize as much as their native language at home have more likelihood that their children will adapt only one language where they live in.

According to CNN Money, translating and interpreting was one of the hottest and fastest growing job in 2013 (Kurtz, 2013). Therefore, another benefit of multilingualism is to earn more money and have financial freedom. At the time, multilinguals made the most money of all, especially the ones who worked in the government agencies such as, CIA and FBI, and the speakers of the Middle East and African countries. On top of financial freedom, Kurtz (2013) adds, “Most interpreters and translator work on a freelance basis, which can be both a blessing and a curse”, some of them had flexible schedules where they worked as an independent contractor but some other were called whenever they were needed. Therefore, it is important to understand the schedule flexibility.

According to Wolfstone, anybody can learn another language but it is more difficult for monolinguals as they use all their brain power to achieve their goal whereas for bilinguals or children it is a little bit less stressful. Because, children have Super-Brains, which means that their brain is not fully developed and able to learn any language they are exposed to without any difficulties or having accents as the adults do (Laget, 2015). The reasons for that is adults who are bilingual would go through the same progress once again and their brain already know what to do, as well as their memory and cognitive vision is more developed than monolinguals but they are less likely to be accent-free speaker. Therefore, it is easier for them to learn a third language. Nevertheless, monolinguals still can learn another language with utilizing some tips Laget (2015) suggests, “Living for several months or years in a foreign country is the best way to learn a language since you get the opportunity to hear different sound systems every day. Thus, you get used to speaking the targeted language faster.” Additionally, monolinguals can try to think and speak to themselves in the language they are learning because it improves their accent and speech frequency.

Learning a new language made adults aware of its difficulties and confusions but why when a toddler raised in a bilingual environment mixes up the word between languages is assumed a confusion? According to The Conversation, Ramirez reports that it is not true because children who undergo two or more languages from birth become native speakers of those languages whereas adults struggle to gain fluency in a foreign language. Acquiring a language for babies starts even before they are born and babies can differ or hear about 800 sounds (Ramirez, 2016). Later they will stick with the language they hear the most. However, bilingual parents have been concerned about whether their children may confuse the languages and not learn fast enough as their monolingual companions. In order to prove that they all learn at the same rate Ramirez (2016) asserts, “We found that the bilingual babies showed an equally strong brain response to English sounds as the monolingual babies. This suggests that bilingual babies were learning English at the same rate as the monolingual babies.” Additionally, some other parents think that their children may have smaller vocabulary; this can be true because they are learning two or more languages at the same rate but they have words to borrow from their second language and this makes them equal to monolingual babies.

Multilingualism has been very popular for its intellectual benefits alongside delaying or preventing symptoms related to dementia. However, according to The Conversation it also has a downside related to emotion. In the research, they have tested both the monolingual and the bilingual in a particular task where they were supposed to represent which of the two circles contained more dots in them. As a result, they both were able to tell or differentiate which circle had the most but the bilinguals felt less confident with their performance whereas monolinguals did better. “Confidence in their ideas and performance can be the determining factor in whether they decide to keep investing time in their company or give up and apply for another job (the so-called “exploitation exploration trade-off”)” says Ouzia and Folke (2018). This explains that monolinguals are better at making decision especially immediate decision where bilinguals lack at this point, and they take more time to decide.

In a survey of 11 students at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash, I found that majority think multilingualism is a serious issue and for American society as well. The majority of them know only two to four multilingual people, and they think it is moderate to learn another language. Also, they suggested the benefits of multilingualism such as, communication with more diverse groups, opening lines of communication with mono-linguistic people and better job opportunities.

In conclusion, parents should know the importance of multilingualism in early ages of their children and the many benefits that come alongside with learning two or more languages. They should support their children in both the minority and the majority language if they are bilingual. By doing this the children achieve fluency in both languages at the same time and do not feel disconnected from their relatives living abroad and speaking different languages. It also can be helpful at school because bilinguals are capable of creative thinking and performing new tasks better. (add multilingualism it beneficial financially)

Reference

Bhattacharjee, Y. (2012). Why bilinguals are smarter. New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?src=me&ref=general

Diamond, J. (2010, October 15). "The Benefits of Multilingualism." Science, vol. 330, no. 6002, pp. 332-333. EBSCOhost, doi:10.11261/science.1195067

ENGL 1001 UCBA. (2018). Survey on Benefits of Multilingualism. [In class survey].

Hedges, C. (1991, January 05). Growing Up In 2 Languages. The New York Times.Retrieved February 04, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/06/education/growing-up-in-2-languages.html

Kurtz, A. (2013). The hottest job skill is… CNN Money. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/news/economy/job-skills-foreign-language/

Laget, A. (2015). How does your brain work when learning foreign languages? Wolfstone. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from http://www.wolfestone.co.uk/blog/brain-work-learning-foreign-languages/

Lowry, L. (2016). Bilingualism in Young Children: Separating Fact from Fiction. The Hanen Centre. Retrieved February 26, 2018, from http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Articles/Bilingualism-in-Young-Children--Separating-Fact-fr.aspx

Ouzia, J & Folke, T. (2018, January 19). There are also drawbacks to being bilingual. The Conversation. Retrieved February 07, 2018, from https://theconversation.com/there-are-also-drawbacks-to-being-bilingual-56726

Ramirez, N. (2016). Why the baby brain can learn two languages at the same time. The Conversation. Retrieved on January 30, 2018 from https://theconversation.com/why-the-baby-brain-can-learn-two-languages-at-the-same-time-57470