Language is a baffling thing.
Most parents will agree that it is an amazing thing to watch your child develop the ability to learn to speak.
One day, your child does not speak, and the next day, words are spoken.
It is a beautiful, magical thing to watch a child learn to coordinate the muscles and utter words.
Every child will make similar mistakes when learning to speak.
For example, every child, at a certain stage in development, when learning the English language, will say things like, “I breaked the glass.”
Instead of, “I broke the glass.”
Or, “My socks are on my foots.”
Instead of, “My socks are on my feet.”
If you ask a child at this stage to repeat after you, they will still say the incorrect word.
(I found this part of my linguistics class fascinating!)
Another fascinating aspects of linguistics?
The acquisition of a 2nd language.
There is a lot of debate about the benefits of a learning a 2nd language early on in school.
Research found that there were benefits to learning a 2nd language at a very young age.
Many schools began immersing their children into a bilingual school,
only to later find that test scores were dropping.
What is/was much less publicized is that test scores jumped up,
signigicantly
a few years later.
Researchers theorize that additional languages create additional connections in the brain,
therefore making information stronger in the brain.
If I can label an apple as a pomme, manzana, apfel, and I know the sign for apple,
it becomes a much stronger idea in my head.
Linguists are still unsure how or why we learn language the way we learn language.
What we do know is that humans are hard-wired to absorb languages.
Multiple languages
and the earlier you start exposing your child to languages,
the easier it will be to for them to learn the language.
So, recently, there has been a trend to enroll young children in language classes.
While I fully support exposing your child to multiple languages,
I urge you to be careful when enrolling your child in a language class.
Children are sponges, and do not need structure when learning a language
up until around the age of 10.
If you are going to teach your child a 2nd language, just allow your child to be exposed to the language.
My children learned sign language
at the ages of 10 and 12 months.
(I cannot sing enough praise about sign language as a baby, but I will save that plea for another post.)
They were able to learn it without a class.
I am begging you to avoid the structure of a class
unless the class is just an opportunity to immerse your child in the language.
Allow your child to learn from a native speaker, if possible.
Watch television in another language.
Ask friends and family to speak to your child in another language.
I, personally, believe your child will grow to be a more intellectual adult if s/he is bilingual.
And, I believe the earlier you get started teaching your child,
the more easily your child will acquire that language.
I am off to expose my children to another language.
What are your experiences with languages?
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