Bilingual Children: When the World Is Twice as Wide

What are the main advantages of bilingual learning and how to make it as comfortable as possible?
People who communicate and learn only one language from an early age are already a minority in the world. Once upon a time, bilinguals were created solely by circumstances: immigrant parents address you at home in their native language, and at school, peers address you in a local language. Nowadays, bilingualism is increasingly being developed consciously in children. This helps to get along with the world more effectively, scientists say. Especially in the modern world of VUCA (this is how volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity are abbreviated to it, i.e. instability, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity).

Polyglot Superpowers

Using two (or even more) languages at the same time in different situations in life is a great workout for different parts of the brain. Numerous studies by specialists in developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, education, linguistics, and communication sciences show such positive trends.

Developed attention. Switching from language to language requires – and trains – the ability to look at things from different angles. Bilinguals are usually better trained by alternating cases, concentrating more closely on each. They are less afraid of multitasking: you can plan, switch and "divide the elephant into pieces".
Flexibility of skills. They produce more different solutions to one problem without getting hung up on a single one. Show creativity and originality in solving complex problems. It is easier to combine abstract and practical thinking. Interestingly, they are more successful not only in the study of languages and literatures, but also in mathematics and physics.

Wider horizons. Bilingual people see more clearly the connections between seemingly not obvious, but logically or figuratively related phenomena. By looking at the world more voluminously, multilinguals create fewer prejudices and prejudices. It is easier for them to adapt to change, so they are less likely to get frustrated and give up.
Communicate more freely. Communication is not just bare information: we read a lot of important things from intonations, behavior, and context. Polyglots cope with this part more skillfully (confirmed, in particular, by interesting experiments, where participants had to intuitively understand an unfamiliar or even non-existent language). This has a positive effect on the level of emotional intelligence.
A longer youth. Research on cognitive abilities in older age shows that languages help delay brain aging. The more languages we use fluently, the less likely we are to be overtaken by Alzheimer's and other age-related troubles.

"What a beautiful kitten!"

Are there also disadvantages of bilingualism for child development? The obvious ones have not been proven. Rather, there are certain peculiarities.

Babies who hear more than one language usually begin to express themselves a little later. But, first of all, this is not a very significant gap. Secondly, something like a "cumulative effect": when the baby "listens" for a longer time, and then begins to give out slightly more complex constructions at once than the minimum "give" and "my".
Bilingual children mix words and constructions of different languages, especially preschoolers. Code mixing is also a completely normal process. All (or almost all) children, while mastering the language, temporarily create slightly alternative personal worlds. For example, they can call everything fluffy "kitty" (logically!) or create their own neologisms. Bilinguals simply have a wider arsenal for this exploration game. At school age, mixing usually goes away.
When there are a lot of languages, they seem to be confused with each other. And this is not fatal: hearing helps a person.For example, you may not know Turkish or Chinese yourself, but if you are shown two recordings with them, you will obviously be able to tell the difference.

Foreign from the diaper?

What is the best way to instill bilingualism in a child – at what age, by what means? There are also slightly different points of view on this, but they are again not mutually exclusive.

The method of "simultaneous acquisition" is when a baby hears several languages from a cradle and dives into them as if in different waters. 
The method of "sequential acquisition" is when a child acquires one language in the first few years, and a little later (usually from kindergarten or from the first grade) a second language is added to it.

Proponents of the "critical period" theory believe that there is a certain "time window": the age at which the baby will absorb several languages fluently – and then, they say, it will be more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to hurry so as not to miss the moment. There is some sense in this statement, but only partially. 

Firstly, the main advantage of bilingualism from the first months will be a less noticeable accent: the child will learn the melody more naturally. But if the "duality" begins at the age of three or later, when letters are already learned, it will be easier for a young bilingual to learn grammar patterns and correct sentence construction. A bilingual school has two advantages at once: informal communication goes hand in hand with the acquisition of formal skills. Two in one!

Second, the "time window" never really closes tightly. Yes, there is a rational grain in the principle "the sooner the better" – but if desire and curiosity are encouraged, the new language will easily go away in school and even after it. Let's recall the famous bilingual Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky. At the time of leaving for America, he was over thirty, and he could not pronounce anything more complicated than "vot du yu sink ebaut zis?" And by reading tirelessly, the writer brought English to a level where he gave birth to works and speeches in it as brilliant as in his native language. 

Not to memorize, but to learn

Therefore, it is worth using more than one language not only for the sake of professional success (knowledge of English and the desirability of another foreign language is increasingly becoming a threshold condition for an employee, so this is already a default requirement). Nowadays, it is important not only to quickly find and skillfully use information in other languages – scientific, educational, specialized, entertaining. Being able to hear the interlocutor and express your own thoughts and feelings in several ways is an equally important skill that makes us generally more sensitive, flexible, and stable. 

And here is another interesting answer to the question: "What is the best way to help a child develop bilingualism?" Acquiring knowledge in two languages helps to assimilate the conceptual apparatus and expand vocabulary. But without communication, play and joy, it will be a dry process, and the child better assimilates everything that goes with pleasure. 

Therefore, it is important for a little bilingual not only to memorize irregular verbs or the use of an apostrophe, to learn the Pythagorean theorem and learn about the Egyptian pyramids in Ukrainian and/or English. But also discuss school affairs, chat about hobbies, play Scrabble, joke – freely switching between languages! It is then that different dictionaries, grammatical constructions and ways of thinking come into use as naturally as musicality develops when you not only learn scales, but also sing with joy.

It is this approach – creating an optimal, lively and interesting environment – that we create in the classroom of NSS International School and in school life outside the classroom. And when children immerse themselves in it, the material goes more easily by itself, without stress and with enthusiasm.

Under such conditions, it is no longer important at what age the child began to use "mother" and "mommy" in parallel, whether the rule "one family member – one language" was followed (quite optional!) and whether he sometimes constructs stories in two languages at the same time. The main effect is felt when the question: "How is school today?" sounds sincere: "Amazing!"