Bilingual Babies and Households

October Newsletter Article;

Bilingual Babies and Households

Do you have a multicultural family? Trying to give your child a leg up? Learn about benefits, strategies, and tips



By Nancy Held, RN, MS, IBCLC



There are many reasons parents choose to raise their children as bilingual. Research has demonstrated bilingual children have advantages over children who speak one language with increased creativity, flexibility, and awareness that language is a system that can be played with and analyzed. In addition, bilingualism increases the understanding of other cultures and connections between generations.
Newborns can pick up any language very easily until ten months of age, at which time this ability begins to fade. So, now may be a great time to begin teaching your baby a second language.
The best way to help children learn new languages is for them to be surrounded by people speaking other languages in a spontaneous and friendly way. Language learning happens in every day conversations with parents and/or caretakers. In addition, other small children make excellent instructors so multilingual playgroups are ideal.
There are two common strategies for bringing up bilingual babies in mixed language families. The first is the gold standard and is called One-Parent-One Language where each parent speaks a different language to the baby (the language they are most proficient in), so that babies spend equal amounts of time hearing both languages. The second strategy is called the Hot-House Approach which involves speaking 80% of the minority language in the home to counter the fact that the baby hears much more of the dominant language outside the home. The goal is to nurture the child’s confidence in the minority language to be able to withstand the intensive dominant language when they go outside the home.
Both parents do not need to know the second language but it can become a fun learning experience for partners with their babies as they both learn the new language. Spending time reading bilingual books and singing songs to the baby helps the monolingual partner bond and learn with the baby.
Research shows that with very young children, even one hour a week of interaction with a foreign language can be helpful. However, this interaction must be with humans, not DVDs or electronic toys as this research proved that babies do not learn languages through television. Ideal interactions are for parents to read bilingual books to their babies and listen to music together. Putamayo music CDs are ideal.
The most important thing parents can do to help their babies become bilingual is to speak to them in the language they want their baby to learn.

Recommended Reading

The Bilingual Edge: Why, When and How to Teach your Child a Second Language by Kendall King and Alison Mackey, 2007, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

The Bilingual Family, A Handbook for Parents by Edith Harding-Esch and Philip Riley, 2005, Cambridge: University Press.

Growing Up With Two Languages, 2nd edition, by Staff Andersson. 2004, NY: Routledge.

DayOne Product Picks

Expose your child to music from Africa, Asia, Latin America and more through our Putumayo CD collection. Teach a foreign language through our baby language CD's and books in French, Chinese, and Spanish.

Research shows that teaching your baby Sign Language will help prevent toddler tantrums, speed language development, and help your child communicate at an earlier age. DayOne supports your study of American Sign Language through an extensive offering of books and Signing Time DVD's for sale or on loan from our member library, an all level drop-in practice group, a beginners workshop, and an intermediate 6 week series.