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Apr 03, 2009

Research shows that young children are not just capable of learning several languages — they are hard-wired to do so. And being multilingual has cognitive and intellectual benefits that extend beyond the basic advantage of knowing another language.

Category: General

Posted by: webmaster

By: Aaida Rajabali The Ismaili

While surfing television programmes one day, I realised that I pay for far too many channels broadcast in languages that I do not understand. My subscription includes everything from Asian-Orient and South Asian to French and Spanish. I could take courses in each of these languages to maximise my investment, but I will never achieve near-native proficiency in any.

Born in Kenya and raised in Canada, I speak Kutchi and English fluently. Still, I struggle to strengthen my French and Spanish –– languages I acquired much later in life. Research suggests that had I only been instructed in those languages from birth, I would have mastered them by now.

In today’s global community, it is advantageous to be conversant in multiple languages because our world is more connected than it ever has been in its entire history. Technology and trade are criss-crossing cultural boundaries at an amazing rate. An abundance of international opportunities are available to multilingual professionals compared with their monolingual counterparts. Today most undergraduate arts students in North American universities are required to take a second language course.

While the process of learning a language is automatic, the requisite exposure for native proficiency occurs in the home environment at a very early age. Najma Aly, a 19-year old student at Texas A&M University, acquired Hindi at home and English at school without any formal training. The environmental exposure allowed her to intrinsically grasp the syntax and idioms of the language. She discovered that learning and retaining Spanish later in life was much harder even though she took instructional classes school.

Near-unlimited potential for acquisition

Children are not just capable of learning several languages — they are hard-wired to do so. According to Dr. Susan Curtiss, a Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles, “the power to learn language is so great in the young child that it doesn’t seem to matter how many languages you throw their way. They can learn as many spoken languages as you can allow them to hear systematically and regularly.”

An infant’s brain has incredible growth potential. Every single activity or stimulus contributes to the sponge-like learning process. If the child learns a language, intricate acquisition trails are created in the brain, which in turn strengthen existing pathways. “This window period of intense growth only lasts until about age 10 or 12,” says Dr. Harry Chugani, a pediatric neurologist at Wayne State University in Detroit. Hence, for language acquisition, it is critical to take advantage of the absorbent nature of a child’s brain by introducing new languages early in life.

Broad benefits from early exposure to language

Multilingual environments also stimulate young learners to grasp many languages at once. Ali Safari, 23, was born in Pakistan but his parents are from Afghanistan. Fluent in Pashto, a language spoken in Western Pakistan, he started learning Hindi and English upon coming to Canada at the age of 12.

Safari found English much harder to learn but found that Hindi, and in the same vein, Urdu, came naturally to him. He attributes this to the fact that he was exposed to many social interactions around these languages. Furthermore, learning a language compatible with one’s mother-tongue, with similar word construction and sounds, yields better results than learning a language that comes with a an added quota of new sounds.

The astounding effect that multiple languages have on the development of intelligence is demonstrated in Dr Laura-Ann Petitto’s work. She is a cognitive neuroscientist at Dartmouth College, and is known for her work on the biological bases of language involving early language acquisition. Her research indicates that bilingual children are cognitively more advanced than their monolingual peers especially with testing attention and abstract reasoning. The switching of languages and multidimensional meanings of words enhance their linguistic and intellectual abilities.

In the May 1999 issue of the American Psychological Association’s journal, Developmental Psychology, Dr. Ellen Bialystok of York University, argues that bilingual preschoolers begin reading quicker than monolingual peers because they distinguish symbolic linkages between letters and sounds without visual aids.

What’s the holdback?

Despite the scientific evidence, there appears to be a gap in encouraging multilinguistic capabilities in young children, especially among immigrant parents in North America.

Soliman Amiri, 20, born in Afghanistan but raised in Montreal says that his parents speak to him strictly in Farsi, out of fear of losing their linguistic heritage. When Amiri began learning English after the age of 10, he found it very challenging. Opting for one’s child to be monolingual during childhood, and expecting them to learn other languages as they grow older, can adversely affect their language development.

A common myth is that the doubling of languages can overwhelm or exhaust children’s capacity to understand either language. However, according to the Zanvyl Krieger Mind-Brain Institute at Johns Hopkins University, this idea underestimates the power of a young child’s brain, which is “almost infinitely adaptable.”

Immersion into the sea of languages

Capitalising on the flexibility of young minds can be accomplished by combining home experiences and school programmes. Webber Academy, a private school in Calgary teaches its students several foreign languages as part of its curriculum. The students begin learning Spanish in kindergarten and Mandarin in grade four. French is an option when they enter grade seven. The school also offers yearly trips to Costa Rica, Spain or China.

Ali Tejpar, 15, who attends Webber Academy, is proficient in Urdu, English, French, and Spanish, and can casually converse in Mandarin. According to him, to maximise chances of acquisition, one should “immerse one’s self into the culture.” Through participation in cultural festivities and the stimulation of sensory learning one acquires a natural appreciation of language.

Language development comes naturally to young children and confers a host of physiological, social, cultural and personal benefits that remain with them throughout their lives. And just imagine how much more value they will derive from that multilingual cable subscription!

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