Raising Bilingual Babies

As the world becomes more accessible through technology and globalization, today’s children have more opportunities than ever to interact with a variety of cultures and languages. Increasingly, advantages arise for children to be able to communicate in more than one language, so it is no wonder that many parents are interested in exposing their babies to another language.  

That children typically learn foreign languages more quickly and easily than adults do is common knowledge. This is because the language regions of the brain are most flexible during childhood. According to the Linguistic Society of America, language development is based on exposure and need. Parents don’t actually “teach” their babies to speak. The acquisition of language is a developmental function—like learning to walk, tying shoes or potty-training. 

The benefits of raising bilingual babies goes beyond the ability to communicate in multiple languages. A new study published in April from the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington shows some interesting results. “Our results suggest that before they even start talking, babies raised in bilingual households are getting practice at tasks related to executive function,” says Naja Ferjan Ramírez, lead author and research scientist. “This suggests that bilingualism shapes not only language development, but also cognitive development more generally.” Bilingual babies may be able to concentrate better when they get older, and strong evidence suggests the ability to speak multiple languages from early childhood can delay age-related cognitive diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.

So if you look at the research and decide you want to raise a bilingual baby, then what? For multilingual households, things happen quite naturally. According to Kids Count Data Center, which is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the well-being of children in the United States, 15 percent of kids in Kansas and 6 percent of kids in Missouri speak a language other than English at home (2014). Amy Henley, an ESL teacher-volunteer for an organization that helps refugees integrate into American culture, and also the mother of a multilingual child, has some advice for getting started. And while there are many different methods for approaching bilingualism, this advice is widely agreed upon as best practice.

“Be consistent. Do not mix languages, even if you think your baby isn't understanding you. He is. Chances are, you're not fluent in the other language(s) anyway, so why would you want to speak incorrect language with your baby? Speak your mother tongue and nothing else,” Henley says. 

She goes on to reassure parents that introducing a second language will not be confusing or cause permanent speech delays, perhaps the most widely held misconceptions of raising bilingual babies. “Don't be alarmed or discouraged if your baby doesn't appear to understand you or is speech delayed,” Henley says. “They are understanding just fine.” Some mixing of words and grammatical rules is inevitable, and some children may experience speech delays. But eventually, they will catch up and be able to transition seamlessly between their languages.

Henley raised her son through early childhood in Germany, and in their home he was exposed to English and Arabic. Even with three languages swirling around him, Amir Henley made sense of it all. To his father, he spoke Arabic. To his mother, English. To German friends and in school, he spoke German. Even after moving back to the United States at the age of 9, Amir was able to transition seamlessly among all three, and he has maintained his fluency into adulthood. As a teenager, he added Spanish to his repertoire and says that because of his early exposure to multiple languages, learning Spanish was easy. As a result of his global upbringing and ability to speak multiple languages, he has experienced high-level academic achievement and a multitude of employment options.

But not all families have an opportunity to live in another nation or have multiple native languages in the home; however, they still want to offer their children the advantages of a bilingual upbringing. For motivated monolingual parents, beginning to teach their baby another language is quite possible through exposure to native speakers, books, media in the target language, play groups, tutors and by learning the desired language themselves. If you have resources to travel, language and cultural immersion is one of the most effective ways to learn a new language, but let’s face it, many of us don’t have that option. Fortunately, here in Kansas City, we have not one but three unique and affordable language immersion schools available to us.

Once your baby is school-aged, Kansas City Public Schools operate three charter schools for language immersion education: Academie LaFayette (K-8), a French charter school; the Foreign Language Academy (K-8), offering French, Spanish and Mandarin; and the Carver Dual Language Program (K-6), offering English and Spanish. In these programs, regular statewide curriculum is taught in the target language. Students receive the same material as their traditionally-educated peers, they just receive it in French, Spanish or Mandarin. Because of their reputation, affordability (comparable to a public school education) and the growing interest in the benefits of bilingualism, these programs are competitive. Students within the KCPS boundaries are given priority enrollment, but students outside the boundaries may be admitted if space allows. Children of all academic competencies are welcome.

So whether you are a multicultural family balancing several native languages or simply English-speaking monolinguals, raising a bilingual baby is scientifically proven to offer many lifelong benefits for your child—socially, culturally, professionally and even neurologically. Countless resources are available for whatever your circumstance and, eventually, some really unique educational opportunities for your little bilinguist.    

Erin Jones works at the Kansas City Art Institute and is also a freelance writer and portrait photographer. She is currently working on her first book—part memoir and part single parenting survival guide.