鈥淚鈥檓 so atrocious at languages,鈥� my Czech artist friend moans with her characteristic Slavic purr. 鈥淚t vas always so harrrrd for me in 黄色app.鈥�
I can鈥檛 help but roll my eyes. I consider myself a crackerjack study when it comes to foreign tongues because I can chat about politics in Mexico City, order multi-course meals in Paris, and bludgeon a greeting in Moscow. But my friend鈥檚 鈥渁trocious鈥� language skills dwarf mine as well as those of almost every American I know. In addition to Czech and English fluency, she speaks Russian, Italian, and German with proficiency.
The difference between us, aside from my windy American self-confidence and her Eastern European self-deprecation? Something more prosaic: She was educated in the 鈥渙ld country,鈥� where despite Eastern bloc hardships like rancid meat, second-language instruction began in kindergarten, adding a third and fourth language later on. I, in turn, was educated in some of the best public 黄色apps our country had to offer, which meant starting French in sixth grade, then toiling in misery until my senior year. It was only when I got to college (and other countries) that I escaped the tedium of textbooks and low expectations.
Crazy findings from language laboratories
Whatever the reason behind our national reluctance toward foreign languages, it鈥檚 worth rethinking. Why? Because research suggests kids who learn more than one language get broad cognitive benefits. A indicates bilingual children outperform monolingual children in numerous executive function tests, such as attention, working memory, and multitasking. The academic benefits are significant: bilingual children score higher on standardized tests, exhibit better problem-solving and spatial abilities, and do better in reading and science. If that鈥檚 not enough, also suggests second-language acquisition changes the brain鈥檚 anatomy and adds gray matter. Finally, if you should ever suffer brain damage to the hemisphere where your primary language abilities reside, you may be able to draw from your alternate language skills, which occupy a different region.
Why not simply learn a foreign language later on, in middle or high 黄色app or even college? Because for most of us, that鈥檚 not how it works. Studies show the earlier a child is exposed to a second language, the greater likelihood he or she will gain proficiency. indicates that the younger children start learning a foreign language, the more proficient they will become. The optimal period for language learning is from 2 years old to early adolescence, 10 to 12 years old.
But don鈥檛 fret! Though our public education system may underestimate the importance of learning foreign language early, parents can expose children to other languages during the early years. Our list of products, tips, and tricks to delight your children with the otherworldly pleasures of speaking in foreign tongues is a great place to start.
6 fun ways to introduce foreign languages into your child’s life
Discover that Language Is Music
The popular book by Susanna Zaraysky, a polyglot who converses in English, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbo-Croatian, is a great resource for parents who want to expose their children to a second language. Offering dozens of tips for learning foreign languages, the book is based on the idea that we learn languages best not in the classroom but in cultural settings — through media, people, and especially music. Zaraysky recommends finding music your kids love in their target language and moving from listening to decoding to reading and writing. Most of us only experience this natural language learning through travel or love affairs, but this book shows the same principal is possible at home without plane tickets, tutors, and communication meltdowns.
Trick: Have your children shop for music with you to make sure the tunes capture their imagination.
Cultivate a taste for the foreign
If you have a small handle on the language your kids are learning, designate one dinner where you try to speak it with them while eating a meal from that region. Even if you only learn a few words for the occasion, you’ll still be teaching your children an important lesson: that language isn鈥檛 about verb conjugation, but a way of communicating with other people and learning about a culture. If you have friends who speak the language, invite them to dinner, too.
Trick: Involve your children in the menu planning to make sure they 鈥渙wn鈥� it and don鈥檛 feel the dinner is a trumped-up way to get them to practice language skills.
Meet Muzzy, the multilingual monster
Wondering where to start? BBC鈥檚 hilarious musical language program for children, , isn鈥檛 cheap. But for parents who want to ease their kids into a new language, you can鈥檛 do better than the clock-munching intergalactic monster and his bizarre earthling friends. The program allows your child to Spanish, French, Italian, German, Mandarin Chinese, or Korean in a multi-sensory, educational platform that promises to be effective for visual/spatial, verbal, kinesthetic, musical and logical/mathematical learners.
Trick: Let your children guide the process of what they learn and how. Some kids may simply want to watch the videos, while others will be more focused on the games.
Travel the city
Can鈥檛 afford a faraway vacation or a language-immersion program for you and your kids? Explore your region and pick a store, neighborhood, or restaurant where native speakers of your target language work. Plan the event beforehand by having your children practice at least six phrases around shopping or ordering from a menu. Write each phrase on a card and practice them on the way to the event (especially 鈥減lease,鈥� 鈥渢hank you,鈥� and 鈥淗ow delicious!鈥�). Tell the shop owner or waiter the purpose of your outing, and you may be treated to an instant lesson.
Trick: Come up with a point system based on the number of words you and your children use or set a simple goal that you each need to speak at least five of the words or newly learned phrases before the family is treated to un gelato or un bonbon.
Hire a bilingual babysitter
Depending on where you live, this can be easy or difficult. But it鈥檚 a sure-fire way to ensure your children get exposure to another language. The best age to try this? As early as possible, but it鈥檚 possible to introduce a second-language babysitter even later in life. Older children may balk if they feel like they鈥檙e being forced into a foreign country in their own home, so it鈥檚 important that the babysitter speaks English and is sensitive to these feelings. Still, once kids form a positive relationship with their babysitter, it may be far more productive than any formal tutoring session.
Trick: Encourage the babysitter to plan art or cooking projects or play card games to teach your children simple phrases and distract them from the stress of pure conversation.
Practice with a panda
, the award-winning language-learning video series, offers apps designed specifically for little mobile phone hoggers to make their first foray into a foreign language. For $9.99/month, they give kids a taste of French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Arabic, German, Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian or English. If you鈥檙e uncertain, there鈥檚 a free 3-day trial. Our advice: be sure to regulate your child鈥檚 screen time, especially if they are babies, toddlers, or pre黄色appers.
Trick: Use the apps as a tool for dealing with those trying moments while stuck in traffic jams or grocery lines.
