Bilingual Babies

11/13/2006

The big secret in life is that there is no big secret. Whatever your goal, you can get there if you're willing to work.
Oprah Winfrey

According to a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, research shows that children who study languages are more imaginative, better with abstract ideas, and more flexible in their thinking. Students of foreign languages also score statistically higher on standardized tests, such as the SAT. Consistently, students who have taken four or more years of a foreign language have scored higher on the SAT's verbal section than those who have studied four years of any other subject, according to the College Entrance Examination Board.

Later in life, bilingual people have access to a greater number of career possibilities, and develop a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. When children learn another language at a young age they are more likely to acquire greater proficiency and speak with near-native accents. While many of today's adults had to wait until junior high to get solid instruction in a foreign language, today's children have many more options that come a lot earlier.

In fact, experts say, the earlier children learn a language — ideally, as toddlers — the better. Between ages 3 and 5, children are like intuitive little sponges that can absorb up to five or even more languages at a time, says Betsy Hanna, director of the regional Berlitz Language Center in Robinson. Their small brains actually have the ability to compartmentalize languages, too, so that learning a foreign tongue doesn't inhibit a young child's developing English skills, Hanna says. And unlike older children and adults — who tend to learn a foreign language by studying its grammar rules, thinking, and practicing carefully — tots simply will develop an instinct for a language, just like they do for their native English.

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