5 Myths Surrounding Multilingualism
On Saturday the 19th of February 2021, we hosted our first Little Humans conversations with Dr. Katherine Kinzler — a professor in Psychology and Deputy Dean in the Division of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. Katherine’s work focuses on the origins of prejudice and ingroup/outgroup thinking, with an emphasis on understanding how language and accent mark social groups. Her work has appeared regularly in the New York Times and other media outlets, and she was named a “Young Scientist,” one of 50 scientists under age 40 recognized by the World Economic Forum.
The topic we discussed was “Multilingualism” — looking specifically into what we as multilingual parents could do to support our children n the best way possible — avoiding some of the common misconceptions there are out there regarding the topic.
It is a topic that I find immensely important and at the same time difficult — much of my social identity has been shaped by the biases our society has towards multilingualism. When I arrived in Denmark my only means of communicating with the other children and pedagogues was, in the beginning, English — learning perfectly Danish became a number one priority for me to ensure that I fitted in. I actually even refused to speak Russian for many years (which I later have figured out is quite normal for children that are trying to adapt and feel that their mother tongue doesn’t help them in that). When I became older we received a letter from the municipality that they forbade my mother to speak Russian at home as they feared it would limit my Danish-speaking abilities and integration. Thankfully my mother was not a good listener back then and continued speaking with me in Russian — which has enabled me to be completely fluent in both Danish and Russian this day today.
The letter we received from the government was not an unusual one (other classmates speaking other languages also received one) — much political decision making within this topic is till this day today based on a myth that states that bilingualism is dangerous both to the welfare of the children and the society as a whole — as it limits successful integration. Other common assumptions are that children develop slower if they are exposed to multiple languages, that kids do not learn to master a language properly if they are multilingual, and the list goes on. In our conversation with Katherine we tried to get under the skin of some of these assumptions — and understand whether these were truly things to be concerned about or just outdated myths that we don’t want to let go of.
As Kinzler mentions in her book “Linguistic bias is part of our basic cultural fabric. It is so ubiquitous that we don’t even think about it. It’s sanctioned by the law, it’s allowed by culture, and it’s practiced so frequently that people do not even realize when it is happening. Linguistic discrimination is seen as normal and typical, and because of this, it flies beneath the radar.”.
It is sad, however, the reality is that our society is deeply influenced by our biases and assumptions. Below I go through some of these biases — if you want to learn more about the topic I would wholeheartedly recommend you to read Dr. Kinzler’s newly published book: “How You Say It: Why You Talk the Way You Do―And What It Says About You” you can order it on Amazon.
Myth 1: Exposing children to multiple languages may cause delays in speech development & can cause language Disorder.
Milestones of pre-language development are the same in all languages. Like other children, most bilingual children speak their first words by age one (i.e., mama, dada). By age two, most bilingual children can use two-word phrases (i.e., my ball, no juice). These are the same developmental milestones for children who learn only one language. A bilingual toddler might mix parts of a word from one language with parts from another language. While this might make it more difficult for others to understand the child’s meaning, it is not a reflection of abnormal or delayed development. The total number of words (the sum of words from both languages the child is learning) should be comparable to the number used by a child the same age speaking one language.
If a bilingual child has a speech or language problem, it will show up in both languages. However, these problems are not caused by learning two languages. Bilingualism should almost never be used as an explanation for speech or language disorder. This is really interesting as I still till this day today hear this being used as blame for bilingual children — as an example I know several mothers non-native Danish speaking mothers whose nurseries would like to have a language-assessment conducted for their 17 months year-old bilingual babies as they fear “their language will not develop correctly”. This is in the majority of cases nonsense, fueled by old bias. In those situations, it helps to switch the scenario around: How is the vocabulary of the other children? Would this assessment be imposed on a monolingual child?
Overall a key message was that we often underestimate the ability of children to learn and the human desire to fit socially in with their peers/ surroundings — meaning that children are exceptionally good at adapting and understanding social contexts due to their need and desire to “fit in”.
Myth 2: Learning two languages will confuse your child and block “other” learning.
Some bilingual children may mix grammar rules from time to time, or they might use words from both languages in the same sentence. This is a normal part of bilingual language development and does not mean that your child is confused. Usually, by age 4, children can separate the different languages but might still blend or mix both languages in the same sentence on occasion. They will ultimately learn to separate both languages correctly.
Learning a new language does not “block” other learnings — for example if a child learns multiple languages at home that doesn’t mean that she/he then is unable to learn math or something else. The brain does not reach some full capacity limit that blocks other learning.
Also, a common misconception is that there is only “room” for one language. However, if we look around at other countries, we can easily see that in many places, children grow up learning two, three, and sometimes more languages without any cost to their educational development. For example, in Switzerland, the home language may be French, Swiss-German, Italian, or Romansh, but most children learn one additional language very early, and by the time they graduate from secondary school, the majority of students are trilingual. Malta is also another great example.
Myth 3: Bilingual children will have academic problems once they start school.
The school setting that best suits bilingual children depends on the age of the child. Immersion in an English language-speaking classroom is the best approach for younger children but is less effective for older students. For example, older kids in high school would be better served to get instruction in the language they know while they’re learning English. Research shows many academic advantages of being bilingual, including superior problem solving and multitasking skills, as well as increased cognitive flexibility.
Myth 4: If a child does not learn a second language when he or she is very young, he or she will never be fluent.
Although the ideal language-learning window is during the first few years of life — the most rapid period of brain development — older children and adults can still become fluent in a second language. Katherine mentioned that research suggests that the chances of a child to master a language as a “mother-tongue” are higher when this language is introduced to a child when the child is max. 7 years old. When deciding when and how to introduce a language it is important that we ask ourselves why we introduce it — Does it require fluency? Is it because we want the child to work in X country, travel there? Keep in touch with relatives? Depending on the reason the way we introduce the language may vary.
Myth 5: If a child is not equally fluent in both languages, she/he is not truly bilingual.
Many people who are bilingual have a dominant language, which can change over time, depending on how often the language is used. In the United States, it is not uncommon for a child’s dominant language to become English — school-aged children usually prefer to speak in the majority language instead of the one that is spoken by their parents. Just because someone is not equally fluent in both languages does not mean he or she is not bilingual. Regular use and practice of verbal communication, along with writing and reading, will help children (and adults) retain their second language long-term.
On a final note, the conversation with Katherine Kinzler was a really good reminder of the many blurred lines there exists out there — and the importance of doing what you believe makes sense for your family. As an example, I have been told that I should only speak one language to my daughter to ensure that she will learn it. This is not necessarily true as everything is so deeply relative depending on the social contexts, environment. usage etc. So in my case speaking both in Danish and Russian to my daughter is absolutely fine — as I master both of them fluently.
So, summing it all up: Do what you feel is best for your family and what makes sense for your reality… and do speak your mother tongue with your child and do not fear that this will limit her/him mentally, socially, etc. Happy speaking!
Up next at Little Humans
On Saturday, 30th of January, we are thrilled to host Mette Carendi who will be sharing her work and research related to emotional health. During her talk, we will focus on a broad variety of topics — ranging from how to successfully enroll your little one in nursery/ kindergarten, how you can offer the best emotional support when your baby is struggling, how to take care of ourselves as new mothers & fathers — especially when we’re emotionally overwhelmed, how to build strong and healthy family relationships, screentime and many other topics.
If you haven’t registered yet, you can sign up here.
