How to train children who can speak many languages?

Before 1950s, multilingualism was usually regarded as a derogatory term, because speaking more than one language was associated with low IQ and cognitive ability. Although these negative assumptions are wrong, some of them are still very popular. Countless families have been asked to stop communicating with their children in their mother tongue because they are worried that learning another language or two will not only confuse their children, but also hinder the integration of these immigrant children. De Hoover said that these fears are nonsense and a kind of distrust based on differences in skin color, culture and religious identity.

The prestige of a language also plays a certain role in the success of multilingual system. In Europe, languages such as English, German and French are generally respected and accepted, while some Eastern European languages such as Russian or Polish and some Middle Eastern languages such as Arabic and Turkish are greatly doubted. De Hoover said it would cause children to lose the motivation to learn their mother tongue. She wrote that when their language is not accepted, children also feel that they are not recognized. In addition, language discrimination violates article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights and Interests of the Child. Parents will purposefully decide to send their children to schools where the language and culture they teach are respected.

Thanks to researchers like Ellen Biavestock of York University in Canada, bilingualism has become a fashion. In the United States, bilingual and immersion schools specially designed for ethnic minorities to preserve their languages are attracting middle-class families from white people and are eager to accept talents brought by multilingual system. Although this goal is worth recommending, it may really push these schools to establish their own target groups.

Middle-class families are also more willing to participate in "coordinated education" declared by sociologist Annette Lario at the University of Pennsylvania, that is, parents actively cultivate their children's skills and abilities in order to achieve the greatest possible success. However, these children are also faced with a tight schedule, fatigue, no time to play, easy to get bored, and unable to play their children's nature. At present, using multiple languages has become a part of the trend of parents' concentration.

Today, some parents cultivate their children's multilingual ability, just as they cultivate their children's nutrition, discipline or school education: a zero-sum game holds that the only correct way to succeed is through parents' sacrifice and dedication. This is unnecessary and even harmful. Studies have found that parents who believe in intimate parenting, especially mothers, are more likely to suffer from depression.

In addition, the view that "the more the sooner the better" was attacked. De Hoover said that the best age for children to learn a foreign language is after 12 years old, and noticed that the current trend in European countries is to teach children to learn English at a younger age, which has not shown better results. Starting to learn a language too early-especially when children learn a language from their parents at home-may cause children to lose all motivation to learn.

There is a lot of information about raising multilingual children, especially the advice parents can get from other parents. Therefore, parents may become anxious, nervous and even full of doubts about themselves and their educational methods.

Although it is hard work to cultivate multilingual children, it is time to relax. Basically, the goal of cultivating bilingual children is not so unique. It is estimated that perhaps half of the world's population can speak two or more languages, and many people can also speak dialects.

The action of learning a language may bring a psychological benefit, the biggest benefit. As Amy Thomson, a linguist at the University of South Florida, said, multilingualism can make people learn to be more tolerant, because it helps people acquire two very important skills-cultural ability (better understanding people's different communication and behavior) and tolerance of ambiguity (how people adapt to new situations). This shows that, next, bilingual learning is not only about the language, but also about what the language is like and the culture behind it. To cultivate multilingual children is to cultivate citizens with an open mind, an inclusive mind and a global awareness. If so, parents should overcome difficulties and lead the fashion.

(Image from the Internet)