Bilingual children - one language is good, two is better!

With the increase in inter-ethnic marriages, questions and problems related to the upbringing of children in bilingual families are increasingly emerging. How often, in what volume, by what method and from which language do you begin learning languages, parents who got into such a situation often ask.

In bilingual families, where children regularly hear two languages ​​from birth, the best way of their speech development is the formation of bilingualism, that is, the mastery of languages ​​in equal measure. The more aware parents come to the process of its formation, the more successful and easier it will be to proceed.

The main misconceptions related to education in a bilingual family

1. Simultaneous learning of two languages ​​only confuses the child
2. Such upbringing leads to a delay in the development of speech in children.
3. The fact that bilingual children mix languages ​​badly.
4. The second language is too late or too early to begin to study.

In order to dispel these misconceptions, in this article we will consider the peculiarities of the development of bilinguals, that is, the basis for raising children in bilingual families, where two different languages ​​are native to parents.

Basic principles of bilingual education

1. From one parent, a child should only hear one language - while he must use it to communicate with other people in the child. It is very important that children do not hear the confusion of languages ​​before 3-4 years so that their speech in each language is formed correctly.
2. For each situation, use only a certain language - usually there is a division into a home language and a language for communication outside the home (on the street, at school). To fulfill this principle, all members of the family must know both languages ​​perfectly.
3. Each language has its own time - the definition of a specific time for the use of a particular language: in a day, half a day or only in the evening. But this principle requires constant monitoring by adults.
4. The amount of information received in different languages ​​should be the same - this is the main bilingualism.

Age of the beginning of the study of two languages

The optimal period for starting simultaneous language learning is the age when the child begins to communicate consciously, but it is necessary to fulfill the first principle of bilingual education, otherwise the children will only be capricious and refuse to communicate. Teaching languages ​​up to three years is only in the process of communication. After three years, you can already enter classes in a game form.

It is very important for the parents themselves to determine how it will be more convenient for them to organize the learning process of both languages ​​and to constantly adhere to this strategy without changing it. In the process of speech formation in each language, one should pay attention first of all to the communicative nature (volume of communication) of the child, and only then to correct pronunciation, correcting mistakes gently and as imperceptibly as possible. After 6-7 years of age, a child, watching the development of his speech in one or another language, you can enter special classes for the formation of correct pronunciation (usually it is necessary to "home" language).

Many educators and psychologists note that children, whose upbringing takes place in a bilingual family, later learn another foreign language (third) more easily than their peers who know one native language. It is also noted that parallel learning of several languages ​​contributes to the development of the child's abstract thinking.

Many scholars note that the earlier the study of a second language begins, even if it is not native to the parents (in the case of forced relocation to another country), the easier children learn it and overcome the language barrier . And even if there is a mixing of words in speech, it is usually a temporary phenomenon, which then passes with age.