🐬 Languages

Bilingual children learn faster and easier, have improved problem solving skills and creativity, and have more career opportunities in adulthood. They also find it easier to connect with other cultures which makes them more open-minded and tolerant of diversity, and they are less likely to experience age-related mental illness as they reach old age. Most importantly, it’s much easier to learn a second language at an early age. In addition, learning a second language isn’t as difficult as it used to be. Scientists are constantly studying second language acquisition and developing new methodologies to help kids learn faster.

Make meaningful connections

If you want your child to learn a language, problem solving skills are a fantastic benefit, but the ultimate goal is for them to feel comfortable having conversations and connecting with the world around them.

Learning a language allows your child to connect deeper with the idea of knowing and supporting their greater community. A future teammate, a favorite shop owner, a beloved teacher—a second language can help your child build lasting, meaningful connections with more people in their community. If your child is looking for ways to give back to their community, taking the time to learn a second language is a true mark of care and can allow them to unlock doors for others in the future.

Plus, with newfound connections, they’ll have ample opportunities to practice their new language and learn new vocabulary!

👉 Deepen their sense of empathy

Your child may adopt a language quickly, but there are still a slew of mistakes they’ll make along the way. No one can speak a language perfectly from the get-go—and that’s okay! Like learning an instrument or perfecting a golf swing, mistakes are a part of the process, and learning a language can show your child how rewarding it is to work through challenges.

It’s this kind of perspective that can also boost their overall emotional maturity. By understanding the struggle of learning a language, they’ll be able to better empathize with their peers when roadblocks appear. In short, learning a language can help your child build their social skills and be a better friend!

What a recent study shows?

Kids are uniquely primed to pick up language quickly. A recent study, which pulled from a dataset of 570,000 people, found that children actively learning or immersed in a language before the age of 10 have the best chance of achieving proficiency, similar to that of a native speaker.

It makes sense that language comes easier to early learners. They’re better at implicit learning, which means that if they have the right immersive learning opportunities, they do well by simply listening to a new language and imitating it.

👉 Maintain ties with family culture

Kids are uniquely primed to pick up language quickly. A recent study, which pulled from a dataset of 570,000 people, found that children actively learning or immersed in a language before the age of 10 have the best chance of achieving proficiency, similar to that of a native speaker.

It makes sense that language comes easier to early learners. They’re better at implicit learning, which means that if they have the right immersive learning opportunities, they do well by simply listening to a new language and imitating it.

👉 Boost their problem-solving skills

It’s common for children to grow up bilingual nowadays. If you’ve raised your child in a bilingual household, then you’re already aware of the rewards of language learning and how it can strengthen your child’s cultural identity. Or perhaps you’ve lost the language your family speaks and are looking to learn yourself? Learning a language with your child is an awesome way to bond together and reconnect with longstanding traditions. Children are innately curious about where they come from, and language is the perfect gateway to understanding their personal history and the wider culture around them.

👉 How to make language learning happen for your child

Problem-solving, empathy, culture—a second language has so much to offer for your child’s long term growth and success. Now that you’ve seen the benefits, the next step is to determine the best language learning tool for your child.

Since children are best at implicit learning, immersion is a particularly effective learning strategy. If your child is learning Spanish for the first time, for example, they would benefit from being spoken to and speaking in Spanish at home.

Become a Better Learner

Every time I learn a new language, I find it easier than the one before. The reasoning is simple: with every new language I study, I figure out ways to learn more efficiently. In other words, I develop language hacks.

As you spend time learning your first foreign language, you’ll identify your own inefficiencies and eliminate them. You’ll start gaining momentum in your chosen language and learn more and more quickly. Then you’ll be able to hit the ground running with the next language. You’ll be on your way to polyglotism before you know it.

3 Comments

Ann 06 Jan 2023 at 12:00pm

Conquer Your Fear of “Looking Stupid” If a foreigner walked up to you to ask for help with something like directions, and they struggled to find the right English words, and made many mistakes but were obviously trying hard, would you feel like laughing at their effort? I doubt it. You’d more likely be impressed with their courage to walk up to a stranger and speak a language imperfectly. That’s a person who has conquered their fear of making mistakes in front of others, and has managed to communicate with you and gotten help with what they need.

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Maria 28 Jan 2023 at 16:30pm

Foreign language study helps you better understand your own language and culture Learning a foreign language can actually pull a sort of reverse psychology on you and provide you with a better understanding of your own native tongue and culture. This is one of the most unexpected advantages of learning a foreign language. You will become much more conscious of not only cultural customs, but of the grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation patterns of your first language. This likely explains the improvements in listening, reading, and writing skills that foreign language impart to former monolinguals.

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Militsa 01 Jan 2045 at 12:00pm

Studying a foreign language makes you more open-minded

Foreign language study is simply part of a very basic liberal education. To educate is to lead out—to lead out of confinement and narrowness and darkness. Learning a foreign language and getting soaked into an entirely new culture and worldview is the surest way to become an open-minded, understanding, tolerant individual, and that is absolutely priceless. Once you are aware of the fact that we are all cultural beings, products of our own environments, and that you recognize the cultural base for your own attitudes and behavior, you are ready to consider others in a more favorable light. Seeing the world from a different perspective, and understanding where you and others come from, is a fantastic, eye-opening experience.

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