My wife, my son and I spent the weekend with my family. Along with my parents, some other relatives came and stayed as well. It was a great time filled with food, laughs and trips down memory lane. Naturally, questions arose about our son and how we speak to him in Spanish. One interesting question I was asked is stated was “What are you going to do when he speaks half English half Spanish sentences?”

This caught me a little off guard. I just immediately responded “We will encourage him and tell him he is the best little talker in the world.” I wasn’t really sure what other kind of answer could possibly be given. It got me thinking though… people who don’t understand bilingualism, well, don’t understand bilingualism. They see it as a ‘problem’ if the child code switches or goes through a transitional phase where they mix up languages; English grammar with Spanish words or vice-a-versa.

The reality is that there is nothing wrong with that.

The follow-up question was along the lines of “You are going to be the only one who understands him.” I can see their point with regards to the communication issues, and perhaps this is a proverbial bridge we will cross, however this is hardly a deterrent from choosing the bilingual lifestyle. Difficulties will most likely present themselves, and these difficulties will lead to new opportunities to learn and grow as a family. Will my English-only parents be confused at times when we are talking as a family or they are trying to talk to my son? Probably. Will it be that big of a deal? No. Frankly, I’m confused about half of the time I’m talking to children anyway.

Our little guy will learn to figure it out. He will grow, develop, and home in on who speaks what language, when and to what degree. In fact, this may happen sooner than later! A recent post of mine talks about how bilingual children start deciding which language is which as early as six or seven months old! This is the beauty of children growing up with two or more languages; they just get it. They learn very quickly what they need to do to be understood. They have to, really, as they don’t have a whole lot of other options!

Has anyone else experienced these types of questions or comments? What was the situation and how did you respond? Comment below and share your experience.

Jeffrey Nelson blogs about being bilingual, raising bilingual children, and all things bilingual at Living Bilingual.com . He and his wife, Gyovanna, are currently raising their 11-month old child, Liam, as a bilingual in English/Spanish. Jeff loves the fact that his son will grow up bilingual and bicultural, a long way removed from his own past growing up in North Dakota; the antithesis of the bicultural childhood.

{Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Nelson}

Over the weekend, my husband and I had a freelance television production gig and we got to meet a pretty neat Mexican family. The story they shared with us for the TV program we were working for has nothing to do with bilingualism, but I had to conduct all the interviews in Spanish and I must say I was very impressed by how well it was spoken by the children in the family. What surprised me the most is that both, the young man and woman, were born in the United States and have only been back to Mexico a handful of times.

The most amazing thing for me is that these young people were raised by a single mother who has spent the majority of her time  working at least two jobs to ensure her children got the opportunities she never did. In other words, it’s not like she was home with them making sure they were exposed to the language on a regular basis. And yet, she managed to raise two bilingual kids who today, at 21 and 27 years old, are able to be interviewed on camera for a television program solely in Spanish!

It might not seem like a big deal to some, but in all my years as a journalist I’ve often found that the children of immigrants — particularly the working class — are more or less able to communicate with their Spanish-only speaking parents, but their vocabularies are limited and English is definitely their preferred language. But this was not the case with the Mexican family we met this weekend. The kids English was impeccable, but their Spanish was not far behind. There were no issues with verb conjugations — one of the easiest ways to botch the languages — and there were only two times that the young woman couldn’t remember the words she wanted to use in Spanish.

I was so happy about all that that after the interviews were done I congratulated both the kids and their mom and I asked her how she managed to do it. She said that there was never a question in her mind that — even though they were born here — her children wouldn’t speak her native language, Spanish. She didn’t know anything about methods to raise bilingual children nor the countless myths surrounding this topic, for her it was only natural — and logical — that her kids would speak Spanish at home and learn English in school.

Now, her 27-year-old son is married and thinking about having children. I was delighted when he told me he definitely wants to pass on the bilingualism gift to them. He said he plans on doing it by speaking to them only in Spanish, even if that means his monolingual wife won’t understand. Luckily, she’s all for it!

{Image via kate.gardiner}

Earlier last week I had to write my first post on my new blog – Besos – for Babble as one of their new Voices. As I tried to introduce myself to that new audience, I kept coming back to the label of nonconformist which was given to me by my high school friends when the class superlatives were announced. There I was, right under the title of “Class Nonconformist.”

No, I wasn’t thrilled with it at all, but over the years I’ve learned to embrace that seemingly negative trait and realized just how happy I am to not meet everyone’s expectations of how things “should” be. Check out my Babble Voices article and you’ll get to know my nonconformist self just a bit more.

After that bit of self exploration, and reading the many comments from other women (and men) applauding and coming out as nonconformists themselves, I realized that all of us here are nonconformists just by the fact that we’ve decided to gift our children with a second (or more) language. Wouldn’t you agree?

Why are we nonconformists?

We’re nonconformists because we won’t believe any of the myths thrown our way by those who seem to know better than we do and have never read or researched the plethora of facts surrounding the incredible benefits of the bilingual brain.

We’re nonconformists because we will go out of our way to find the books, music, apps and toys that will enrich our kid’s lives with the sounds of our language of choice.

We’re nonconformists because, if given the choice, we will ignore the ignorants who claim bilingual education fails the system and we will do everything we can to enroll our child in a dual-language immersion program.

We’re nonconformists because we don’t care if others think it’s rude we’re not speaking to our kids in English when out in public. We are focused on our kid’s language learning and immersion process and not the other’s insecurities.

We’re nonconformists because we won’t let society dictate that one language is all we need; we know bilingual is better.

I’d love to hear from you on this one. Do you feel you’re a nonconformist? Why or why not? Let’s start this conversation and continue leading this #BilingualKids movement together.

{Photo credit: Greg Westfall.}

Editor’s note: During the next few weeks, we’re going to be doing things a bit differently here as Ana and I concentrate in meeting the deadline for the forthcoming SpanglishBaby book. We hope you bear with us.

Because we’ve been around for almost three years (wow! when did that happen?), this week we’ll be sharing some classic posts from when it all got started. This post was originally published on February 3, 2009. 

In most parts of the world, being bilingual is seen as an advantage. Back in Peru, my maternal grandfather sent my mother and her sisters to a bilingual (English/Spanish) school from kindergarten on. My parents sent both my sister and I to that same bilingual school. I hope to do the same for my daughter – send her to a bilingual school, that is. And, it seems like we’re not alone. According to some estimates, 75% of the world’s population speaks more than one language.

The most natural way to grow up

But for “many people, especially in countries like the U.S. with a monolingual mainstream culture…being monolingual is the most natural way to grow up,” according to Barbara Zurer Pearson, author of Raising a Bilingual Child. This might be the reason why, in this country, there are so many misconceptions about growing up multilingual.

So, in an effort to promote bilingualism, I thought I’d try to dispel some of these myths for you. Let’s see how many you’ve heard…

Five common myths about raising bilingual children:

1. Growing up with two or more languages will only confuse your child. According to everything I’ve read, this misconception has been around for a long time and apparently it goes back to issues of immigration in the United States. Educators used to tell immigrant parents that it was better for their children to speak English at home – erroneously stating that early exposure to two languages put children at a disadvantage. This is why there are so many third-generation Chavez(es) or Rodriguez(es) in the West that do not speak a word of Spanish. Newer research actually shows there are many advantages to being bilingual, including flexible thinking.
2. It takes longer for bilingual children to learn how to speak. The author of Raising a Bilingual Child, Barbara Zurer Pearson, says this myth is not supported by any scientific evidence. In fact, “with respect to most developmental language milestones, bilinguals are either at the same level as or ahead of monolinguals.”
3. They will only end up mixing both languages. This is inevitable and it’s harmless. But to monolinguals, it’s proof that the child isn’t really able to tell his languages apart. The actual term for this behavior is “code-switching” and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. I do it and it’s not because I’m not completely fluent in both English and Spanish, but because sometimes a word sounds better in the language I’m not using.
4. It’s too late. It is never too late. It is only easier when they are younger. According to the Multilingual Children’s Association, the critical period is from 0-3 years of age. “Brain imaging studies show that languages in bilingual infants are stored closer together in the brain than in later bilinguals.” This only means that after 3, children have to put more effort into learning a new language.
5. There is only one right way to do it.In fact there are several ways of raising a child bilingual. The right way is what works for you and your family. Consistency is key. So, whatever method you choose, just make sure you stick to it!

And, if you still have your doubts about all these myths, just ask somebody from Belgium, Canada or Switzerland – among others – where bilingualism is the norm, not the exception!

What myths have you encountered during your bilingual journey? 

Tell us, what are your reasons for teaching your child Spanish?

Encuentra este y más de nuestros artículos favoritos en español en el blog Mamás Latinas: Hijos Bilingües en Discovery Familia.

Photo by Indiewench

I guess I never really made the correlation, but as I meet more people raising their children bilingual and I read more about the whole concept, it truly makes a lot of sense that those who use the OPOL (one parent-one language) method, have found it incredibly beneficial to also teach their children sign language.

Recently, we dedicated a whole week to the topic of the OPOL method since we realized this is the one the majority of you are using. We were pretty happy with the results. Thanks to your feedback, which was amazing, we realized there are many topics we really need to concentrate on – and one of them is using sign language as a bridge between two other languages.

In case you don’t recall, in our guest post during OPOL Week, AnaGloria Rodriguez, who is raising two bilingual (English/Spanish) children mentioned the usage of sign language by saying this:

“We learned ASL so that the family would have one language in common.”

This statement pretty much summarizes the reason why so many parents using the OPOL method also use baby sign language.

A Bridge Between Two Languages

According to Monta Briant – author of Baby Sign Language Basics and Sign, Sing, and Play!- who has been teaching sign language to children and their parents since 2001, it makes sense to many parents raising bilingual children because it connects both languages.

Monta Briant

“It helps them realize that there is more than one way to say the same thing,” she said. “It really helps sort out that leche and milk mean the same things, thanks to the solid representation made through signing.”

The beauty of the whole concept is that there is only one sign that means milk or leche in sign language. It is important, however, to point out that there are many variations of sign language depending on the country and region where it is used. Since we live in the U.S., we’re only really talking about American Sign Language (ASL).

“Sign language makes it easier to learn both languages because it expands on what every baby – and adult – already does naturally,” Briant explained. “Research has actually shown that a baby being raised bilingual will learn both languages quicker when also using sign language. It’s just very natural for babies.”

One common concern that parents have – which really is a concern of parents considering bilingualism to raise their children no matter what combination of languages they plan on using, and ASL is considered a language – is that their children will get confused. As we’ve mentioned in the past, this is a myth and it needs to be debunked!

Briant, who’s raising bilingual children herself, said a lot of parents also worry that using sign language with their babies will actually delay their speech development – another common misconception related to raising bilingual kids.

“Sign language actually promotes and increases speech development,” she said. “Many parents have said to me: ‘If they can use their hands (to communicate) why would they bother to talk?’ But if you think about it, talking is a lot easier than signing. Plus, why then would speech language pathologists use sign language as part of therapy for children with delayed speech?”

It usually goes back to uninformed people making erroneous assumptions. If you’ve been following SpanglishBaby for a while, you know all of us in this bilingual journey face an uphill battle when it comes to comments made by those unfamiliar with this subject.

Another incredible benefit of using sign language, according to Briant, is that as children get older and maybe they forget a word here and there in the minority language, signing can be used as a hint to trigger their memory – instead of the highly discouraged method of simply translating.

Coming Up…

Following is a sneak peek at what we’ve prepared for the rest of the week. As always, we hope you find this info useful and remember we encourage you to leave comments, questions or to just share your own experiences. After all, this is the best way for all of us to learn!

• TUESDAY – Our weekly Ask an Expert series with a question specifically related to sign language and raising bilingual kids answer by Simona Montanari, one of our very own experts.
• WEDNESDAY – A guest post from one of our loyal readers – and a fellow mamá bloguera. She will tell us about her own journey using sign language to help in the process of raising her two bilingual children. You won’t want to miss this one!
• THURSDAY - A list of resources/articles/websites compiled specifically for those of you using or thinking about using sign language to raise your children bilingual.

G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y

We are so grateful to Monta Briant who has been kind enough to give us two copies of her book, Baby Sign Language Basics, one in English and one in Spanish, so we can give away to two lucky winners. All you have to do is leave us a comment sharing something about using sign language to raise bilingual kids, whether it be a question, a concern, a challenge, a tip, pros/cons, an anecdote, anything that will add to the online conversation about this topic.

This giveaway will end Thursday, Aug. 6th at midnight EST. Make sure you’re subscribed either by RSS or email so you don’t miss out on this highly informative and useful week.

Giveaway rules.

When we launched SpanglishBaby almost six months ago, I wrote a post about why raise bilingual children. In the weeks and months following, we’ve tried to write about or at least mention the latest studies related to bilingualism which have given us even more reasons why it’s such a great decision to raise our children bilingual. But we’ve never really taken a closer, more detailed look at why bilingualism is one of the best gifts we can give our kids.

I guess the most remarkable thing about all these studies is that they prove the human brain is truly amazing. According to the latest study, “babies being raised bilingual — by simply speaking to them in two languages — can learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one.” The main reason has to do with our brain’s flexibility and how exposure to two languages from early on increases this characteristic.

The study, conducted by scientists in Italy’s International School for Advanced Studies, was published this month in the journal Science and it tested more than 40 12-month old bilingual and monolingual babies. Although it seems kind of impossible to test children this young, researchers do so by tracking eye gazing. Here’s how it works:

“Make a fun toy appear on one side or the other whenever there’s a particular sound. The baby quickly learns to look on that side whenever he or she hears a brand-new but similar sound. Noninvasive brain scans document how the brain is processing and imprinting language. In this particular study, 44 12-month-olds were tested to see how they recognized three-syllable patterns — nonsense words, just to test sound learning. Sure enough, gaze-tracking showed the bilingual babies learned two kinds of patterns at the same time — like lo-ba-lo or lo-lo-ba — while the one-language babies learned only one.”

Hopefully this valuable information will be enough to, once and for all, debunk some of the major myths associated with bilingualism:

Growing up with two or more languages will only confuse your child.

This misconception has been around for a long time and apparently it goes back to issues of immigration in the United States. Educators used to tell immigrant parents that it was better for their children to speak English at home – erroneously stating that early exposure to two languages put children at a disadvantage.

It takes longer for bilingual children to learn how to speak. 

The author of Raising a Bilingual Child, Barbara Zurer Pearson, says this myth is not supported by any scientific evidence. In fact, “with respect to most developmental language milestones, bilinguals are either at the same level as or ahead of monolinguals.”

They will only end up mixing both languages. 

This is inevitable and it’s harmless. But to monolinguals, it’s proof that the child isn’t really able to tell his languages apart. The actual term for this behavior is “code-switching” and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. I do it and it’s not because I’m not completely fluent in both English and Spanish, but because sometimes a word sounds better in a particular language.

Another recent study conducted by researchers at Cornell Language Acquisition Lab concluded that bilingual children are better able to concentrate than their monolingual counterparts. According to the scientists, “children who learn a second language can maintain attention despite outside stimuli better than children who know only one language.” This ability to better concentrate can positively contribute to a child’s future academic success, the study went on to explain.

What parent wouldn’t want to provide their children with that possibility?

As if all these were not reasons enough to raise bilingual children, a Northwestern University study to be published next month, found that it’s easier for bilingual people than for monolingual ones to learn a new foreign language. Furthermore, the advantage “persists even when the new language they study is completely different from the languages they already know.”

In another words, if we’d like to introduce our children to a third language or they choose to learn one later on in their lives, they’ll have a much easier time thanks to our decision to raise them bilingual early on.

Fascinating, no? As I’ve mentioned in the past, no matter how you look at it, raising bilingual children is a win-win situation.

I hope you have the time to read all the studies mentioned here. They are definitely worth it. We’d love to know what you make of the findings, so please feel free to share your thoughts with us!

{image by  emrank }

The following is a guest post by bilingual English/Spanish speech language professional, Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D., CCC-SLP.  We are excited to announce that, starting next Monday, Dr. Kester joins our impressive panel of bilingual experts in our weekly series-Ask an Expert.  Click here to send her your questions regarding speech development in bilingual children.  We invite you to visit Dr. Kester’s website, Bilinguistics, to learn more about her and her team.

Is bilingualism bad for your kids? Do bilinguals learn to talk later than monolinguals? Are bilinguals less intelligible and less intelligent than monolinguals? There are numerous myths about bilingualism. I will address three of them here.

MYTH #1

People who code-switch (mix two languages) have a language deficit and do not know either language well.

Code-switching is used for a number of reasons but does not necessarily indicate a language deficit. Sometimes bilinguals code-switch for emphasis or to express a term that has a slightly different meaning. A colleague gave the example of “pie de manzana” versus “apple pie.” Though translation equivalents, these were two different things to her. One was American apple pie, which tasted and looked very different than Bolivian pie de manzana.

In some regions, code-switching is the norm. It is important to consider a child’s language model. If they grow up in a code-switching region, they will likely code-switch. What is important to determine is if they are able to use the languages separately after being sufficiently exposed to non code-switching models.

MYTH #2

Children with language impairment should not learn more than one language at a time.

There is no evidence that being raised with two languages will confuse children with normal language development or children with language impairment. A recent study found that children with language impairment who came from bilingual backgrounds did not have more severe language problems than monolinguals with language impairment.

MYTH #3

Children learning two languages are at a cognitive disadvantage compared to monolingual children

In the past bilingualism was often viewed as a source of problems in language development. Many poorly designed studies provided support for this idea. A number of recent studies have found a wide array of cognitive benefits related to bilingualism. Executive function, which is thought to aid in one’s organizational skills, attention, and inhibitory control, has been found to be superior in bilinguals as compared to monolinguals.

Additionally, bilinguals have been found to have greater cognitive flexibility in word learning than monolinguals. Bilinguals were able to learn words with similar meanings more readily than monolinguals.

Ellen Stubbe Kester, Ph.D.

Bilinguistics Speech and Language Services, Austin, Texas

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{ Image by  familymwr }

Photo by JAG Photography

I hate to use the word “mistakes” because I think the journey can be difficult enough without adding any more pressure. Mostly I just wanted to compile a list of some of the things that parents have been known to do which have hindered the process of raising a bilingual child. They’re really meant more as reference than as a list of “thou shalt not” dos.

While I was researching this topic, I came across some pretty interesting reasons why parents fail at raising their children bilingual. In the end, I came to the conclusion that it really boils down to one major thing. So, before I list some of these “mistakes,” I just want to emphasis that perseverance is probably the most essential trait you need to posses when raising bilingual children. If you just keep at it–even when it feels like you’re failing or you’re not seeing the results as quickly as you’d like–in the end, it will all be worth it.

Try to keep this in mind:

• One thing is to be consistent, it is another to be inflexible. Speaking the second language should not become a burdensome task for your children. Try to make it as fun and natural as possible without making rules that can’t be broken. Otherwise, it will become a struggle–especially the older your children get–and you might eventually feel like you won’t win the uphill battle.

• Along the same lines, instead of correcting every single mistake your child makes, try repeating what he just said the correct way. Be patient, making mistakes is part of the process. Again, if you make a huge deal out of this, the whole thing will just become a punishing chore. You will fail. What you actually need to be doing is praising endlessly! Motivation will make a huge difference.

• Caving in to what “others” have to say about your decision to raise your children bi/multilingual will get you nowhere. Let’s face it, myths about this alternative way of raising children abound, especially in this country where being monolingual is the norm. People–whether it be your in-laws, neighbors, so-called friend and even some teachers & pediatricians–will always have something to say when you decide to do things “differently.” Do your own research, surround yourself with others in the same boat, ask for a second opinion (if the negative comments are coming from a “professional”). In the end, you are the parent and it is up to you to decide what is best for your kids.

• Using movies and music in the minority language is great, as long as they’re used as supplements. Sitting your child in front of the set to watch the Spanish version of Cars, for example, will do her no good if this is the only exposure she has to the language the whole entire day. Although it is better than nothing, you need to speak to your child directly and intently. The more she hears you speak the minority language, the more she will learn.

• Thinking it is way too late to start. Let’s see in how many ways I can say this: Late is better than never. It is never too late. If not now, probably never. It’s easier the earlier you start, but it is not impossible if you start later.

It is totally normal to feel like giving up at some point along the journey. Feelings of discouragement are part of the process, but when you do feel like that, try to look for support from others who are also raising bilingual kids. And, remember, you can always come to SpanglishBaby and drop us a line about what’s bothering you or the struggles you’re going through, we promise to remind you of the value of your decision, but most of all, we promise to be a place where you can just blow off some steam!

Have you ever thought about giving up? What has stopped? What advice would you give a parent that’s thinking about giving up?

In most parts of the world, being bilingual is seen as an advantage. Back in Peru, my maternal grandfather sent my mother and her sisters to a bilingual (English/Spanish) school from kindergarten on. My parents sent both my sister and I to that same bilingual school. I hope to do the same for my daughter – send her to a bilingual school, that is. And, it seems like we’re not alone. According to some estimates, 75% of the world’s population speaks more than one language.

The most natural way to grow up

But for “many people, especially in countries like the U.S. with a monolingual mainstream culture…being monolingual is the most natural way to grow up,” according to Barbara Zurer Pearson, author of Raising a Bilingual Child. This might be the reason why, in this country, there are so many misconceptions about growing up multilingual.

So, in an effort to promote bilingualism, I thought I’d try to dispel some of these myths for you. Let’s see how many you’ve heard…

Five common myths about raising bilingual children:

1. Growing up with two or more languages will only confuse your child.
   According to everything I’ve read, this misconception has been around for a long time and apparently it goes back to issues of immigration in the United States. Educators used to tell immigrant parents that it was better for their children to speak English at home – erroneously stating that early exposure to two languages put children at a disadvantage. This is why there are so many third-generation Chavez(es) or Rodriguez(es) in the West that do not speak a word of Spanish. Newer research actually shows there are many advantages to being bilingual, including flexible thinking.
2. It takes longer for bilingual children to learn how to speak.
   The author of Raising a Bilingual Child, Barbara Zurer Pearson, says this myth is not supported by any scientific evidence. In fact, “with respect to most developmental language milestones, bilinguals are either at the same level as or ahead of monolinguals.”
3. They will only end up mixing both languages.
   This is inevitable and it’s harmless. But to monolinguals, it’s proof that the child isn’t really able to tell his languages apart. The actual term for this behavior is “code-switching” and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. I do it and it’s not because I’m not completely fluent in both English and Spanish, but because sometimes a word sounds better in the language I’m not using.
4. It’s too late.
   It is never too late. It is only easier when they are younger. According to the Multilingual Children’s Association, the critical period is from 0-3 years of age. “Brain imaging studies show that languages in bilingual infants are stored closer together in the brain than in later bilinguals.” This only means that after 3, children have to put more effort into learning a new language.
5. There is only one right way to do it.
   In fact there are several ways of raising a child bilingual. The right way is what works for you and your family. Consistency is key. So, whatever method you choose, just make sure you stick to it!
   

To find out more about the actual methods to raise your kids to become bilingual, don’t miss our next post!

And, if you still have your doubts about all these myths, just ask somebody from Belgium, Canada or Switzerland – among others – where bilingualism is the norm, not the exception!

What myths have you encountered during your bilingual journey?

Encuentra este y más de nuestros artículos favoritos en español en el blog Mamás Latinas: Hijos Bilingües en Discovery Familia.

{photo by epSos.de }