The World in Their Hands - The Opportunities that Come with Raising Children in a Multilingual Home
A Satori of many tongues
With our practice in Leuven, serving the expat community, and our practice in beautiful, diverse South Africa - we often meet parents who have to face raising their children in a multilingual environment. They want to know:
Should they focus on one language before learning another?
Should they be exposed to as many languages as possible from early on?
What are the long term effects, pitfalls or benefits of raising these third culture kids in a society where they will hear many tongues?
To shed light on this topic, we invited a specialist guest to our blog. Ilze van Reeuwyk - a speech therapist at IVR Speech in Heidelberg, South Africa.
How many languages can benefit your child into adulthood?
There is no doubt that multilingualism can have great cognitive, educational, cultural and social benefits.
Some of these are:
Being able to converse with many people in social and professional contexts.
Opens doors for quicker and easier communication as language restrictions are decreased.
Enhances creativity and intellectual flexibility which, in turn, promotes academic performance.
Creates increased awareness, understanding and acceptance of cultures and societies.
Reflects well on academic and professional credentials when considered for employment and promotions.
Supports improved cognitive functions such as problem-solving, memory and decision-making.
Improved processing speed and capability to store information.
The challenges of raising children in a multilingual environment
But often, parents of these children can become confused as they confront many differing opinions on how to go about it.
After 12 years of experience as a practising speech therapist, I have seen with my own eyes that parents who achieve the most success, are those who assign one language per individual in the child’s life.
For example, Mom speaks only English to the child, Dad speaks only Zulu to the child and Gran speaks only German to the child. This can become quite complex as one needs to then decide what language the parents will speak to each other as well as to extended family and friends to ensure consistency. But the reasoning behind this is to help the child understand that they are dealing with two (or more) languages and do not perceive them as one mish-mash.
Once the child has mastered this concept of separate languages, all members of the family can then switch more comfortably between the languages.
Being flexible
It is important to note that even though this is a sound principle, every child is different. Flexibility and patience is always more important than any rule. This is especially true when they have specific language impairments or other conditions that may affect language development. Children with apraxia of speech, for example, often experience difficulties in understanding language and may acquire language slower than their peers. In such cases it might be best to choose one language for all important role players in the child’s life and wait until this language is well established before introducing another language. In these cases, partnering with a speech therapist would bring a lifetime of benefit to the rest of the child’s life.
Another reason why it is sometimes beneficial to wait before introducing another language is when kids are a little older and have better understanding, one can add a name to each language. So when the child says “I am going to koop sweets vandag” you can correct them by explaining that koop and vandag are Afrikaans words and then providing them with the correct English words. Before you know it, they will be correcting your language and grammar mistakes because when language 2 or 3 improves, it often also yields improvements in language 1.
At the end of the day, multilingualism is not a “one size fits all” kind of mould. The important thing is to find what works for your family and confidently adhere to it, whether people are watching/listening or not. We have to remember that children learn language through social interaction and thus need to create social experiences in all languages relevant in the child’s life by talking, playing, reading, telling stories, singing, etc.
Language is a core part of how we relate, not just to others, but also to ourselves. Whether it is expressing our needs, understanding the needs of others or just being able to process our own emotional inner world, language is the key to a fulfilling life. Making sure the foundations are in place from early on is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children.
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