Language is an important part of our lives. I remember when I arrived to USA I could speak a little English. I went to school to improve my language, reading and writing skills; even now I am learning my second language, without English I cannot survive in this new environment. Now I am raising my own kids and I want them to have this important skill, this privilege of knowing a second language, language of their parents and grandparents. By looking at studies of bilingual children, research shows how important it is for a child to learn a second language. Raising a bilingual child is a benefit because it improves social skills, academic proficiency, introduces child to a different culture, and prepares for the future. First benefit …show more content…
As De Houwer summarizes, "There is no scientific evidence to date that hearing two or more languages leads to delays or disorders in language acquisition. Many, many children throughout the world grow up with two or more languages from infancy without showing any signs of language delays or disorder" (1999). Second benefit is improvement of social skills. Knowing a different language helps children to adapt easily to a new environment, increasing his/her self-esteem and self-confidence. How would you feel if someone asks you a question and you don’t understand? I know that feeling. Children feel more confident and secure and will never feel humiliated by not being able to communicate. Second language develops new friendships and new relationships. Last year, a new boy joined my son’s class. Later we found out that he was adapted from Russia. My son was able to communicate with him in Russian and right now they are friends. There was an important connection between boys – language that built the new friendship. Knowing another language puts a person in an advantage of carrier selection. In our extreme and fast moving environment, people who know more than one language have more employment opportunities. Many professional firms require knowledge of second language. And people who know a second language have a huge advantage over those who do not. Third benefit is introduction
“Learning a foreign language draws your focus to the mechanics of language: grammar, conjugations, and sentence structure”(Merritt). Before I began learning Spanish, I did not even know that conjugation was a thing, but in speaking a different language, I have had the opportunity to push myself to learn about conjugation in Spanish as well as recognize it in English. “The positive effects of learning to speak a second language can train the brain to analyze and process different linguistic structures” (9 Big Advantages). In the same way a foreign language affects one’s first language, it also creates skills that are highly beneficial to those who choose to use their brains. Benefits include: improved memory, increased attention span, improved multitasking abilities, more logical and rational thought, increased awareness of surroundings, and more. “Speaking a foreign language improves the functionality of your brain by challenging it to recognise, negotiate meaning, and communicate in different language systems” (9 Big Advantages). Consequently, these cognitive benefits translate into different aspects of one’s life such as affecting their professional life.
Higher chances of employment are very common when a second language comes into play. “In jobs such as sales, marketing, and technical support...a
Foreign languages help students compete to be accepted into top schools. Many colleges require a foreign language for admission, but more than that it teaches students important study skills needed to be accepted to and excel in college. The memory is like a muscle, the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Learning a foreign language exercises the memory, thus making it easier to remember facts from other classes. Students who study a foreign language also find their English improves. By learning a language, students learn English grammar, sentence construction and parts of speech, helping them excel in English and other classes that require writing.
After watching this, I now feel that it would be very beneficial for a child to learn a second language because like the video says, it opens up more future opportunities for the child. In the article, “Chinese, English, Spanish” by Tom McArthur, it talks about how English is one of the most popular languages today, and how variations of English can be heard or read almost everywhere. Although English is a very popular language, it is always an advantage to know other languages. In the video, it states that knowing just English is actually a limitation in life because so many jobs want bilingual
If immigrants were required to learn the English language, it would be beneficial to them in the long run. To begin, knowing two languages can help the students at school. If a new student moved to Butler County High School, it would be difficult to make friends if they could not speak English; therefore, knowing English can help make friends at school. Also, knowing English can make classes easier to understand, and easier for teachers to lecture to the immigrants. If the teachers do not know much about the language, it will make their job of teaching them very, very difficult. Next, immigrants who are bilingual have a better job experience. Working in a care-giving facility, the employees’ job becomes complicated if a patient speaks a
There are many myths about bilingualism having negative effects. One of those myths are that babies are hopelessly confused by exposure to two languages. However, studies have proven that learning more than one language as an infant is actually very beneficial and not difficult to do. According to Judith F. Kroll, babies develop the ability to discriminate the languages that they listen to and are more open to learning a new language. A study by Ferran Pons and other colleagues, revealed how bilingual children show an earlier attentional shift to the mouth. This is due to the fact that bilingual infants rely more on the perceptual salient of audiovisual speech cues in order to to construct two different language systems. Furthermore, another
Once you learn a second language well enough, it is said that learning a third or fourth is easier (2). Two languages are better than one. Also, luckily for second language learners, two significant by-products of bilingualism are better cognitive skills and longer attention spans (4). Having those two elements would greatly help with testing, especially standardized exams. Knowing more than one language also increases your job opportunities. Employers are constantly showing interest in bilingual workers. Its beneficial because not everyone who lives in the United States speaks English. It appeals to employers because it makes you seem smarter. Also, as stated above many high schoolers don’t retain the language. Since the 1960s, studies have shown that the best time to begin the study of a foreign language is in elementary school (3). Because children at this age show a better mental flexibility, more creativity, divergent thinking skills, and improved listening and memory skills, kids are able to process language early
According to Crago, Genesee, and Paradis (2011), amount of second language exposure at home, school, and the community is critical for language development (p.84). This means that it is important for bilingual children to be exposed to an environment where it supports their language development and makes an impact to their development trajectories. As children become familiar to more than one language, they also start having communicated proficiency errors in the way they talk with others (Crago et al., 2011, p.115). For example, grammatical morphemes and language mixing are some errors children make. Children also become familiar with another language depending on the help they get from their psychological and social factors. Another thing
The child will be less likely to suffer from anxiety. Bilingual education stimulates working memory.
In summary, parents should not be too worry about their billingual children lagging behind in terms language development as eventually, they will be able to catch up with the monolingual peers. In addition, learning multiple languages actually helps to develop their thinking and innovative skills which will be helpful in the long run. Also, learning multiple languages give them a headstart in terms of learning another new language in the future as some languages are very similar in terms of their prounciation and
Do you know that learning second language is important as a bilingual brain? It’s really helpful things that people should try to do it in aspects of their life. People at the previous time notice that no only their language is important or not only the one language can help you, if people want to study for example, they could see that the most language is used now a day is the English language. Why the most often from the people take their children to the English school? Have you ever ask yourself this question? Because it can help the students or the people in general in their career and they can be able to do a CV for their job at the future. So, there are a lot of advantages of bilingual brain.
Numerous studies have been conducted on various benefits of bilingualism in multiple difference areas like cognitive, social- emotional, learning or global advantages. Regardless, there are multiple different reasons for an adolescent to learn a second language. Whether obligated when moving to a new county attending a school where it is a requirement, being enrolled in a class to satisfy a language credit, or simply for their own personal desire, when children are exposed to a second language in early formal education there are proven benefits; such as understanding other cultures in the classroom and the workplace, enhanced cognitive and learning development, and emotional bonds.
The ability to speak and understand more than one language has several benefits for adolescents and adults, but there are several concerns that arise when children are brought up in a home where two languages are spoken or if they use different languages in different settings. Bilingualism a common speech and language category that people are falling into within the United States. Bilingualism, according to ASHA is, “the use of at least two languages by an individual and is a dynamic and fluid process across a number of domains, including experiences, tasks, topics, and time” (ASHA, 2004).Within bilingualism are two subcategories: simultaneous and sequential bilingualism. Simultaneous bilingualism, “occurs when a young child has had significant and meaningful exposure to two language from birth and, ideally, the child will have equal quality experiences with both languages” (ASHA, 2004). Sequential Bilingualism, occurs when an individual has had significant meaningful exposure to a second language, usually after the age of three and after the first language is well establish. These second language learners are referred to as ‘English Language Learners’ in U.S. schools” (ASHA, 2004). The state of learning two or more languages at once has resulted in several
This belief is prevalent in monolingual countries and has far more politics than science to back it up. Rest assured that your child's little brain has more than enough neurons firing to cope with two languages (or even more) without frizzing out. On the contrary, decades of research in countless studies actually show significant cognitive advantages to being multilingual. And what about the experience of millions of families around the world where multilingualism is the norm, not the exception? Just look at Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and Finland -- to mention a few.
speaking two languages versus one single language. Our texts states that there are many advantages