Early too bad?

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I write for the first time in three weeks. That means I’m still alive and I know you missed me, my friends. Because I missed you so much.

So let’s get down to business.

I want to talk about very important thing.

Today there are a lot of Russian kindergartens where 2-3-year-old kids are taught English. This language learning program is called “Early English”. Of course, those classes are not so frequent (2 days per week).

I used to think it’s too early to study a second language at the age of two. Some of them hardly even speak Russian. Parents complain that their kids start mixing the two languages that sounds like “хочу green яблоко” or “белый kitten” (that is quite similar to the way Russian tourists communicate abroad).

But is switching between languages really that bad?

A recent study has shown that your brain doesn’t forget early language experiences. Hearing foreign words at such a young age builds neural connections that will help you process and learn foreign languages in the future.

According to the study, “neural representations acquired during the earliest stages of development are maintained across time even in the absence of continued exposure to the source of that information”. In other words, even if children stop speaking the language, neural pathways of the brain are maintained and adapt over time in response to new language environments.

If I am talking to my kids (I have no them yet) only in English during their first 3 years of life, will they be more proficient at language learning than their peers?

And in that case, what is the likelihood that my kids will hate me when they learn that they actually live in Russia and they need English just for cognitive development?