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?
I get confused whether I teach them two languages or one at a time…But I guess I will now. Thank you for the post.
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Scientists and doctors say it should go naturally. Kids feel artificiality. And even mixing two languages in one sentence doesn’t confuse them. Thank you for the feedback!
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Thanks a lot Marta…I learnt from your post😀
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As a language teacher with a 10 month baby who gets talked to in Romanian, English and German, I can tell you it’s okay to hear more languages. He understands both Romanina and German when I tell him simple stuff. And he has that wise look on his face LOL
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haha I can imagine this look =)
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I wish I were able to speak many languages.
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I want to become a polyglot too! It’s on my to-do list.
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I have friends where the mother spoke only French to the kids and the father only English. That worked out very well 🙂
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I’ve heard that the ‘one-parent-one-language’ method is highly effective.
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Yes – it seems to work well 🙂
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I imagine that would be quite a shock for your kids to find out that the language they’ve learned is not their mother tongue, even though their mother taught it to them. Might make for a good practical joke though.
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All I can do is hope they will have a good sense of humor.
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Hmm. Idk. I didn’t learn English until I was 9 and it only took one year for me to learn it enough to talk and understand people. Of course I’ve gotten better at it, but I do remember being in kindergarten and being taught English. Lol. Not sure how I’ll go about it with my son…. 😐
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Of course, it’s up to the parents to choose the right language strategy for their kids.Listen to your gut.
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I hope I make the right decision lol.
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A friend of mine said that kids can learn up to 7 different languages easily, I say more power to them, I’m bilingual and would like to acquire a third language.
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I completely agree with you. To me, the more languages the better 🙂
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I love this. I wish I had worked harder to get my kids to learn French when they were younger. (My family’s first language is French.) But I guess it’s never too late…
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I agree! It’s never too late.
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Kids will learn no matter what .
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I think so, too. Even if I hide all the dictionaries, they’ll find the way to read their mother’s blog.
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BTW I’d suggest making your comment teachers’ mantra.
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Good post Marta. Welcome back! My nephew is a hybrid of a Singaporean and a German, born in New Zealand. He learnt both English and German. Unfortunately, he failed to master Mandarin, which is useful now for trade or commercial reasons. In my own experience, starting at 2 years old to learn a language may or possibly be a bit late based on my nephew’s end result.
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Thank you!
It’s probably too late to start learning a language at 2, if the parents are native speakers of the language. What can stop them from talking to the baby? 🙂 But our kindergartens can’t provide an earlier program.
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I wish I started learning Russian earlier! There is also a lot of studies going on right now about how being bilingual prevents Alzheimer’s!
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Yes! I’ve read them too. I do believe that our brain is the most important “muscle” so it should always work to stay fit.
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I have little cousins in the Philippines who were “forced” to learn English since birth. Now, those who take care of them have broken English, and they could only talk to each other. They sort of mixed up languages (and even dialects). Other kids who know English well can’t understand my cousins that well. That includes me. My cousins viewed Tagalog, the native language, as a ‘poor man’s tongue’ which I think is really sad. They couldn’t fully appreciate the Philippine
culture even though they live in the Philippines. 😦
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I understand you. Those stories sometimes happen too. In one way or another we depend on our surroundings.
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Hi Marta, this is an interesting study. I speak over 250 languages with my google translator but apparently the native speakers can’t understand my google accent. If only google had been in my crib next to the bottle. I might have one heck of a neural network. Children seem to always pick up another language quicker than adults. It could be that beer and vodka actually impede language learning in adults although I have observed drunks that speak different languages still understand each other.
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Hi Daniel! I think you can predict the future. Twenty years later there will be bottles with built-in google translators =) Both newborns and drunks will be highly satisfied with this invention.
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Bwaaaa haaa haaa! You should patent that idea, Marta. You will be a famous Russian woman entrepreneur!
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A friend of mine speaks Portugese to her two young children. They understand both Portugese and English but choose to answer in English (their first language) I think it is excellent! The only issue I have is when a child doesn’t understand the language they will use most well enough to be understood
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Thank you for your insight, Bella!
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I was trying to talk to a Russian tourist in Truro (Cornwall, Britain) in my fractured Russian. When I ran out of Russian (it doesn’t take long; it was never great and it’s gotten rusty over the past 50 years), I switched to English for the last half of the sentence. We both burst out laughing. I have no idea if she understood the English half, but we shared a sense of humor and that was more than enough.
I enjoyed your post.
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Thank you a lot! I love your blog. We have an evening show where an American tries to talk to Russians and they try to explain him different things in Russian. That’s really hilarious!
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If their Russian is anything like mine, I’m sure it is.
I like your blog as well.
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Why not mix? Language is simply how we communicate, so why not just do whatever works? I wish I’d been introduced to different languages earlier, I might be a whole lot better at them now than I am!
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I have heard that kids can learn up to three languages simultaneously.
I myself was surrounded by 3 languages. My cousins grew up with leaning English in school, German with their mum and Urdu with dad. So, the best thing is to try it out for example, by getting the children to watch the muzzy cartoons in a couple of languages.
Also, the brain absorbs information like a sponge until the age of 13. So, why not make the most of it?😁
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I totally agree. The process of learning a foreign language is a huge brain boost. Our brain is like a muscle. So, we make it stronger if we use it to the fullest extent 💪
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