Today, knowledge of foreign languages is becoming more and more popular. Everything is explained quite simply: a specialist who speaks and writes equally well, for example, in English or Italian, will quickly find a prestigious job in an international company. In addition, there is an opinion that the study of several languages at an early age contributes to the speedy development of the child's speech apparatus. There are other reasons as well. As a result, more and more people are striving to raise their children as bilinguals, if not polyglots. But who are they and how do you become fluent in multiple languages?
Who are bilinguals
Bilinguals are people who speak two languages equally. Moreover, each of them is considered native. Such people not only speak and perceive two languages on the same level, but also think in them. It is noteworthy that, depending on the environment or place, a person automatically switches to one or another speech (and not only in the process of verbal communication, but also mentally), sometimes without even noticing it.
Bilinguals can be both translators and children from mixed, interethnic marriages or brought up in anothercountry.
In the pre-revolutionary period, we althy families tried to hire governesses from France or Germany to raise their offspring. Thus, many nobles learned a foreign language from childhood, becoming bilingual later on.
Bilingual or bilingual?
It is worth noting right away that along with the term "bilingual" there is a paronymic term for it - "bilingual". Although they sound similar, they have different meanings. So, bilingual - books, written monuments, created simultaneously in two languages. Often these are texts presented in parallel.
Types of bilinguals
There are two main types of bilinguals - pure and mixed.
Clean - people who use languages in isolation: at work - one, at home - the other. Or, for example, with some people they speak one language, with others - in another. Quite often this is observed in the situation with translators or people who have moved to permanent residence abroad.
The second type is mixed bilinguals. These are people who speak two languages, but at the same time consciously do not distinguish between them. In a conversation, they now and then move from one to another, while the transition can occur even within the same sentence. A rather striking example of such bilingualism is the mixing of Russian and Ukrainian languages in speech. The so-called surzhik. If a bilingual cannot find the right word in Russian, he uses the Ukrainian equivalent instead, and vice versa.
How to becomebilingual?
There are several ways in which this phenomenon occurs.
One of the main reasons is mixed marriages. Bilingual children in international families are not uncommon. So, if one parent is a native speaker of Russian, and the other one is English, then in the course of his development, the child learns both speech equally well. The reason is simple: communication takes place with each parent in his native language. In this case, linguistic perception in children develops in the same way.
The second reason is the emigration of parents of the same nationality before or after the birth of a child. Passive bilinguals are people who grew up either in countries with two official languages or in migrant families. In this case, learning a second language takes place in a school or kindergarten. The first is instilled by parents in the process of education.
Strong examples of countries where this type of bilinguals are most common are Canada, Ukraine and Belarus.
There are also people who have specially mastered a second language. This usually happens if a person immigrated to another country, created a family with a foreigner.
Besides, practically every translator becomes bilingual in the course of his training. Without this, a full and high-quality translation is impossible, especially simultaneous.
The most common bilinguals are English speakers, along with Russian, German or, say, Spanish.
Benefits
What are the benefits of this phenomenon? Of course,the main plus is the knowledge of two languages, which in the future will help you find a decent job or successfully immigrate. But this is only an indirect advantage.
According to scientists, bilinguals are more receptive to other people and cultures of foreign countries. They have a broad outlook. This is due to the fact that each language is a reflection of the life and traditions of a particular people. It contains specific concepts, reflects rituals, beliefs. By learning a foreign language, the child also gets acquainted with the culture of its speakers, learns idioms and their meaning. It has long been known that certain phrases cannot be literally translated into another language. So, it is quite difficult to translate the name of the holidays Maslenitsa, Ivan Kupala into English, since they are absent in English culture. They can only be described.
The brain of people who speak several languages is more developed, the mind is flexible. It is known that bilingual children study better than their classmates, they are equally easy in both the humanities and the exact sciences. At a more mature age, they make certain decisions faster, do not think in stereotypes.
Another definite plus is a more developed metalinguistic perception. Such people more often, seeing errors in speech, understand its grammar and structure. In the future, they will quickly master the third, fourth, fifth languages, applying the already existing knowledge of linguistic models.
Three periods of study
The degree of language proficiency depends on the age at which the work was started. Bilingual children become both at an early, infancy, and at a morelate periods. There are only three of them.
The first is infantile bilingualism, the age limits of which are from 0 to 5 years. It is believed that it is at this age that it is best to start learning a second language. At this time, neural connections are formed faster, which affects the quality of assimilation of a new linguistic model. At the same time, a second language should be instilled already at the time when the child got acquainted with the basics of the first. At this time, the organs of speech, fine motor skills, attention and memory are physiologically developed. Approximate age - 1.5-2 years. In this case, the child will speak both languages without an accent.
Children's bilingualism - from 5 to 12 years. At this time, the child is already consciously learning the language, replenishing his passive and active vocabulary. The study of the second linguistic model at this age also provides clear speech and lack of accent. Although at this period the child is already clearly aware of which language is his first, native language.
The third stage is adolescence, from 12 to 17 years old. Learning a second language in this situation is often influenced by the school. Bilinguals are brought up in secondary school, in special classes with the study of a foreign language. It should be noted that its formation is associated with a number of problems. First of all - with the preservation of the accent in the future. Secondly, the child has to specifically tune in to learning someone else's speech.
Bilingual strategies
There are three main strategies in learning bilingualism.
1. One parent, one language. With such a strategy in the family, immediatelyspeak two languages. So, for example, a mother communicates with her son/daughter exclusively in Russian, a father in Italian. At the same time, the child understands both languages equally well. It is worth noting that with such a strategy, as the bilingual grows older, problems may arise. The most common is when a child realizes that parents understand his speech, regardless of what language he speaks. At the same time, he chooses a language convenient for himself and begins to communicate mainly in it.
2. Time and place. With such a strategy, parents allocate a certain time or place in which the child will communicate with others exclusively in a foreign language. For example, on Saturdays, the family communicates in English or German, attends a language circle, where communication takes place exclusively in a foreign language.
This option is convenient to use for raising a child whose native language is Russian. Bilingual in this case can be brought up, even if both parents are Russian-speaking.
3. home language. So, in one language the child communicates exclusively at home, in the second - in the kindergarten, school, on the street. It is often used in the case when the parents immigrated to another country with the baby and themselves speak a rather mediocre foreign language.
Duration of classes
How long does it take to learn a foreign language to become bilingual? There is no exact answer to this question. It is believed that when mastering someone else's speech at a conscious age, it is necessary to devote at least 25 hours a week to classes, that is, about 4 hours a day. Whereinyou should perform not only exercises for the development of speech and understanding, but also writing, reading. In general, the duration of classes should be calculated based on the chosen learning strategy, as well as the goals and time during which it is planned to acquire certain knowledge.
Helpful tips
So how do you raise a bilingual? We offer eight recommendations to help you organize activities with your child.
- Choose one strategy that works best for you and follow it steadily.
- Try to place your child in the cultural environment of the language you are learning. To do this, introduce him to the traditions of the chosen people.
- Speak a foreign language with your child as much as possible.
- At first, do not focus the child's attention on mistakes. Correct it, but do not delve into the details. First, work on vocabulary, and then learn the rules.
- Try to send your child to language camps, playgroups, visit language clubs with him.
- Use audio and video materials, books for teaching. Bilinguals in English can read both adapted and original literature.
- Do not forget to praise the child for his success, encourage him.
- Be sure to explain why you are learning a foreign language, what exactly it will give in the future. Get your child interested in learning - and you will succeed.
Possible difficulties
What difficulties may arise in the course of learning a language? We list the main ones:
- Limited vocabulary in both languages due to different areas of consumption. So, if a child uses a foreign language exclusively at school, then his vocabulary may not include many lexemes designed to denote everyday concepts, and vice versa.
- Inability to read and write in one of the languages. It often occurs with the wrong approach of parents to teaching a bilingual child. The language that receives more attention becomes the main one.
- Average pronunciation. Both one and the other language can have an accent.
- Wrong stress in certain words. Especially if the languages contain the same lexemes with different accents.
- A strategy for mixing languages if the interlocutor understands both. In general, this problem is eliminated by itself in the process of growing up a child.
Conclusions
Bilinguals are people who are equally fluent in two languages. They become so in infancy due to the language environment, with enhanced learning of foreign speech. Of course, it is possible to become bilingual at a later age, but this will be associated with a number of problems.
