4/15/2016

Whythebabybraincanlearntwolanguagesatthesametime

Whythebabybraincanlearntwo
languagesatthesametime
April15,20165.58amEDT
NajaFerjanRamirez
ResearchScientist,UniversityofWashington

Howdobabieslearnlanguage?IreneZaccari,CCBYNCND

Anyadultwhohasattemptedtolearnaforeignlanguagecanattesttohowdifficultand
confusingitcanbe.Sowhenathreeyearoldgrowingupinabilingualhouseholdinserts
SpanishwordsintohisEnglishsentences,conventionalwisdomassumesthatheis
confusingthetwolanguages.
Researchshowsthatthisisnotthecase.
Infact,earlychildhoodisthebestpossibletimetolearnasecondlanguage.Childrenwho
experiencetwolanguagesfrombirthtypicallybecomenativespeakersofboth,whileadults
oftenstrugglewithsecondlanguagelearningandrarelyattainnativelikefluency.
Butthequestionremains:isitconfusingforbabiestolearntwolanguagessimultaneously?

Whendobabieslearnlanguage?
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4/15/2016

Whythebabybraincanlearntwolanguagesatthesametime

Researchshowsbabiesbegintolearnlanguagesoundsbeforetheyreevenborn.Inthe
womb,amothersvoiceisoneofthemostprominentsoundsanunbornbabyhears.Bythe
timetheyreborn,newbornscannotonlytellthedifferencebetweentheirmotherslanguage
andanotherlanguage,butalsoshowacapabilityofdistinguishingbetweenlanguages.
Languagelearningdependsontheprocessingofsounds.Alltheworldslanguagesput
togethercompriseabout800orsosounds.Eachlanguageusesonlyabout40language
sounds,orphonemes,whichdistinguishonelanguagefromanother.
Atbirth,thebabybrainhasanunusualgift:itcantellthedifferencebetweenall800sounds.
Thismeansthatatthisstageinfantscanlearnanylanguagethattheyreexposedto.
Graduallybabiesfigureoutwhichsoundstheyarehearingthemost.

Babieslearntorecognizetheirmothersvoiceevenbefore
theyareborn.JohnMayer,CCBY

Betweensixand12months,infantswhogrowupinmonolingualhouseholdsbecomemore
specializedinthesubsetofsoundsintheirnativelanguage.Inotherwords,theybecome
nativelanguagespecialists.And,bytheirfirstbirthdays,monolingualinfantsbegintolose
theirabilitytohearthedifferencesbetweenforeignlanguagesounds.

Studyingbabybrains
Whataboutthosebabieswhoheartwolanguagesfrombirth?Canababybrainspecialize
intwolanguages?Ifso,howisthisprocessdifferentthenspecializinginasinglelanguage?
Knowinghowthebabybrainlearnsoneversustwolanguagesisimportantfor
understandingthedevelopmentalmilestonesinlearningtospeak.Forexample,parentsof
bilingualchildrenoftenwonderwhatisandisnttypicalorexpected,orhowtheirchildwill
differfromthosechildrenwhoarelearningasinglelanguage.
MycollaboratorsandIrecentlystudiedthebrainprocessingoflanguagesoundsin11
montholdbabiesfrommonolingual(Englishonly)andbilingual(SpanishEnglish)homes.
Weusedacompletelynoninvasivetechnologycalledmagnetoencephalography(MEG),
whichpreciselypinpointedthetimingandthelocationofactivityinthebrainasthebabies
listenedtoSpanishandEnglishsyllables.
Wefoundsomekeydifferencesbetweeninfantsraisedinmonolingualversusbilingual
homes.
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4/15/2016

Whythebabybraincanlearntwolanguagesatthesametime

At11monthsofage,justbeforemostbabiesbegintosaytheirfirstwords,thebrain
recordingsrevealedthat:
BabiesfrommonolingualEnglishhouseholdsarespecializedtoprocessthesoundsof
English,andnotthesoundsofSpanish,anunfamiliarlanguage
BabiesfrombilingualSpanishEnglishhouseholdsarespecializedtoprocessthesoundsof
bothlanguages,SpanishandEnglish.
Heresavideosummarizingourstudy.

Ourfindingsshowthatbabies'brainsbecometunedtowhateverlanguageorlanguages
theyhearfromtheircaregivers.Amonolingualbrainbecomestunedtothesoundsofone
language,andabilingualbrainbecomestunedtothesoundsoftwolanguages.By11
monthsofage,theactivityinthebabybrainreflectsthelanguageorlanguagesthatthey
havebeenexposedto.

IsitOKtolearntwolanguages?
Thishasimportantimplications.Parentsofmonolingualandbilingualchildrenalikeare
eagerfortheirlittleonestoutterthefirstwords.Itsanexcitingtimetolearnmoreaboutwhat
thebabyisthinking.However,acommonconcern,especiallyforbilingualparents,isthat
theirchildisnotlearningfastenough.
WefoundthatthebilingualbabiesshowedanequallystrongbrainresponsetoEnglish
soundsasthemonolingualbabies.Thissuggeststhatbilingualbabieswerelearning
Englishatthesamerateasthemonolingualbabies.
Parentsofbilingualchildrenalsoworrythattheirchildrenwillnotknowasmanywordsas
childrenwhoareraisedwithonelanguage.

Bilingualismdoesnotcauseconfusion.jakeliefer,CCBY

Tosomeextent,thisconcernisvalid.Bilingualinfantssplittheirtimebetweentwo
languages,andthus,onaverage,hearfewerwordsineach.However,studiesconsistently
showthatbilingualchildrendonotlagbehindwhenbothlanguagesareconsidered.
Vocabularysizesofbilingualchildren,whencombinedacrossbothlanguages,havebeen
foundtobeequaltoorgreaterthanthoseofmonolingualchildren.
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4/15/2016

Whythebabybraincanlearntwolanguagesatthesametime

Anothercommonconcernisthatbilingualismcausesconfusion.Partofthisconcernarises
duetocodeswitching,aspeakingbehaviorinwhichbilingualscombinebothlanguages.
Forexample,myfouryearoldson,whospeaksEnglish,Spanish,andSlovene,goesasfar
asusingtheSloveneendingsonSpanishandEnglishwords.Researchshowsbilingual
childrencodeswitchbecausebilingualadultsaroundthemdotoo.Codeswitchingin
bilingualadultsandchildrenisrulegoverned,nothaphazard.
Unlikemonolingualchildren,bilingualchildrenhaveanotherlanguagefromwhichtheycan
easilyborrowiftheycantquicklyretrievetheappropriatewordinonelanguage.Eventwo
yearoldsmodulatetheirlanguagetomatchthelanguageusedbytheirinterlocutor.
Researchershaveshowncodeswitchingtobepartofabilingualchildsnormallanguage
development.Anditcouldevenbethebeginningofwhatgivesthemtheextracognitive
prowessknownasthebilingualadvantage.

Bilingualkidsareatanadvantage
Thegoodnewsisyoungchildrenallaroundtheworldcananddoacquiretwolanguages
simultaneously.Infact,inmanypartsoftheworld,beingbilingualisthenormratherthanan
exception.
Itisnowunderstoodthattheconstantneedtoshiftattentionbetweenlanguagesleadsto
severalcognitiveadvantages.Researchhasfoundthatbilingualadultsandchildrenshow
animprovedexecutivefunctioningofthebrainthatis,theyareabletoshiftattention,switch
betweentasksandsolveproblemsmoreeasily.Bilingualshavealsobeenfoundtohave
increasedmetalinguisticskills(theabilitytothinkaboutlanguageperse,andunderstand
howitworks).Thereisevidencethatbeingbilingualmakesthelearningofathirdlanguage
easier.Further,theaccumulatingeffectofduallanguageexperienceisthoughttotranslate
intoprotectiveeffectsagainstcognitivedeclinewithagingandtheonsetofAlzheimers
disease.
So,ifyouwantyourchildtoknowmorethanonelanguage,itsbesttostartatanearlyage,
beforesheevenstartsspeakingherfirstlanguage.Itwontconfuseyourchild,anditcould
evengiveheraboostinotherformsofcognition.

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