I love learning languages. I chose 12 languages and made a plan to learn each of them for a month, instead of watching TV. That way, in 5 years time, I will hopefully be very happy to have made this decision now.
Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
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Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#12I learnt French at school and did badly and then as an adult learnt French to a very high standard (I would call myself fluent and not bilingual). Something definitely happened to my brain as my French got really good; it was like I became two different people.
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#13My wife (Polish) and I (British) are currently trying to have a child, and very much want to encourage our children to be bilingual.
I've spoken to a couple of people here who have one Polish parent, one non-Polish parent, and all seem to agree that it's easy enough to keep up the "Mum speaks Polish, Dad speaks language X" game for the first few years. Both said, though, that the real challenge was keeping interested during their teenage years.
That appears to be the challenge; thinking long-term, does anyone have any experience being raised in bilingual households? Did you keep interested past a certain age, and if so, how?
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#14Most asian parents speak to their children in their native tongue, most likely the same for all immigrants, including hispanic. I know many friends whose kids spoke only their asian language until they hit preschool where they learned english. Kids pick up languages very fast when they are immersed in it.
Most asian parents speak to their children in their native tongue, most likely the same for all immigrants, including hispanic.
Here in Poland, I've often overheard Vietnamese parents speaking Polish to their child when walking down the road, whether it's a single parent on their own, or both together. I really like it, but do wonder if I'll be looked down on for speaking English to our child when the time comes.
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#15I learnt French at school and did badly and then as an adult learnt French to a very high standard (I would call myself fluent and not bilingual). Something definitely happened to my brain as my French got really good; it was like I became two different people.
Most people think of language as a dictionary of words -- but it's really the codification of a culture. So when you speak it (fluently), you change yourself to express yourself through that culture. The same expression (perfectly translated) can mean different things in different cultures, for example.
I speak two other languages fluently, and I'm a slightly different person in each language. It's really fascinating.
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#16I learnt French at school and did badly and then as an adult learnt French to a very high standard (I would call myself fluent and not bilingual). Something definitely happened to my brain as my French got really good; it was like I became two different people.
I've noticed similar as I become more and more conversant in Polish - adapting to new grammatical forms definitely makes me think in a different manner.
That, and a new, huge, appreciation for anyone that learns the easy-to-start, nightmare-to-master, English as a second language.
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#17Most asian parents speak to their children in their native tongue, most likely the same for all immigrants, including hispanic. I know many friends whose kids spoke only their asian language until they hit preschool where they learned english. Kids pick up languages very fast when they are immersed in it.
Anyone ever think of the negative impact. I've seen small local schools flooded with children who haven't learnt English.The extra attention they require slows down learning for the other kids in the class that actually speak English.
Is that fair?
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#18My wife (Polish) and I (British) are currently trying to have a child, and very much want to encourage our children to be bilingual. I've spoken to a couple of people here who have one Polish parent, one non-Polish parent, and all seem to agree that it's easy enough to keep up the "Mum speaks Polish, Dad speaks language X" game for the first few years. Both said, though, that the real challenge was keeping interested…
Don't worry, they'll already be fully bilingual by about seven. After that, it's a question of it they want to speak it or not, but they will already be bilingual.
If you live in Britain, make sure to back up the exposure to the Polish with films, books, trips to Poland, etc. (If you live in Poland, the opposite, obviously.) Your child needs to get the whole cultural experience, not just your wife speaking.
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#19My wife (Polish) and I (British) are currently trying to have a child, and very much want to encourage our children to be bilingual. I've spoken to a couple of people here who have one Polish parent, one non-Polish parent, and all seem to agree that it's easy enough to keep up the "Mum speaks Polish, Dad speaks language X" game for the first few years. Both said, though, that the real challenge was keeping interested…
Don't worry, they'll already be fully bilingual by about seven. After that, it's a question of it they want to speak it or not, but they will already be bilingual. If you live in Britain, make sure to back up the exposure to the Polish with films, books, trips to Poland, etc. (If you live in Poland, the opposite, obviously.) Your child needs to get the whole cultural experience, not just your wife speaking.
Thanks, that's really encouraging :)
Great point about culture; we're in Poland right now (that might change in a couple of years), and aim to continue visiting both countries for a long time yet. We'll be trying to mix and match as much as possible, so hopefully some from both cultures will rub off :)
Re: Bilingual brain boost: Two tongues, two minds
#20I learnt French at school and did badly and then as an adult learnt French to a very high standard (I would call myself fluent and not bilingual). Something definitely happened to my brain as my French got really good; it was like I became two different people.
Most people think of language as a dictionary of words -- but it's really the codification of a culture. So when you speak it (fluently), you change yourself to express yourself through that culture. The same expression (perfectly translated) can mean different things in different cultures, for example. I speak two other languages fluently, and I'm a slightly different person in each language. It's really fascinating…
On being a slightly different person, I also speak two other languages which I learned from 18 yrs old and onwards. While I wouldn't say I'm a different person in either of the three, I would say I'm not quite me in the second and third. All the nuances, humor, etc that a person shows in their first language can be lost in translation and therefore being yourself isn't as easy. People are likely to think you are quieter than you normally are (in your own language), basically that you are less of everything you actually are.
It takes a long time, I find, to reach a comfort level in another language that rivals that of how you express yourself in your mother tongue. I've been speaking Portuguese (my 3rd language) at least 50% of the time for the past 7 years or so and I'm still not able to hit my mark, as if it were my own...but I'm close. Btw, these last few years, I speak it 80% of the time.
If I were to venture a guess as to why 'hitting my mark' isn't so easy, I'd say that with most language learners, there's a certain point in your learning where you say to yourself, "I'm fluent enough". Reading and writing, I'm in the 95 percentile in Portuguese but with speaking (seemingly no matter how much I speak), I stay at around 85%.