What If I Don't Speak a Language,
But I Hope My Child Will?
More and more parents are eager to raise their children to be bilingual. They know what an important asset this ability will be for their children down the road—opening doors in higher education, the business world, politics, law, science, the arts and many other fields. In a world that is only getting "smaller" or "flatter" as technology bridges nations, learning another language will give the children of today the preparation and the broader outlook they will need tomorrow.
Fortunately, a growing number of parents now recognize that their children are ready to learn a new language. They know that children are uniquely situated to be quick and exuberant learners, "locking in" cognitive benefits—sharper reading skills, greater creativity and problem-solving skills, and greater overall awareness of language—while having a blast exploring the fun new sounds and words they're playfully encountering.
Children are naturally open to language in a way that often amazes their parents. Less self-conscious and less anxious, they see a new language as a wide open field to do the things they already love to do—rhyme, make up words, create imaginary friends, try out funny sounds. We all could take a page from a child's ready sense of wonder and adventurousness.
Along with a child's natural sense of awe and inquisitiveness is an incredible and often adorable capacity for imitation. Parents often try extra hard to present a good example—taking care to greet people properly and being more polite, for instance—because they know their habits will be picked up by their children. When it comes to learning a second language, however, this readiness to imitate concerns some parents—even some who have quite good conversational skills in a second language. They worry that if their language skills are a little rusty, or their accent a little too noticeably American, their children will pick up some bad habits and start off on the wrong foot.
However, even if your second language vocabulary is limited to an uncertain "hola" or imperfect "gracias," every parent should take an active and participatory role in their child's language learning.
In their book The Bilingual Edge, Drs. Kendall King and Alison Mackey argue that "with the right foundation of knowledge, any parent can raise a child who knows more than one language, even if that parent is monolingual." Parents can worry too much, they say, about giving their children only "native language models." While models are extremely important, it's not necessary to strive for "perfect linguistic input and exposure."
Very astutely, Drs. King and Mackey point out how little "perfect linguistic input" children receive in their first language. "One of the most amazing things about a child's first language learning," they go on to say, "is that it happens naturally and flawlessly despite the lack of perfect speech that surrounds (and is directed at) children. All children end up knowing how to speak much like the adults around them even though much adult speech (in any language) contains false starts, hesitations, interruptions, backtracking, sentence fragments, and grammatical errors."
But this by no means lets parents off the hook. Instead, as Dr. Colin Baker of the University of Bangor, Wales, argues in his book A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism, "the dangerous conclusion would be that the first language should be learned in the home and the second language can be acquired outside the home. This is a false and dangerous position because parents' attitudes, encouragement and interest are vital in a child's second language development. Gentle inquiries about the child's second language development may indicate to the child that the parent is positively interested. Praising the child when they hear the child speaking the second language may do wonders for the child's language ego."
A child imitates not just the words they hear, but also the habits and attitudes they see adults holding in relation to the language. If a parent is active and enthusiastic about language—playing word games with their child, reading aloud to them, singing songs, saying silly things—the child will soak up that enthusiasm and learn and play on their own. And this is as true of their first language as of their fifth.
As Drs. King and Mackey say, "So, is it critical to have a native language model who speaks in complete sentences? Children seem to be responsive to language that is tailored to their developmental levels, complete sentences or not. What is critical is not that children hear complete sentences but that they are directly engaged in conversation. Children have an amazing ability to learn language, and acquisition occurs even though adults do not always speak perfectly or do not actively teach them a language. Directing sophisticated language to the child from the outset is not crucial. Even parents with limited second language proficiency can interact with their child in the second language, providing important language input. The value lies in the interaction."
Language is the perfect gift to give your child, but it doesn't mean you have to be perfect to give it.
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