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This article is from Today's
Native Father, issue #137, January/February, 2005. Related articles from this issue: |
Myths About Bilingualism |
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MYTH: Learning two languages confuses a child and lowers his intelligence. Old, poorly designed studies done primarily in the U.S. claimed to show that bilinguals had lower intelligence than monolinguals. The most obvious flaw in these studies is that the bilingual children were recent immigrants, with poorer knowledge of English and more stressful life situations than their monolingual counterparts. Newer studies show that the differences between bilinguals and monolinguals are negligible. MYTH: A child should learn one language properly first; then you can start teaching the other. Children who learn two languages in a loving, supportive environment learn them both well. In a stressful environment, children are more likely to have problems learning either one or two languages. MYTH: Children who learn two languages won’t feel at home in either of them. They will always feel caught between two cultures. Children who feel accepted by both their cultures will identify with both. Unfortunately, it happens that two cultures have such unfriendly relations that a child who should belong to both is instead shunned by both. This is not a specifically bilingual issue, however. MYTH: Bilinguals have to translate from their weaker to their stronger language. The overwhelming majority of bilinguals can think in either of their two languages. MYTH: Children who grow up bilingual will make great translators. Not all bilinguals are good at translating. Many other skills are involved. MYTH: Bilinguals have split personalities. Some bilinguals do report feeling that they have a different “personality” for each language. However, this may be because they are acting according to different cultural norms when speaking each language. The change in language cues a change in cultural expectations. MYTH: Real bilinguals never mix their languages. Those who do are confused ‘semilinguals.’ Bilinguals sometimes “mix” their languages. Usually, however, they are not confused. Often it is merely a slip of a tongue. Or it may be an intentional switch for effect. Semilingualism is a more serious, though relatively rare, situation that occurs when a child in a stressful environment is trying to learn two or more languages with very little input from any of them. From an article by Cindy Kandolf, http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html |
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