A FEW ANSWERS FOR PARENTS

1. Can a child be delayed in their linguistic development by being exposed to more then one language? What had been observed to this date is that bilingual or polilingual children reach their development milestones at the same time as the monolingual children. Thus, it is important to bring to everyone's attention that these observation were made in bilingual or polilingual families who mantained systematic expostion to all languages. 2. Is it true that children who speak more then one language may never become proficient in any of them? All studies show that children with one language and children with more then one language acquire the same proficiency in both. One item that may differ between them is amount of vocabulary accumulated, but that is a factor that can be worked on and has no influence on the childs cognitive development. 3. Is it true that bilingual and polilingual children get confused between the languages they speak? Research has shown that there is no sign of confusion in these children. The language mishaps are attributed solely to lack of vocabulary in one of the languages spoken. In a search to fulfill the gap left by one language, the children resort to the other. 4. What are the most important things for parents or early childhood educators to know about early childhood bilingualism? There are number of important things to keep in mind: bilingual acquisition is a common and normal childhood experience all children are capable of learning two languages in childhood knowing the language of one's parents is an important and essential component of children's cultural identity and sense of belonging bilingual acquisition is facilitated if children have sustained, rich, and varied experiences in both languages proficiency in both languages is more likely if children have sustained exposure in the home to the language that is used less extensively in the community; the language that is used more widely will get support outside the home parents can facilitate bilingual proficiency by using the language they know best and by using it in varied and extensive ways. Ref:: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=38