Written by Editorial Team
With 22 official languages and 780 spoken languages, India could very well be the country with maximum bilingual families! Even if you are not married to someone who speaks a different language, you might still have your mother tongue along with Hindi and English spoken in your household.
There is one group of bilingual advocates who say that a child should be exposed to as many languages as possible from as early as possible as it would help him grasp and learn all of them. They advocate that learning more languages early on can foster creativity and builds cognitive skills. There is another set of bilingual naysayers who say that multiple languages can cause speech delays and confusion in children. Strangely, both arguments seem valid! So let us explore them in more detail.
When someone can understand and express, two different languages, he is known to be a bilingual. Similarly, if two people belonging to two different regions get married, they become a bilingual family. In this case, either both the partners can speak and understand both the languages, or each can know only his or her own native language. In India, English and Hindi are generally the two languages most largely understood and spoken by and large, however, there are many other languages that people speak at homes and amongst their native. Their children are exposed to two different sets of languages, apart from the prevailing language spoken in their state/culture/country.
Being plurilingual means having these skills in more than two languages.
From these points above, it is clear that in the long run, it is more beneficial for your child if he is exposed to multiple languages from a young age. So, the next question is:
It can be a bit frustrating when your child misses a speech milestone and everyone tells you it’s because “you introduced 2 languages at a time!” Here are five things you can consciously do to help your kid grasp the language better and faster:
And a friendly advice to all parents. Be cognizant to the fact that your child might end up picking both languages with same efficiency, or might become stronger in one (dominant language) than the other. This is okay and should not be made an issue. Do not take it on your ego and want your mother tongue to be his dominant language. Expose your child to everything and let him chose what comes naturally to him.
Raising a multilingual child is an immensely rewarding experience. Many of the world’s parents are raising their children with more than one language, so go for it! Keep yourself updated with your child’s language milestones, refer to this link to understand more about speech development in general: Speech development of your child
Happy parenting!
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