It is fascinating how many people have misconceptions about bilingualism and its effect on a child’s delay in speaking. People repetitively ask questions like these:
- Won’t kids be confused learning two languages at once?
- Won’t being bilingual or teaching a child more than one language cause speech delay?
- Would you ever be fluent in a language if you don’t learn a language at an early stage?
Bilingualism causes speech/language delay
THAT IS A MYTH!
While a bilingual child’s vocabulary in each language may be smaller than average, his total vocabulary, from both languages, will be at least as large as that of a monolingual child. Bilingual children may say their first words slightly later than monolingual children, but they will say them within the normal age range (8-15 months).
When bilingual children begin to produce short sentences, they develop grammar in the same patterns and timelines as monolingual children. Language delay is not caused by bilingualism. A bilingual child who is experiencing significant delays in language milestones may be suffering from a language disorder and should be evaluated by a speech language pathologist.
Another common misunderstanding about bilingualism is the assumption that one is incapable of being fluent in a language they did not learn in their “early stage”.
According to the “Critical Period” theory, there is a window of time (early stage) when a second language is most easily learned. This theory has led many people to believe that learning a second language as a child is preferable. However, some findings have put this theory into question. Therefore, the fact that one might not be “fluent” in a language because they learned it later on in their life, is FALSE.
Overall, there are many misconceptions when it comes to the effects of being bilingual, and these misconceptions vary widely. It is advised to verify our assumptions by doing some research, so we do not fall into this trap!
References
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096510002079
I love that you have chose to discuss this issue as I have been hearing this myth ever since I was a kid. My mom would always get mad and tell me “learn a new language now that you are a kid because later you won’t be able to”, and I never understood the logic behind that! In fact, the myth that learning 2 languages causes speech delay in kids is one of the many reasons why many family members back home reject to teach their kids anything but Arabic, fearing that their kids will not be able to speak Arabic if taught English too.
I really appreciate how you debunked a very common myth – especially in our current environment where many people are bilingual, and question whether they should teach their young children both languages. This also gives me hope and makes me feel like it is not too late for me to learn a third language!
I enjoyed your blog as I actually used to believe in the myth that we couldn’t learn multiple languages at the same time but in grade 8 I became friends with a guy that can speak four languages completely fluent. Many students would come to my school as it was known to have a strong Arabic curriculum and majority of them became fluent in the language later in life .
It is interesting to see how easily people believe in myths like these. Lack of fluency in one language because of another is a major misconception and this is why several people are hesitant to learn new languages due to the fear of becoming influent in their mother tongue. Although several people find it very fascinating when someone knows how to speak multiple languages, there are also many who associate it with being influent.
Lastly, I have also heard that learning any new skill, not just a language in your early stages of life is easier as compared to later on. I am glad that you unraveled this topic as several people are hesitant to expand their knowledge later on in their life thinking that it will be too challenging.
That’s really interesting Mona! I appreciate that you chose to debunk myths and misconceptions – we often don’t think to verify ideas that we’ve been hearing for so long. I’ve seen so many parents in my family concerned about what language they should teach their children first, wanting to raise a bilingual child but worried about confusing or overwhelming them. Reading your post, it seems like it would be best to introduce both languages in the ‘critical period.’ It doesn’t occur to most people to consult science to make such a decision, but I’ve learned from your post why that’s the best idea. I just wish I’d learned another language when it would’ve been easier to do so, but it’s comforting to hear that I can still become fluent if I try hard enough!
Seeing someone debunk a common misconception about languages is almost always an interesting read, especially one you tend to hear all of the time. Back in Egypt, some families fear their children not being able to grasp the command of the Arabic language due to the influence/attached importance to English. Usually, one finds such statements rather lacking a bit in the context of why some bilingual children lack fluidity in one language over the other. Most of the time, it is more due to the child himself being exposed to fewer interactions with the said language compared to the other one. Thus, it is not the fault of the second language, but rather the emphasis should be on the first language to provide a larger medium of works/opportunities for people to get fluent in it.
It’s very interesting seeing such myths debunked!! I heard similar things when my sister was growing up but now you can easily tell that it created no problems when it comes to speech. Debunking these types of myths will help people get over the fear of not being able to master a language at an older age. Also, parents will be less hesitant about raising bilingual kids. I think that using a language less will definitely impact your skill in it but that isn’t due to bilingualism.
First and foremost, great job on the writing Mona! I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your post and the fact that it hits so close to home, makes it even better.
As someone who grew up speaking more than one language, I can attest to the many benefits of bilingualism. Not only does it open up doors to different cultures and communities, but it also provides a unique perspective on the world and the way we communicate with each other.
It’s unfortunate that there are still misconceptions surrounding bilingualism and its effects on language development, but I’m glad that posts like this one are working to dispel those myths. I hope that more and more people come to appreciate the advantages of being bilingual and encourage their children to learn more than one language. After all, language is one of the most valuable tools we have for connecting with each other and understanding the world around us.
Very good work on a very interesting topic. I had actually never thought too deeply about bilingualism and any of the myths or problems surrounding it. To me, bilingualism has been the norm and because of that I think I never picked up on smaller details, like the limited vocabulary of a bilingual child. What I found more interesting was discussion regarding the importance of learning a language in the “early stage”. For a long time, I have believed that it was hopeless to try to pick up a third language now since I am already way past my “early stage”. If learning another language and becoming fluent at it, even in this age, really is possible, then I guess its time for me to hop back on to Duolingo.
love this!! You sure do, and I will hop back too! AHAHAH
I loved reading this post because I am currently taking a course named “Psychology of Language Development”, and we discuss such topics in most of our class discussions. I also love how you mentioned the critical period because it is a huge part of children’s language development. My personal experience with the topic of bilingualism is that I learnt my second language (English) at 11 years old, which some psychologists argue is past the critical stage, but I managed to master it and become fluent in it in a couple of years.
I think this was a really interesting topic that you chose to talk about. As someone who believed in the myth that you can only fully learn a language at the early stages of your life, I appreciate the awareness that you decided to spread to disprove this myth. I grew up mainly learning and speaking in English but recently I had been wishing that I was more connected to my mother tongue and was more fluent in it. I could easily try to learn my language but I was always demotivated and the main thing stopping me from trying was this specific myth – that it is harder for an individual to learn a language when they exceed a certain age range. This post definitely gave me the motivation that I needed to start trying to learn my language.
Amazing read! i do believe that being a multilingual is not all rainbows and butterflies but it sure does not cause these myths