We live in a global society now. Global interdependence and mass communication often require the ability to function in more than one language. Proficiency in only one language is not enough for current and future economic, societal, and educational success. Nowadays, more and more people are bilingual or multilingual because their daily life and work needs. It is the reality and it is a trend with the globalization.

There are many benefits for being bilingual including more job opportunities and an advantage when applying for a new job.

Benefits of Being Bilingual

If you are a bilingual, you can speak to more people, understand their culture more, and communicate with them better. By being able to communicate with more people better, you gain more opportunities in your career and your life! For example, the opportunities to make more friends, the job opportunities. Enjoy more in your life by broadening your view!!

Kids Learn a New Language Faster Because of the Language Learning Periods

In 1800, a young boy called the wild boy was found in a forest in France. Despite many efforts, the boy never learnt to talk. He was thought to have passed language learning periods. Chomsky, theorist of the language in the 1950’s and onwards, thought that humans have a predisposition for speaking when brought up in the right environment.

Usually, by the age of three or four, children are able to master their native language with its many words and subtle grammatical rules.

Humans are born with an brain area specialized for language. Most language theorists agree that the learning of a language requires innate mechanisms that predispose children to it, coupled with an environment that provides adequate models and opportunities to practice.

Raising a Bilingual Child

1. Growing up with multiple languages is the most efficient and effective way to learn a foreign language.

Research have shown that the best language learning period is between 0 and 3 years of age, since nature has granted us with a optimal brain building specially in the production of language. This amazing ability decreases by the age of 6-7, when children as adults have to put more efforts in what they learn on language.

Nature helped us to assimilate languages very quickly and very early, in order of survival needs. Studies have shown that languages in bilingual infants are stored closer together in the brain than in later bilinguals, meaning that learning later takes greater effort and is treated differently by the brain compared to children acquiring them simultaneously.

2. Children raised in a bilingual or multilingual environment have greater facility in acquiring foreign language fluency at a later time.

3. If your child wants to learn more languages later in life, she could master the languages faster. This is especially true when acquiring similar languages.

4. Many studies around the world have also proved that being multilingual helps children to develop better reading and writing skills.

When children develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of languages and how to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when they develop literacy in both or more, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in which their two or more languages used in reality. Children who enjoy a multilingual education can transfer knowledge of one language to another, which allows for deeper comprehension.

5. Those children growing up in a multilingual environment tend to have in general a better analytical, social and academic skills comparing to monolingual children.

For decades, people have wondered whether the brains of bilingual people are different from monolinguals. People also worry that the brains of bilingual children are somehow negatively impacted by early experience with two languages. The present findings show that the brains of bilinguals and monolinguals are similar, and both process their individual languages in fundamentally similar ways. The exception is that bilinguals appear to engage more of the neural landscape available for language processing than monolinguals, which means the brain is better developed, compared with the monolingual that is not taking full advantage of the neural landscape for language and cognitive processing than nature could have potentially made available.

6. Your child will develop an appreciation for other cultures and an innate acceptance of cultural differences, which I believe is one of the keys to succeed in the global society.

7.The research suggests that bilingual or multilingual children may also develop more flexibility in their thinking as a result of processing information through two or more different languages.

8. Their natural flexibility make them have very good adaptability to changes, and then they tend to feel self confident in different environments.

9. Career opportunities are multiplied many times over for people who know more than one language. Especially, in certain careers having an international focus.

In today’s world of globalization, you can get many Benefits of Being Bilingual. Being bilingual brings you more opportunities to study and work abroad or collaborate with a global team. It also helps you in creative thinking. In addition, being bilingual helps you develop the ability to think more flexibly and communicate better. Find the best bilingual programs for your children’s Bilingual Education and help them gain an edge in the global society.