Has anyone heard this one?
Question: What do you call a person who speaks two different languages?
Answer: Bilingual.
Question: What do you call a person who speaks more than two different languages?
Answer: Multilingual.
Question: What do you call a person who speaks only one language?
Answer: An American.
That’s the international “joke” about the people of the U.S.
Judging by the number of people in the United States who currently speak more than one language, that may indeed be a gift that is very wise.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2000 show that the number of bilingual or multilingual people in this country has doubled for nearly 50 million over the past twenty years. It’s a fad or trend that shows no signs of slowing.
The U.S. Census Bureau also had reports in their survey that
– 80 percent are fluent and speak English.
– 12 percent speak Spanish and
– 4 percent speak other Indo-European languages, such as French, German, and Russian.
Globally, the picture is quite different. According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s, ‘World Factbook for 2007″ worldwide
· 14 percent speak Mandarin Chinese,
· 5 percent speak Spanish and
· 4.9 percent speak English.
As the world shrinks and countries become increasingly interdependent, cultural and language experts predict that within the next twenty years it will be necessary for everyone to speak a second, or even a third language. This is an area where the U.S. lack behind in other parts of the world. Western Europeans for example, are often fluent in two or more languages. Should American children be their equals?
A linguistics professor, Alison Mackey at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., and co author of the book, “The Bilingual Edge”, states that, “Being bilingual is an undeniable advantage and how the knowledge of two languages can give kids enhanced creativity as well as improve literacy skills. Numerous studies have also demonstrated that children who read at least bilingual are more likely to outperform their monolingual peers in those critical standardized exams in school. ”
But there are plenty more reasons why to teach your child another language, such as;
·.
· Speaking another language expands horizons, and can be extraordinarily fun!
Many experts believe that starting a new language is learned best at the earliest stages of life. A young child’s mind is like a sponge, and absorbs almost anything you can feed it. After a certain age, (believed to be after three years of age) becomes a little more difficult because of the child’s short attention. But Alison Mackey, disagrees.
Many older children and even some adults do achieve very high proficiency, even though they began to learn their second language later on.” As the mother of two young children, Mackey states that three are plenty of other reasons to educate your child a different languages. Some of these reasons are:
·.
· With more companies working with businesses in other countries, at bi- or multilingual child will have important opportunities for future employment.
· (Any bilingual person will tell you) Speaking another language broadens your horizons, and can be a lot of fun!
But as a parent, I’m a bit intimidated on attempting of teaching my children other languages, because I’m one of the many monolingual parents who is completely clueless when trying to speak a foreign language. Sure, there are children’s cartoons and toys that help intrigue interests for kids to learn new words, but what about the parents?
Tianna Cicero of Thornton, adopted her child from China. She too, is monolingual, but feels that parents such as herself, should not hold their kids back. “My husband and I decided that it was best to enroll our daughter in a Chinese school, where about 90 percent of the students come from a non-Mandarin speaking households. It was such a wonderful community, and great for our child, and exciting when she comes home and shows me what she had been doing at school.”
Tianna’s child, now age 4, is becoming fluent in two different languages, and does admit to her struggle of keeping up with her own limited Chinese, but fully supports her child by showing an enormous interest in her homework, or by asking her child to recite, or even demonstrate what she has learned.
“Everyone keeps saying how learning the Chinese language is incredibly difficult, but my girl doesn’t know that!”
Television has been known to help people of all ages learn the English language. For example, actresses Natalie Portman, who was born in Jerusalem learned English when her family moved to the States when she was at the age of three, and Mila Kunis, (That 70’s Show) moved to the U.S. from the Ukraine when she was barely 2 years old, where she has stated that she learned English by watching cartoons such as, “The Smurfs”, and credits ‘The Price Is Right’s Bob Barker for speaking slow enough for her to learn and comprehend.
These are only the few celebrities that are bi or multilingual. Some others are:
Jodi Foster, Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd who all speak French.
Julie Christie, Jennifer Connelly, Ingrid Bergman, and Kobe Bryant all speak Italian.
Bill Clinton, Heidi Klum, Kim Catrall, Sandra Bullock, & Sigourney Weaver all speak German.
Condoleeza Rice, Montel Williams, Ted Koppel, & Sydney Poitier all can speak Russian.
David Lee Roth, Kate Bosworth, Al Gore, and Audrey Hepburn all were able to speak Spanish.
When you look at the big picture, perhaps us Americans could do more, and not be quite as lazy. Learning another language doesn’t necessarily mean constant difficulty, especially when one is not too hard on a child or self. There are ways to educate yourself, or child, or even both, so you wouldn’t have to go about it all alone. Some schools you may look into are;
– Colorado International School, that offers immersion classes in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, or French.
– Escuela de Guadalupe, which is a non-profit Catholic school that offers only bilingual courses of Spanish and English.
– Denver International School, which also offers courses for Spanish, French, as well as Mandarin Chinese.
For assistance, support, and advice, there is a website for dedicated parents to assist with their growing children of multiple languages. Some of their tips they offer talk about how reading stories, playing songs, using crafts, and having plain fun to encourage your children into learning the new exotic languages. Being enthusiastic and extremely positive helps the child(ren) become more involved and interested. Try not to be overly focused on perfection and constantly correct your child, just enjoy what your kid has already achieved. Find out more at www.multilingualchildern.org .
Expand your children’s minds and prepare them for the great big world. Not only would this give them a chance to earn a better career, but they’ll be able to communicate with other people around the world!
SOURCES:
The Bilingual Edge: Why, When and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language, by Kendall King, PhD., and Alison Mackey, Ph.D.
Escuela de Guadalupe
Colorado International School
Denver International School
Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook for 2007
Tianna Cicero
United States Census Bureau
early-advantage.com/Articles/Bilingualcelebs.aspx
