a question about multilingual babies

Mon May 9 05:29:55 UTC 2011

Dear Parisa,

Based on all the current scientific work I say there is no harm in exposing
your child to more than one language if it is in line with her communicative
needs. For children who grow into a multilingual environment it is the most
natural thing, and parents make their choices re language policy just as
they make it for any other decisions they take in child rearing.

Best wishes

Sharon

On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 8:17 AM, parisa Daftarifard
<pdaftaryfard at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Sharon,
>
> Thank you for your comments. Very interesting...
> Question:
> *So based on the paper you are talking about you suggest that parents
> expose their kids with many languages when they are zero language?*
>
> .
>
> Best,
> Parisa
>
> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 8:27 AM, Sharon Armon-Lotem <
> sharon.armonlotem at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  Dear Parisa,
>>
>> Google is full with hearsay. Even professors might be the source. I am not
>> aware of real science (experimentally based with statistics) that supports
>> your claims. But there are many studies nowadays that argue the other way
>> round.
>> A child who grows in a multilingual environment is not pushed too hard to
>> learn languages. He just grows into it. What is important is balanced rich
>> exposure to each language and listening for the communicative needs of the
>> child.
>>
>> Multilingualism is not a risky situation, it is the way the world is for
>> many children and they grow up O.K.
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>> Sharon
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 7:49 AM, parisa Daftarifard <
>> pdaftaryfard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Sharon,
>>>
>>> I just refer to the statement by the professor (I searched it through web
>>> very quickly).
>>> Look at this part
>>>
>>>
>>> However, the article cites some negative reactions that are even more
>>> hair-raising:
>>>
>>> Dr. Shin Min-sup, a professor at Seoul National University who
>>> specializes in issues of adolescent psychiatry, is worried about the trend
>>> for surgery and also *for pushing young children too hard to learn
>>> languages.*
>>>
>>> "There's the potential for life-damaging after-effects," Shin said.
>>> "Learning a foreign language too early, in some cases, may not only cause a
>>> speech impediment but, in the worst case, make an child autistic."
>>>
>>> "What's wrong with speaking English with an accent anyway? Many parents
>>> tend to discount the importance of a well-rounded education," Shin said.
>>>
>>>
>>> Finding ariticles about the risky act of exposing zero child to many
>>> languages is not very difficult. Please search through google web.
>>>
>>> *Would you accept the responsiblity* to expose one kid in *such a
>>> possible riskiy situation* based on limited published paper on the
>>> benefits of bilingualism in *zero language child*?
>>>
>>> Please say this frankly because they are parents to kids and ask
>>> specialists a question to act based on responses.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Parisa
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 8:04 AM, Sharon Armon-Lotem <
>>> sharon.armonlotem at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Dear Parisa,
>>>>
>>>> Did you actually read what the link was about? It was about  frenotomy (cutting
>>>> 1 to 1.5 cm from the strap of tissue linking the tongue to the floor of the
>>>> mouth), and in a Reuters article, which I would not call scientific
>>>> evidence, but rather someone quoting a hearsay. .
>>>>
>>>> Best
>>>>
>>>> Sharon
>>>>
>>>>   On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 7:18 AM, parisa Daftarifard <
>>>> pdaftaryfard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>   Dear Mohinish,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you for your question. Although Bilingualism might not be a risk
>>>>> factor (nobody said this for sure through research though) but would
>>>>> compound the situaiton if the child has the hiden autistic factors. Although
>>>>> there are many as you can read below suggest that early bilingualism
>>>>> might increase autistic symptoms.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/000085.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> who would like to create a risky situation for his or her kids.
>>>>> 1.  There is no well known reason discovered for autism.
>>>>> 2.  there are many disagreements about the way children learn language
>>>>>
>>>>> what your result would  be? To rush the poor baby in a risky situation
>>>>> that some articles with limited number of subjects showed or in a natural
>>>>> situation where billions of children are grown up.
>>>>>
>>>>> Bilingualism can be achieved even when the baby starts speaking one
>>>>> language. Why should we expose our kids to two or three or even worse four
>>>>> languages to have maybe a healthy cognitively high (we don't know how much
>>>>> higher statistically?) boy in future and *maybe not!*
>>>>> *As a mother and researcher I suggest you give your kid time to learn
>>>>> his first language! then help him learn as many languages as he would like
>>>>> when he starts speaking.*
>>>>>
>>>>> Best,
>>>>> Parisa
>>>>>
>>>>>    On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 6:57 AM, Mohinish <mohinish.s at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>  I too share other posters' understanding that bilingualism is not a
>>>>>> risk factor. In fact Kovács & Mehler (PNAS, 2009:
>>>>>> http://www.pnas.org/content/106/16/6556.short) show that there can be
>>>>>> cognitive GAINS in 7-mo-old bilinguals, compared to monolinguals.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think there is a causal asymmetry - certain developmental
>>>>>> trajectories that lead to abnormal conditions like autism might include
>>>>>> language delays, but language delays by themselves need not be the CAUSE of
>>>>>> these conditions; and I would be very interested to see evidence that
>>>>>> language delay CAUSES problems like autism. We know that there can be
>>>>>> substantial variation in, e.g, production, such that some kids start
>>>>>> speaking earlier than others.  I don't think that the later-speaking kids'
>>>>>> 'delays' count as pathological at all.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Parisa, could you include some key references that suggest that
>>>>>> learning a single language early is better than learning multiple languages?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>> Mohinish
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   On May 8, 2011, at 11:11 PM, parisa Daftarifard wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   Language delay is much more dangerous than loosing time for true
>>>>>> bilingualism. There are many risk factors like being autistic, developmental
>>>>>> delay and global delay in terms of cognition. I think recent psychology
>>>>>> suggests for learning one language first and then being exposed to other
>>>>>> languages. I can send you some books off list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>> Parisa
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 3:55 AM, beachjade <beachjade at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Dear Tamar and Yves,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> There is a recent paper by Janet Werker that may be relevant to your
>>>>>>> second question about how early should you expose your child to his many
>>>>>>> languages.  In contrast to an earlier response to your post, my reading of
>>>>>>> the literature suggests that bilingualism/multilingualism in an of itself is
>>>>>>> not a risk factor in development.  This is echoed by
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Bilingual.pdf
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  <http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/Bilingual.pdf>
>>>>>>> http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/pspi_10_3.pdf
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  <http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/pspi_10_3.pdf>
>>>>>>> http://www.psychologicalscience.org/media/releases/2010/werker.cfm
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 10:48 AM, Tamar & Yves <tamarmr at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hello all,
>>>>>>>> Our 10 months old son is exposed to 3 languages at home ( each one
>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>> us is speaking to him his mother- tongue, and we speak English
>>>>>>>> between
>>>>>>>> us) and to a 4th one outside.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Soon he will be starting Nursery, and we were wondering what
>>>>>>>> language
>>>>>>>> it should be in. Is it better to expose him simultaneously to all 4
>>>>>>>> languages or should we do it gradually over the first few years of
>>>>>>>> his
>>>>>>>> life (It's possible to sign him up to a nursery in my husnband's
>>>>>>>> mother tongue (2)/ english (3)/ bi lingual (enviroment+English)(4))
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> We don't want language acquisition to be too much of a burden on
>>>>>>>> him,
>>>>>>>> and not sure how many languages he can learn at once.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> We are aware of the large number of factors affecting the answer,
>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>> does anyone know or refer us to research done on the specific issues
>>>>>>>> of (i) number of languages babies can learn and its implication on
>>>>>>>> their emotional state; and (ii) Is it better to expose a baby to
>>>>>>>> those
>>>>>>>> languages simultaneously or gradually over the first few years of
>>>>>>>> his
>>>>>>>> life.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>> Tamar & Yves
>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Parisa Daftarifard
>>>>>> Phd Student of TEFL
>>>>>> Islamic Azad University of Science and Research
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Parisa Daftarifard
>>>>> Phd Student of TEFL
>>>>> Islamic Azad University of Science and Research
>>>>>
>>>>> --
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>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>  Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, Chair
>>>> The Department of English
>>>> Tel: +972 3 5318236
>>>> The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center
>>>> Tel: +972 3 5317159
>>>> Bar Ilan University
>>>> Ramat Gan, Israel
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Parisa Daftarifard
>>> Phd Student of TEFL
>>> Islamic Azad University of Science and Research
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>  Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, Chair
>> The Department of English
>> Tel: +972 3 5318236
>> The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center
>> Tel: +972 3 5317159
>> Bar Ilan University
>> Ramat Gan, Israel
>>
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> Parisa Daftarifard
> Phd Student of TEFL
> Islamic Azad University of Science and Research
>
> --
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>

-- 
 Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, Chair
The Department of English
Tel: +972 3 5318236
The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center
Tel: +972 3 5317159
Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan, Israel

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