a question about multilingual babies

Mon May 9 13:30:43 UTC 2011

Dear Parisa,

There is a lot of literature on "healthy" early bilingualism, I won't quote all my famous friends and colleagues, all specialists know them.

As Tamar and Yves have just written, in their case, early trilingualism is a NECESSITY, as is bilingualism for millions of children whose parents speak different native languages. I believe health is extremely important, but what do you call health? Do you think Tunisian mothers married to French fathers who don't speak French at all when they arrive in France should NOT SPEAK to their child at all?  I wouldn't have communicated with my American mother who arrived in France (with my father and myself) when I was three months old if she had not spoken English to me. The relational/affective implications are as important as the health implications you are mentioning. 

I am particularly sensitive to this issue since in France, the Senate issued a document a few years ago telling teachers to influence "foreign" parents to speak FRENCH to their children at home so that the children wouldn't be "delayed". It could be a real tragedy when parents speak very poor French (and even if they have a good command of their second language, shouldn't they speak their native language to their own children?) , and the implications for deaf children who are prevented from being bilingual and learning a sign language are serious. So, even though I am absolutely not a specialist of the clinical dimension, I think one should take all the risks into account, including risks of not creating a healthy relationship with your own parent, or the risk of not having any command of language at all (deaf children for example). 

Best regards,
Aliyah

Le 9 mai 2011 à 10:21, parisa Daftarifard a écrit :

> Dear Aliyah,
>  
> Thank you for your reply and comment. What I am cautious about is not being bilingual (I speak two languages and understand three languages) but is about early bilingualism. Many early bilingualism (for example the one Edith explained) one language is dominant and functional.
>  
> I think we need research to see if multilingual interaction from zero (one month forward) would exist very much or not. Usually one language is functional not two languages. This is the case we have in Iran. Turkish or Armenia all are bilingual but kids from zero are mostly (if I say not all of them because I have no research at hand), through my individual questioning parents, are interacted in one language first and the second language is not dominant or interactional in early stages. 
>  
> from educational perspective, bilingualism brings many chances but when we approach the issue from the clinical perspective we need to be very cautious about claims and result of research. 
>  
> Many cognitive problems like autism may not show itself till age two. If we expose our kid when we are not even aware of his health to more than one language, our kids are at risk. Unless you have an evidence of autistic bilingual who benefit multiple exposures. 
>  
> Moreover, do you think who is more healthy: the kid who start speaking at the age two or the one who starts at the age of four or five. expressive language is very important to mental health. I have seen those kids with language delay that are angry when they cannot express themselves some times they show aggressive behavior.
>  
> Natural exposure is not what we argue about here. I am talking about purposefully confusing kid with many functionally used language while we are not sure that this kid is completely OK. 
>  
> Best,
> Parisa Daftarifard
>  
> 
> On Mon, May 9, 2011 at 10:35 AM, Aliyah MORGENSTERN <aliyah.morgenstern at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Parisa, dear Tamar and Yves,
> 
> 3/4th of the world is at least bilingual, if not multilingual and some of us have been exposed to 2 , 3, 4 languages from birth. Don't be so quick in saying it provokes more language delay than being monolingual. And remember most monolinguals are native English speakers (and native French speakers) and write a lot of papers... 
> So lets take our time before we stress parents about what to do with their children when they are lucky enough to live in a multicultural society.
> I'm sure more specialists of multilingualism will answer. PLEASE take your time and don't follow ONE advice.
> Best,
> Aliyah from Paris
> 
> Le 9 mai 2011 à 05:11, parisa Daftarifard a écrit :
> 
>> 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.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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