Myth or Fact?
Bilingualism
Bilingualism
Bilingualism is a rare phenomenon.
MYTH...
Roughly 130 countries out of 195 speak 2 or more languages. It has been estimated that more than half the world's population is bilingual, that is lives with two or more languages. Bilingualism is found in all parts of the world, at all levels of society, in all age groups. Even in countries with many monolinguals, the percentage of bilinguals is high. For example, one can estimate that there are as many as 50 million bilinguals in the United States today.
Learning more than one language at a young age can confuse a child.
MYTH...
One of the most popular myths about multilingualism is that it can confuse young children and cause language delays or difficulties. However, research studies show that children who speak more than one language from an early age follow the same developmental stages as monolingual children and can be more linguistically and cognitively advanced than their monolingual peers (Kersten, 2011). Indeed, multilingual brains process language more effectively and bilingual children have better problem-solving and multitasking abilities than monolingual children.
Being bilingual can make kids stutter.
MYTH...
Stuttering has numerous causes, but bilingualism does not appear to be one of them. Stuttering may result from genetics (i.e., an inherited speech impediment), anxiety, emotional trauma, a medical condition, or other factors. Sometimes, stuttering is a normal part of development that naturally resolves by age five (this is more common in males). Because the roots of stuttering can be complex, it’s important to see a speech pathologist if your child stutters for longer than six months.
Bilinguals acquire their two or more languages in childhood.
MYTH...
One can become bilingual in childhood, but also in adolescence and in adulthood. In fact, many adults become bilingual because they move from one country (or region) to another and have to acquire a second language. With time, they can become just as bilingual as children who acquire their languages in their early years (minus the native speaker accent). In general, people become bilingual because life requires the use of two or more languages. This can be due to immigration, education, intermarriage, contact with other linguistic groups within a country, and so on.
Bilingual adults have denser gray matter.
FACT...
Bilingual adults have denser gray matter (brain tissue packed with information-processing nerve cells and fibers), especially in the brain’s left hemisphere, where most language and communication skills are controlled. The effect is strongest in people who learned a second language before the age of five and in those who are most proficient at their second language. This finding suggests that being bilingual from an early age significantly alters the brain’s structure.
Bilinguals can be interpreters and translators.
MYTH...
Since a lot of bilinguals seem to be able to switch back and forth between languages quite easily, we automatically assume that they are capable of working as translators and interpreters. All you need is a solid knowledge of more than one language and you’re set, right? Wrong. Professional interpreters and translators are what is known as ‘special bilinguals.’ The nature of their bilingualism outdoes that of a ‘normal bilingual’ in the sense that their knowledge of the language must be far more extensive—especially if they’re working in specific fields such as medicine. ‘Special bilinguals’ are also able to switch between languages much faster than your standard bilingual, which puts them in a category all their own.
Children can lose their mother tongue/home language.
FACT...
Unfortunately, they can and they do lose their home language.
If international parents were aware of this they would pay more attention to family language planning.
Mother tongue loss can happen at different levels, some become passive bilinguals (they understand the language, but can’t or won’t speak it), some have difficulty understanding it and some lose it completely.
The biggest support you can give your child in preserving their mother tongue is through literacy. The better they are at reading and writing in their home language, the greater the chance they will use it in their adulthood.
Children who are bilingual have smaller vocabularies.
FACT AND MYTH...
This myth is partly true in the fact that bilingual children sometimes have a smaller than average vocabulary in each individual language they speak. However, when the total number of words a bilingual child speaks in both languages is added together, they either meet or exceed age-appropriate vocabulary levels. Likewise, it’s important to note that kids don’t always start using new words right away. Some children go through a “silent” phase after being introduced to a new language. During this period, they’re actively learning new words, but they don’t yet feel confident enough to use them. After several months, these kids slowly become more vocal, and their vocabulary appears to catch up to normal levels.The Avocados
Only native speakers can raise bilingual children.
MYTH...
There are thousands of parents who have learned a second language as an adult, and then raised their children in that language instead of in their native tongue.
Think of any American in Europe who has raised their child in French, Italian or Spanish, or any Mexican family in the U.S. whose child is required to speak English every day at school. It is not essential for parents to be native speakers of a language in order to teach that language to their child.
Bilingualism may delay the onset of age-related dementia.
FACT...
Research suggests that bilingualism may delay the onset of age-related dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, by up to four years. Although scientists don’t know why bilingualism creates this “cognitive reserve,” some theorize that speaking two languages may increase blood and oxygen flow to the brain and keep nerve connections healthy—factors thought to help ward off dementia.
Mixing languages is a sign of laziness in bilinguals.
MYTH...
Mixing languages such as code-switching and borrowing is a very common behavior in bilinguals speaking to other bilinguals. It is a bit like having coffee with milk instead of just straight black. The two language repertoires are available in bilingual situations and can be used at will. Many expressions and words are better said in the one or the other language; mixing permits to use the right one without having recourse to translation which simply may not do justice to what one wants to express. This said, in other situations, bilinguals know that they cannot mix their languages (e.g. when speaking to monolinguals) and they then stick to just one language.
Non-English speaking children will be confused by speaking English in school.
MYTH...
Some people believe that bilingual/ multilingual children do not differentiate between their languages and, therefore, mix them. However, studies have shown that children are not only able to distinguish languages from an early age, but also consciously use the appropriate language when addressing people. For instance, they choose the “right” language when speaking to a parent or a teacher (Genesee, 2015). Furthermore, most researchers claim that switching between languages, or translanguaging, is a natural and common phenomenon among bilingual individuals (Kirsch & Mortini, 2021). Multilingual children use their entire repertoire to communicate. Switching languages follows linguistic rules and may indicate proficiency rather than confusion.
Speaking more than one language is inherently difficult for children.
MYTH...
Kids are generally sponges for language, and there’s no evidence to suggest that learning more than one language at a time poses additional cognitive challenges for them. It’s important to understand that learning a new language doesn’t overwrite a child’s existing linguistic knowledge. Instead, bilingual kids learn how to process linguistic information in a more complex way, allowing them to easily “swap between” both languages. Due to the fact that bilingual children often show higher than average IQ on cognitive and giftedness assessments, many researchers believe that bilingualism brings significant cognitive advantages. A common explanation here is that bilingual children get a head start on logical thinking: at a very early age, they recognize that one concept could be mapped into different words.
If parents want their children to grow up bilingual, they should use the one person - one language approach.
MYTH...
There are many ways of making sure a child grows up bilingual: caretaker 1 speaks one language and caretaker 2 speaks the other; one language is used in the home and the other outside the home; the child acquires his/her second language at school, etc. The critical factor is NEED. The child must come to realize, most of the time unconsciously, that he/she needs two or more languages in everyday life. This is where the one person - one language approach often breaks down as the bilingual child quickly realizes that the weaker (often minority) language is not really needed (the caretakers or other family members often speak the other, stronger language, to one another, so why keep up the weaker language?).
A better approach is that all family members use the weaker language at home, if at all possible, so as to increase the child's exposure to it and mark the language's "main" territory.
A multilingual brain processes every language everywhere all the time.
MYTH...
It used to be believed that different languages were stored in different parts of the brain and that each one would get “turned on” when it was actively being used. But research has shown that theory’s all wrong. A multilingual brain actually processes all languages in parallel, keeping them co-activated all the time.
“When your brain processes language, it's not one place in the brain that processes language,” Marian says. “It's a network that's spread across all areas of the brain.”
Because of that, bilingual brains have more pathways connecting different words, concepts and memories across different languages. Practically speaking, that means a French-English bilingual will see more similarities between unrelated words like nail and cloud, for example, than someone who just speaks English because the word for nail in French is clou.
It also means that if part of the brain is damaged, one language might be impacted more than another. Marian compares it to an orchestra that’s lost one instrument.
“If you damage one part of the brain, just like if you take out one musician from the orchestra, some pieces of music are affected more than others,” she said. “A piece that relies more on the violin will be affected more by the violinist not being there than the piece that relies on it less.”
Bilinguals have double or split personalities.
MYTH...
Bilinguals, like monolinguals, adapt their behavior to different situations and people. This often leads to a change of language in bilinguals (e.g. a Japanese-English bilingual speaking Japanese to her grandmother and English to her sister). This change of language has led to the idea that bilinguals are "different" when speaking the one, or the other, language. But like monolinguals, it is the situation or the person one is speaking to which induces slight changes in behavior, opinions, feelings, etc., not the fact that one is bilingual.
Children raised bilingual will always mix their languages.
MYTH...
If bilingual children interact in both bilingual and monolingual situations, then they learn to mix languages at certain times only. When they are with monolinguals (e.g. Grandma who doesn't speak any English), they quickly learn to speak just the one language (communication breaks down otherwise). It is important though that the situation be truly monolingual (and not a "pretend situation" in which a bilingual parent pretends not to know the other language); children will make an effort to speak only one language if they feel it is vital for communication. Thus, caretakers will want to create natural monolingual environments where children will need, and hence use, just one language.
Children with speech or language disorders can learn more than one language.
FACT...
Research shows that children with speech, language and other developmental disorders can learn additional languages. Of course, they will need lots of exposure and opportunities to practice—just like any child learning more than one language.
Given all the benefits of multilingualism, parents and caregivers should not hesitate to use multiple languages around (and with!) their child who has a speech or language disorder.
If your child is receiving speech-language therapy, ask their speech-language pathologist about activities you can do with them to support their communication skills in all their languages.
Learning two languages dilutes cultural identity.
MYTH...
One of the most famous misconceptions about bilingualism is that learning a second language can dilute or weaken someone’s cultural identity. However, bilingualism can actually strengthen cultural connections. Learning a second language allows individuals to connect more deeply with their heritage and understand different cultural perspectives. Bilinguals often have a richer understanding of their own culture as well as the cultures associated with the languages they speak.
Memories are stored and recalled differently in a bilingual or multilingual mind.
FACT...
The theory of Language-Dependent Memory suggests that memories are more easily accessed if they’re recalled in the same language the original event took place in.
For example, if a Mandarin-English bilingual is telling you the story of their life in English, they’ll more likely focus on things that happened to them in English. Whereas if they’re speaking Mandarin, the opposite would happen.
“Different neural networks get activated across languages, and with that activation, different memories come to mind,” Marian says. “So language sort of shifts because it’s so tied to culture and memory and personal experiences.”
It comes across in academia as well. For instance, if a Spanish-English bilingual is tested in English about something they learned in Spanish, they’ll perform worse than if the language of learning matches the language of the test.
Using a language that you haven’t used in a while can even spark a flood of memories that you thought you’d forgotten about.
Bilinguals express their emotions in their first language.
MYTH...
Some bilinguals have grown up learning two languages simultaneously and hence have two first languages with which they will express their emotions. And for the majority of bilinguals who have acquired their languages successively—first one language and then, some years later, another—the pattern is not clear. Emotions and bilingualism produce a very complicated but also very personal reality that has no set rules. Some bilinguals prefer to use one language, some the other, and some use both of them to express their feelings and emotions.
If a child is not equally fluent in both languages, he or she is not truly bilingual.
MYTH...
The reality is that language learning is a process, a continuum, and bilingualism works the same way.
The dominant language of someone exposed to more than one language can change over time. Regular use and practice are key to sustaining, developing, and strengthening mastery of any skill, including spoken and written language.
There are thousands of parents who have learned a second language as an adult, and then raised their children in that language instead of in their native tongue.
Think of any American in Europe who has raised their child in French, Italian or Spanish, or any Mexican family in the U.S. whose child is required to speak English every day at school. It is not essential for parents to be native speakers of a language in order to teach that language to their child.
Bilingualism will delay language acquisition in children.
MYTH...
This is a myth that was popular back in the middle of the 20th Century. Since then much research has shown that bilingual children are not delayed in their language acquisition. This said, one should keep in mind that bilingual children, because they have to deal with two or more languages, are different in some ways from monolingual children, but definitely not on rate of language acquisition. As for bilingual children with language challenges (e.g. dyslexia), they are not proportionally more numerous than monolingual children with the same challenges.
Being bilingual makes you smarter.
MYTH...
Being smart is a very vague statement. Just because you are bilingual you will not necessarily be good at math for instance. Although it is a fact that bilingualism affects the brain, research has not yet reached consensus on how exactly.
It is believed that the answers might not come from cognitive science but rather from neuroscience. Bilingualism, however, is proven to have other benefits like creativity, linguistic benefits and hand having a bigger working memory capacity.
3. Multilinguals are more creative and divergent thinking than monolinguals.
FACT...
Creativity essentially boils down to your brain making connections between seemingly unrelated things. That’s how inspiration arises for art, music, writing and even creative problem-solving.
Because a multilingual person has more of these connections hard-wired into their brain through different languages and cultures, they tend to perform better on many creativity and divergent thinking tasks.
“The constant co‐activation of multiple languages strengthens the links between the sounds, letters, and words in a bilingual’s mind, which results in denser networks and stronger connections at the levels of concepts and meaning,” Marian writes.