Advice on raising children in two languages from birth

Kia ora ano.

In one of the recent contributions a parent expresses her intention to bring up her child in two languages from birth. Colin Baker in his book “A Parents’ and Teachers’ Guide to Bilingual Education” has some advice on the issue. He contends that in suitable home circumstances it is highly desirable to begin early.

The reasons I can see for this are numerous. In the first instance children are avid learners of language from a very early age. Having few if any responsibilities a lot of time can be dedicated to communication. Of course this is not a conscious act for the baby but the way they are hardwired. They result is that they don’t need lessons. Every interaction they have is an opportunity to learn, so parents need only do what parents do, no need for in-depth planning. Learning two languages like this is pain free.

Early bilingualism also brings about beneficial development of the child’s cognitive and social skills. They learn early on how to adapt their language use to the person to whom they are talking and this brings about a need within the child to find ways of transferring what they can do in one language to the other language. These transfer skills are invaluable in later learning.

Finally I see the ability of the child to interact with close relatives with one language or the other as the opportunity to build a rich literacy background. If say the child learns English from the Pākehā mother and French from the French father then that child can communicate freely with the grandparents on both sides. The language which is best able to convey the culture is inevitable the language of that culture. In this ideal situation the child grows up with a deep and rich knowledge of their cultures learned through the languages of those cultures. Identity is strongly affirmed.

Ka kite ano,
Chris Lowman.