studies

Every day we use language to express our thoughts and emotions, but what role do the languages we speak play in shaping those thoughts and emotions? Just how much of our culture and worldview is based on the concepts expressed in the languages we speak? Do bilinguals really have access to a broader understanding of the world because of the nuances which can be expressed in each of their languages? This question is not a new one, but every once in a while a new article is published that makes me reconsider the impact that speaking more than one language has on the very way we think and see the world.

According to this new article by Lera Boroditsky, a psychology professor at Stanford University, a great deal of new research has been published which firmly backs the theory that language does, in fact, influence the way we see the world. The article cites several studies carried out in a wide variety of languages which showcase how language affects our worldview, but I think most bilinguals are already aware of this to some extent. Speaking more than one language not only allows us to communicate with more people across the globe, but it also gives us the great priveledge of understanding the very way people from other cultures view and understand the world. This is one of the most precious gifts a parent can give a child.

It’s no secret that parents want what’s best for their children. There are thousands of toys, games and books out there that promise to help you give your children everything they need to learn the skills they need to make it in this world. Many parents are willing to do or spend whatever it takes to give their children a competitive edge. Which is why you may be surprised by the results of several recent studies which cite the simple act of having books at home and reading to children as one of the most important indicators of scholarly success worldwide!

One study from the US National Institutes of Health showed that “children who are read to, starting from just days old, have higher memory skills, motivation, and curiosity by age one. By the time those kids hit preschool, they have a six-month developmental edge on their peers – an edge that lasts a lifetime.”

Another study which was published in the June edition of the scholarly journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility offers remarkable data that having many books at home is one of the strongest indicators of educational success. This extensive international study was based on over 70,000 case studies in 27 countries. Astonishing results showed that “Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation, and class. This is as great an advantage as having university educated rather than unschooled parents, and twice the advantage of having a professional rather than an unskilled father. It holds equally in rich nations and in poor; in the past and in the present; under Communism, capitalism, and Apartheid; and most strongly in China.”

At Bilingual Readers we strongly believe that one of the most important things you can do to create the kind of healthy environment that promotes early literacy skills is to read to and with your children on a daily basis. Language development and early literacy skills go hand in hand, so by reading aloud to your children you’ll not only be giving them the tools they’ll need to learn to read in the future, you’ll also be expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of the languages they’re learning right now. Just 15 to 20 minutes a day of reading time is all it takes to develop these skills and, more importantly, a love of reading that will last a lifetime.

We’re thrilled to announce the publication of the latest title in the Two Little Libros collection. This beautifully illustrated box of two 16 page board books by Mike Lowery is the second title in this collection. This time the box contains books which focus on two aspects of the human body: Body Parts and Move Your Body. As you may know from the previous set of Two Little Libros (Sea Animals and Jungle Animals), this fabulous collection is designed to teach young children basic vocabulary in Spanish and English, as well as reasoning skills.

You can find all the details here.

As always, this new title is available in our on-line shop and in bookshops throughout Spain.

We hope you love it as much as we do!

Description:
Title: Body Parts and Move Your Body
Author: Mike Lowery
ISBN: 978-84-937273-7-6
Pages: Slipcase with two 16 page board books
Collection: Two Little Libros
Size: 20 x 20 cm
Specifications: Cloth binding
Price w/VAT: 14.95

A few months ago we posted an article about an amazing study which claimed that babies actually cry in their mother tongue. According to this study, babies actually reproduce the sounds they hear in the womb when they cry. Researchers from Würzburg University in Germany recorded 60 newborns (30 French and 30 German) crying just three to five days after their birth, and noted clear differences between the newborns based on their mother tongue.

This article generated a bit of discussion on our facebook and twitter pages as to what implications this phenomenon would have on bilingual children. Do bilingual babies cry in both languages? So when I read about a new study on infant bilingualism which was recently published in the scientific journal, Psychological Science, I just had to share. According to this study “infants born to bilingual mothers (who spoke both languages regularly during pregnancy) exhibit different language preferences than infants born to mothers speaking only one language.”

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in France charted the sucking reflexes (apparently this reflex in newborns indicates the baby’s interest in a stimulus) of two groups of monolingual and bilingual infants when exposed to ten minutes of alternating speech between two languages. The monolingual infants only showed sucking preference when they heard their mother tongue, but the bilingual infants showed equal preference for both their mother tongues.

To me one of the most fascinating parts of this study is the fact that babies were not just responding positively to a bunch of familiar sounds they heard in the womb. From the time they were born, on some primitive level, these babies were able to distinguish between the two languages as two separate stimuli. According to the article, “infants listened to sentences being spoken in one of the languages until they lost interest. Then, they either heard sentences in the other language or heard sentences in the same language, but spoken by a different person. Infants exhibited increased sucking when they heard the other language being spoken. Their sucking did not increase if they heard additional sentences in the same language.” This evidence suggests that infants are actually born with the capacity to simultaneously learn two or more languages without confusing them. Once again, I’m blown away by these tiny language learning machines!

Every spring thousands of children’s publishers, authors, illustrators, translators and other professionals come together in the world’s most important children’s book fair in Bologna, Italy. During four hectic days Bologna is transformed into a children’s publishing mecca, where the industry comes together to meet, greet, buy and sell rights, see new global trends, inspire and be inspired.

We’re so excited to announce that we’ll be participating in this year’s fair as part of the Spanish stand. We’ve booked our tickets and one of the few hotel rooms left in Bologna, so now we’re just counting down until March 23rd when all the fun begins. If any of our readers will be attending the fair, we’d love to meet up and get to know you face to face. Just send us a note to info[at]bilingualreaders.com or stop buy our stand (Pavillion 29, B19)! We can’t wait to meet you there!

image credit: the world within my hands, via flickr

No one has a better imagination than a small child who is just beginning to discover the world around him, and there’s nothing like a young child’s imagination to come up with some of the greatest and most outrageous stories ever told. Playing pretend can be a lot of fun for kids and parents alike, but what you may not know is that your child’s make believe world is actually very important for his language development.

According to the latest research (and just plain old common sense), playing pretend is actually fundamental to a young child’s language development and early literacy skills. Children use language to construct their imaginary worlds, much like they do when telling a story. Children experiment with vocabulary and sentence structures as they expand their imagination, weaving words together in such a way that language and imagination are completely inseparable.

One example of this phenomenon can be seen in the results of a recent study from the University of Manchester’s School of Psychological Sciences, which found children with imaginary friends are quicker to develop language skills. Researchers believe that “by chatting to an imaginary companion a child becomes more practised at using language and constructing conversation, as he or she is carrying out both sides of the interaction.” Of course, the same kind of two way conversation also takes place when a child stages conversation between dolls or stuffed animals. The main idea is that conversation is used in pretend play, and the more your child gabs the faster his language skills will develop.

These storytelling and make believe skills are also important for preparing your child to learn to read. Narrative skills, like being able to describe things and understand stories, are often cited as one of the six early literacy skills your child needs in order to be prepared to learn to read. You can help your child develop this skill in both his languages by providing plenty of opportunities for him to interact with other children (this is where playgroups in the minority language can come in handy for bilingual families), playing make believe with him and exposing him to new and interesting experiences (this is much easier than it sounds, since small children are fascinated by what may seem like the most mundane things to an adult). Reading to and with your child on a daily basis is also an extremely important tool for developing language and early literacy skills. You can even take your child’s favorite stories one step further by pretending you are both characters in the story and coming up new plot twists and endings for a familiar tale. The possibilities are as limitless as your child’s boundless imagination, so have fun exploring new and fabulous worlds together.

image credit: at speed, via flickr

Most of our readers are aware of the many cultural, cognitive and social benefits of raising bilingual children, which is why so many of you dedicate so much time and effort to making sure your children receive maximum exposure to two or several languages from a very young age. But what you may not know is that all that bilingual language input may also help improve your children’s reading speed and comprehension.

So how exactly does this dual language thinking help our budding bilingual readers to excel in reading skills? According to a fascinating study which was recently published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Associaciation for Psychological Science, bilingual individuals are unable to “switch off” a language completely, meaning that a second language is always present in the thought processes of bilingual individuals. Researchers studied this phenomenon in 45 university students whose native language was Dutch and secondary language was English. The subjects were asked to read several sentences containing both cognates (words that have a similar meaning and form across several languages, such as “leopard” and “leopardo” in English and Spanish) and control words. The study clearly revealed that readers spent less time processing the cognates than the control words as they read, suggesting that the knowledge of words with similar meanings in both languages actually reinforces reading skills and comprehension in the native language.

Of course the implications of this particular study vary according to the language combinations spoken in each bilingual family (there are obviously more English/Spanish or Spanish/French cognates than Japanese/Swedish ones), but this is very encouraging news, as it highlights just one more reason why giving your child the gift of bilingualism is so important. It also reinforces the need for a family reading routine in both languages, to make sure children are reading and being read to in both their languages on a daily basis (click here for an article on a few of the many benefits of reading aloud to children).

image credit: bored, via flickr

The incredible capacity of a young human brain to simultaneously acquire several languages at a time is something that will never cease to amaze me. While learning a new language is often difficult for our mature adult brains, it’s actually a piece of cake for children under the age of 7. So how exactly does a child who depends on his parents for every single aspect of his existence become bilingual (or even multilingual) so effortlessly?

The answer won’t come as much of a shock to those who are raising bilingual children, but it is fascinating nonetheless. A recent Italian study confirmed that children who are exposed to two different languages from a very young age will actually develop two different neural circuits dedicated to both languages. In other words, babies are officially language learning machines. According to this study, “each language uses a unique set of sounds. Scientists now know babies are born with the ability to distinguish all of them, but that ability starts weakening even before they start talking, by the first birthday…Babies being raised bilingual-by simply speaking to them in two languages-can learn both in the time it takes most babies to learn one. On average, monolingual and bilingual babies start talking around age 1 and can say about 50 words by 18 months. While new language learning is easiest by age 7, it markedly declines before puberty.”

So what does all of this mean for bilingual families? The most important implication is the sheer importance of exposing young children to new languages before the age of 7. Whether they realize it or not, parents and other caregivers are constantly programming their children’s brains by using their input to develop their children’s language skills. A parent’s role in their children’s language development is of the utmost importance, so take advantage of every opportunity to talk to your children and expose them to as many opportunities to hear new languages as possible.  Reading stories and singing songs are great ways to help your child’s language development along, as are baby talk and even letting your baby listen to conversations between adults. The more your child hears each of his languages, the more fine tuned the language areas of his bilingual brain will become.

For those of you who may be considering the benefits of exposing your children to new languages, remember that the window of opportunity begins to close around the age of 7. Of course it’s never too late to discover a new language and culture, but learning languages will be much easier for your child if you start early. For more information on the benefits of bilingualism, please see the Bilingualism Basics section of our Resources page.

image credit: the world is made up of different cultures, via flickr

Knowing how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes is important in many areas of life, but a recent study has shown that feeling empathy for other cultures also makes it easier to learn a language. According to  a study by the University of Haifa which was recently published in the International Journal of Bilingualism, “The more empathy one has for another, the lighter the accent will be when speaking in a second language.”

This study was carried out among a group of university students who were divided into three groups: native speakers of Hebrew, those who learned Hebrew between the ages of 7 and 8 and those who began to study Hebrew after the age of 13.

The authors of the study explained that “Israel is a perfect lab location for testing the topic of second languages, because of the complex composition of its population. This population is made up of immigrants who learn Hebrew at an advanced age; an ethnic minority of Arabs, some of whom learn Hebrew from an early age, and others who learn the language as mature adults; and a majority group of native Hebrew speakers.”

This social and personal reasoning seems to be directly related to the pronunciation of a second language, although speaking a second language with an accent is generally explained away by ” the difficulties of pronouncing sounds in a different linguistic system.”

While we believe there are many diverse linguistically based reasons why second language learners and even some bilingual children tend to speak with an accent, this study does raise an interesting issue for bilingual families. Whatever languages we decide to teach our children, we should also try to teach them about the cultures of the people who speak these languages. It’s important to bear this in mind , since by teaching our children about the cultures associated with each new language we are helping them to feel more emotionally connected with those languages.

image credit: eMail, via flickr

If you’ve tried to send an email to any of the bilingualreaders.com email addresses over the last few days*, you may have received an error message stating that our mailboxes were over their capacity. We’ve tidied up our inboxes just in case, but the server doesn’t seem to care and seems hell bent on its plans to block us from receiving messages for the time being. Thankfully I’m pretty sure our web developer will be able to easily resolve this issue fairly quickly, but our frustration with the server has helped me to realize just how dependent we are on new technologies. When I arrived in Spain for the first time a little over ten years ago, finding a place to check my email was fairly low on my list of priorities. Yet now it’s hard to imagine a day gone by without seeing what my friends across the globe are up to on Facebook (our apologies in advance for the 5 second self promotional reminder: by clicking here you can check out what Bilingual Readers is up to on Facebook).  The world has changed so much over such a short period of time, and most of my generation has thrived on this new global playground.

Or have we? Are we really taking advantage of all of the possibilities these new technologies have provided, or are many of us hindered by language barriers, which prevent us from gaining access to all the information our neighbors have to offer? We now have so many opportunities to connect with and learn from people all over the world in real time, but in order to truly take advantage of these possibilities, we must first be able to speak and understand the language of those we are trying to communicate with. Just think of all the treasures out there just waiting to be discovered (and I’m not referring to the gold and gemstone variety), if only we could understand one another!

Just one more reminder of the most important reason to teach our children languages at an early age. One of our main goals at Bilingual Readers is to give the next generation the tools it needs to be able to communicate with and learn from as many different cultures as possible. Who knows what a future filled with new technological developments will hold, but we want our bilingual readers to be as prepared as possible to thrive in this increasingly global community. Let’s start a revolution, one bilingual book at a time.

*Update: Good news! Apparently, our email addresses are working again!