Break down the language barriers

As recently as the Fifties, it was believed that raising children to be bilingual could inhibit their language development.

Today’s thinking could not be more different. The SCL, which forms part of Southampton University, believes that an additional language brings into context many other subjects: history, politics, and geography, and opens doors to foreign literature.

Research indicates that babies as young as four months who live in bilingual environments can distinguish between two languages, by reading lip movement and facial expressions, and they show a strong preference for the language their mother spoke during pregnancy.

We know that speaking more than one language is good for the brain. But are the advantages broader than that? Most of us encourage our children to learn a second, and even a third, language at school, but do we know why we’re doing it? My youngest daughter is learning Spanish, French and German and has dabbled in Mandarin. She enjoys them, but will they really extend long-term value?

Indubitably, says Teresa Tinsley, director of planning, delivery and communications at CILT, the National Centre for Languages: “There is evidence that more employers want languages and cultural skills, and the international savvy that language learning brings.”

FASCINATING LANGUAGE FACTS
There are 13 languages spoken by more than 100 million people. These are: Mandarin Chinese, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Malay-Indonesian, French, Japanese, German, and Urdu. Of these, the most widely spoken are Mandarin, English, Spanish, Arabic and Hindi.

There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese.

We are all designed to acquire language, but we are built to learn and accommodate more than just one: monolinguals are effectively under utilizing abilities by not tapping that potential.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/expateducation/8278229/Break-down-the-language-barriers.html