Benefits of acquiring a second language at an early age

Benefits of acquiring a second language at an early age

Being able to communicate in a diverse set of languages is a dream for many individuals around the world. This ability comes along with many benefits ranging from ease of doing business abroad to understanding the culture of different people around the world. Furthermore, competition has reached a global scale for those who want to have a successful career. Being able to speak a foreign language makes one more valuable and marketable to any company that has its operations around the world. Nevertheless, learning a second language can be a difficult task to do, especially when one does it in their later years of life. There are so many things that occupy the mind of an adult to the point when subjected to learn a second language; it becomes none of their business. Therefore, the best period to submit oneself to a second language is during their tender age. Many benefits come along with acquiring a second language at an early age.

One of the most important is social-cognitive advancement. Earlier on, there were concerns that bilingualism confused children. However, researchers have eliminated this worry and distinguished that bilingualism does not initiate confusion, has no apparent effect on the development of a child, but has several socio-cognitive advantages (Bialystok et al. 526). Social-cognitive advancement is the ability of a child to think about the social and communicative issues around them (Carlson & Meltzoff 290). Studies have shown that children capable of speaking two languages have an advantage when it comes to an understanding the communication needs of the partner they are conversing with (Bialystok et al. 528). In other words, they are sensitive to the fact that someone can have difficulties communicating in a foreign language when compared to their monolingual peers. Likewise, when it comes to tests of cognitive ability, bilinguals are in a greater position to score higher marks than their monolingual counterparts (Carlson & Meltzoff 291). According to Bialystok et al., they are in a position to understand the common origin of names, distinguish between phonetic similarity and semantic similarity, and judge the grammaticality of sentences (530).

The primary reason behind these advantages is that bilingual children must gain the ability to reduce interferences between the languages they are acquiring to be able to communicate in one. Likewise, bilingualism trains children to put their attention on the pertinent variables in the context, more so those that appear to be contradictory or ambiguous. Increased cognitive abilities might assist kids in developing the representational skills thought to be of greater importance when it comes to effective communication. For instance, when a child understands that two words can be used to name a similar concept, it helps them realize that an item or occasion can be presented in over one way. This aspect boosts a kid’s consideration of other people’s viewpoints.

Another significant benefit of early second language acquisition is the linguistic skills of the child. Children studying foreign languages perform better in their native language more than their monolingual peers, contrary to the confusion thoughts that have always been the worry for most parents. Research has shown that children learning grammatical structures in foreign languages have improved grammar in their native language (Marinova-Todd 117). For instance, in a particular study, children were asked to ascertain whether the sentence, “Apples grow on noses,” was grammatically correct (Marinova-Todd 119). It was difficult for monolingual kids to answer the question, and they considered the matter a silly one. On the other hand, the bilingual kids thought it was stupid, but it was grammatically correct.

Well, this can be explained by the fact that the bilingual ones manifested a cognitive system that was capable of attending to relevant information and ignored the one that appeared unimportant. How this works might be difficult for most people to answer. But the brain has a system that acts as a manager to keep an individual focused on the most important things and ignore distractions (Marinova-Todd 125). This explains why one can hold two different things in the mind at a go and transform through them. The same concept applies when it comes to languages. A person able to speak two languages gives the brain the task of switching between the two languages when both languages pop up in its control system and attend to what is important at that instant. The regular use of this system by bilinguals makes it more efficient hence the ability to sort out important things.

Similarly, acquiring a second language at a tender age results to increase in empathy amongst bilingual children. When children learn a foreign language, they are introduced to new grammatical structures, vocabulary, and unique cultural facts. For that reason, studies have found that these children are capable of performing better in tests that need them to consider the opinion of another person to understand what they meant (Genesee 11). This means that bilingual children are in a more significant position to communicate better to their peers more than their monolingual peers. In a particular study, children from different linguistic backgrounds were presented in a situation where they were supposed to consider the perspective of the other person and understand what they meant. An adult pointed a toy car that was unusually small and asked them to move it. The kids could see three cars which were large, medium, and small but could be able to figure out that the adult could not see the smallest of them all(Genesee 14). The medium and large cars were the only visible cars to the adult, and when he told them to move the small car, he must have been pointing at the kid’s medium.

The bilingual participants well executed this task. The main reason is that when someone’s utterances need to be interpreted, the individual interpreting needs to attend to both content and the surrounding context altogether (Genesee 16). Therefore, children exposed to multilingual surroundings have social understandings that offer routine drill that should consider other people’s perspectives. Their minds have to shift from which language to speak at a particular time and to who, and the places to avoid things like confusion and embarrassment. Overall, exposure to a multilingual environment supports the simple skills of social understanding. Being able to relate to different people from different backgrounds can be a difficult task for monolingual individuals because they are yet to be exposed to the cultures of those individuals.

Finally, the world that we currently live in is globalized. People are now shifting from their homelands to go to other countries for career opportunities. A workforce that speaks more than one foreign language is at a more significant advantage. Therefore, exposing children to more than one language broadens their career opportunities in the future (Genesee 10). They will be able to enroll in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEAM) programs in other countries like China and come back to the country to fill the gap that the country is currently experiencing in that field. The United States presently does not have the required number of graduates in high-tech jobs. This is a more significant opportunity for students who are in the position to travel to other countries well known for their tech capabilities and come back home to secure well-paying jobs. However, this can be difficult when one is unable to speak the language peers in that country are using. Therefore, when a parent notices tech capabilities in their kids, they need to enroll them in those foreign language classrooms that will help them in the future.

Conclusively, early acquisition of the second language has many benefits not only to the individual but the country at large. Children capable of speaking more than one language are in a better place when compared to their multilingual peers. Some of the benefits discussed include socio-cognitive development, improved linguistic skills, increased empathy, and career and salary boost. Bilingual kids have communication skills that boost their social engagement among their peers and be able to score higher in tests. Likewise, their grammatical capability is increased because their minds have to switch in between the languages more often hence making it more efficient.

Furthermore, the children develop skills that enable them to consider other people’s perspectives and reason out their meaning. Being able to do this allows understanding the cultural aspects of other people and respect whatever they are doing. Lastly, familiarizing oneself with more than one language will enable them to boost their career and salary. Companies are hunting for people who can be able to advocate for their courses in other countries and, therefore, multilingual people have higher chances of grabbing these opportunities and using them to their advantage. For that reason, parents need to introduce their children to foreign languages at their tender age because it is more comfortable during this period than later on in life.