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Child Proof
Speaking 2 Languages to Your Child Isn’t Enough to Make Them Bilingual
Research on bilingualism shows that it changes kids’ brains for the better — and that even with bilingual parents, it can be hard to achieve
There are plenty of reasons to raise a child to be bilingual. Speaking a language tied to their family origins can help a kid stay close to their heritage. It allows them to converse with relatives they might not otherwise understand. It lets them connect with a wider swath of the world. And a growing body of research suggests the way it rewires the brain may confer cognitive benefits that last into old age.
Language learning begins before a baby is even born, says Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at York University in Canada who studies the effects of bilingualism on the brain; in one 2013 study, infants from a few hours to a few days old already showed higher interest in the sounds of the language they heard in utero. When children grow up hearing more than one language, they may learn to pay attention in different ways than monolingual children. Bialystok’s own research has shown that as early as six months old, infants from bilingual households demonstrate stronger selective attention skills, meaning they’re better…
