Learning Languages at a Younger Age

Having grown up in a multilingual family, my friends are always amazed that I didn't learn another language when I was younger.  I always heard the different sounds with my dad speaking Cantonese to his relatives and my mom speaking Japanese to hers.  I can understand some of the sounds, and if I really try, I can piece some sentences together, but I am by no means bilingual.   In fact, it's embarassing.  My parents wanted my brother and I to speak perfect English so they never encouraged us to speak either language.  Since neither of them could speak the other language, the family spoke English to each other, and alas, my brother and I are monolingual. 

It came as no surprise, when I read this BBC article, "Learning languages boosts brain", about the development of gray matter in the brain is greatest when children learn a second language before the age of 5.  It is also significantly different for children who learned a second language between the ages of 5 and 10.  For people like my mom who learned English in her 20s, she likely has larger neural pathways, but she still processes information differently, and she'll never lose her accent.

The article goes on to recommend that schools now embrace teaching children a second language at a much younger age.  In my generation, I was required to take two years of Spanish or French in high school.  In college, I took two semesters of German, and I sure wish they would have required that earlier! I do okay when I'm immersed in a country that requires me to speak it.  I know if I try real hard, it wouldn't take too long, but wouldn't it be nice if more of us were bilingual at a much younger age. 

Glad to see the British are looking closely at that for their children.  Perhaps other countries will consider it as well. 

Do you think it's wise to require children to learn a second language and why?

Do you think this would apply in the workplace where employees would be required to start taking language classes as well?

If you were to choose a language you think will be universal in the next 20 years, what would it be? 

Comments

[Gord Hunt]

A great site for ESL students is AIDtoCHILDREN.com.

AIDtoCHILDREN.com is a dual-purpose site for building an English vocabulary and raising money for under privileged children in the most
impoverished places around the world.

Check it out at http://www.aidtochildren.com

[Naomi Takeuchi]

Thanks for the contribution. It's great to know about your organization and building English vocabulary. Best of luck to your fundraising efforts.