“To know many languages means to have many keys to one lock,” said Voltaire. Children born in intercultural marriages receive a whole bunch of such keys from their parents. However, according to some psychologists and speech therapists, bilingual children may lag behind their peers in intellectual indicators. Psychologist Polina Roggendorff has discussed the advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism.
Bilingualism translated from Latin (“bi” - double and “lingua” - language) means bilingualism, that is, the ability to speak two languages fluently and use them alternately depending on the communication situation. According to various estimates, bilinguals make up about 50-55% of the population of our Planet. Among them are descendants of emigrants, children from mixed, bi-ethnic families, and residents of countries where bilingualism has state status. Those who acquire two languages simultaneously from birth are called natural bilinguals. These are the ones that will be discussed in this article.
Until the middle of the 20th century, there was an opinion about the pronounced negative impact of bilingualism on child development. Most experts noted a delay in the speech development of bilingual children and believed that this inevitably entails a lag in the intellectual sphere and in the development of thinking. One of the first to point out the positive impact of multilingualism on thinking and development in general was L.S. Vygotsky. It was his ideas that formed the basis for several interesting psychological experiments that allowed us to take a fresh look at human mental development.
One of these “turning points” in the history of the study of bilingualism can be called the experiment of Canadian scientists W. Lambert and E. Paul, who compared the intellectual abilities of bilingual and monolingual children in 1962. The study involved 364 10-year-old students - middle school students at a French school in the Canadian city of Montreal. According to the results of the experiment, bilinguals achieved significantly better results on 15 of 18 items measuring the level of mental development IQ. Scientists have come to the conclusion that bilingual children, in comparison with their monolingual peers, have better developed memory, attention, speech abilities, and they also have greater plasticity of thinking, and, thanks to a large number of independent thinking abilities, flexibility in approaches to solving problems.
A few decades later, an experiment was conducted with preschoolers, which showed that bilingual children are better at maintaining concentration, retaining necessary information in their minds, and quickly and easily being able to switch or perform several tasks simultaneously, ignoring distractions. In this experiment, Canadian psychologists Ellen Bialystock and Michelle Martin-Rey asked bilingual and monolingual children to use a computer to sort blue circles and red squares into special baskets: one of them was marked with a blue square, and the other with a red circle. Sorting by color was not difficult for any of the groups, but classifying objects by shape was a more difficult task for monolingual children, and they did it worse than bilinguals, as they were constantly confused by such a factor as the color of the basket. Scientists came to the conclusion that bilingual children were able to show better results by constantly switching between languages, sounds, letters and word meanings.
In 2010, Michael Segal and his colleagues from the University of Sheffield (UK) showed that children who speak two languages from an early age can recognize rudeness and lies better than their monolingual peers. 169 children aged three to seven years, who since childhood spoke one or more languages: German, English, Italian and Japanese, were divided into two experimental groups. Looking at pictures of dolls talking, children had to indicate which one was speaking rudely or telling a lie. The researchers found that Italian schoolchildren living on the Austrian border and speaking Italian and German performed, on average, better on the test than their monolingual peers from the same areas. The same results were obtained when comparing schoolchildren who spoke both English and Japanese and children who spoke only Japanese. All this confirms the fact that bilingualism gives children an advantage in communication and helps them better evaluate communicative reactions.
The positive impact of bilingualism can also be seen at later age stages. Recent research by Canadian scientists led by Ellen Bialystock, PhD, in the field of bilingualism, has concluded that bilingualism slows down the onset of Alzheimer's disease by up to 5 years!
However, bilingual children have developmental differences that parents need to be aware of. Thus, the perception of opposing cultures and values can lead to the emergence of a negative attitude towards one of the linguistic cultures, as well as to difficulties with self-identification. This can affect the emotional state of the child and provoke him to aggressive behavior. In addition, many experts note that bilingual children begin to speak much later than other children. They can often mix languages in one sentence before the age of three. This happens because the child looks for the equivalent of a word in another language if he does not know this word in the first. Such a combination of words is a natural part of the development and formation of speech, which, however, in no case should be neglected. All these difficulties can be overcome by knowing the communicative strategies of “correct” language acquisition, as well as with the help of special classes - independently with the child or with a speech therapist.
Basic communication strategies
The most common and already classic communication strategy was formulated by the French linguist M. Grammont. Its main principle is: “One language - one parent.” For example, a mother speaks only Russian to her child, and a father speaks only German. Thanks to this, two languages are acquired simultaneously, do not mix with each other, and children from an early age use all possible language functions and vocabulary options. This approach is simple, logical and natural for the baby - the child responds in the language in which he is addressed.
Second strategy: “One situation, one language.” In this case, parents communicate with their child in one language at home, and in another outside of it. This strategy only works if both parents are equally proficient in the two languages. The advantage of this approach is that it helps the child adapt faster, first in kindergarten and then at school.
The third strategy is “One time, one language”: at a certain time of day or on an appointed day (for example, on Sunday), all family members communicate in only one language, different from the one they speak on other days or at other times. This method is not very effective and is more suitable for maintaining the level of language proficiency in an older child.
There is also a point of view according to which it is necessary to give the child the opportunity to first master one language, and only starting from 3-4 years old to teach another. Proponents of this approach believe that otherwise the baby’s speech development will slow down.
The pros and cons of each strategy appear depending on factors such as the child’s intelligence and abilities, the frequency and duration of his communication with each parent, social environment, etc. In an effort to achieve the harmonious development of two languages, parents must first of all ensure the regular use of each language in all possible areas. The child must learn to understand not only everyday vocabulary, but also humor, folklore, slang, scientific, political and economic terminology. Although schooling is usually conducted in only one language, it is important to teach a bilingual child to read and write in both. Written speech helps to understand the structure of grammatical structures, phonetics and streamline their use. It is worth paying more attention to getting to know national cultures so that both languages are equally expressive and emotionally charged.
Photo by Ekaterina Basova-Gonzalez
Bilingual children - how to raise them correctly? How can a bilingual child be given a third, and sometimes a fourth, language? Today I will tell you about our family’s personal experience.
I will describe my experiences and fears in this regard, and show with examples that they were in vain. Step by step I will take you through the age criteria so that it becomes clear at what age we introduced the third and fourth languages. And most importantly, I’ll tell you about a book that helped me a lot along this path.
Today my son is 4 years 8 months old, he speaks and reads four languages. When strangers hear my addresses to him in Russian, they often ask: “And what does the child understand you?” . At the same time, there is a certain distrust in their voice, because Russian is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world. But does this matter for the baby? Absolutely none. Regardless of what language the parent speaks to the baby, be it Japanese, Vietnamese, Moldavian or English, the child will easily absorb it. The child’s brain is designed in such a way that he will master any language in which close people speak to him.
But if most parents understand this point, then when it comes to raising a bilingual or multilingual child, many begin to doubt. Some believe that they will confuse the child and in the end he will not learn a single language fully. Others are not sure that they will be able to raise their child as such, since they live in a monolingual environment.
Today, when people can travel around the world, when knowledge of several languages makes it possible to become more deeply acquainted with other cultures, and also helps in adult life by increasing the chances of a good job, many parents try not to miss the opportunity and teach their children languages as early as possible.
Several years ago, when I first thought about raising my child bilingually, I had many questions on this topic. I was surprised how little information there was to answer them. That is why I want to tell you the story of our family, how our son learned four languages in such a short time. How his language development developed, what doubts I had and how they were resolved.
I thought about the fact that I would speak with my son in Russian as soon as I became pregnant. Living in the Dominican Republic, where the main language is Spanish, I understood that my husband would speak to the baby in his own language. Before pregnancy, my husband and I spoke only English. And although I spoke Spanish, it is still not a natural language for me. From the very beginning, I wanted to communicate with my baby without choosing the right turns of phrase. I wanted to tell him nursery rhymes, sing songs, say kind words and for it all to go naturally.
I raised the issue of the Russian language with my husband when I was four months pregnant, but it turned out that for him it was not a question at all. That is, he knew that if we had children, then I, as a mother, would speak Russian to them. It is a big plus when both spouses agree with bilingualism. Children feel their parents’ attitude towards certain things, and my husband’s support in raising my son with knowledge of the Russian language is important to me.
And yet I was worried about how I should communicate with the baby in the presence of my husband’s relatives and friends who do not speak Russian. It is considered impolite to communicate in a language that is not familiar to everyone present. And somewhere deep in my soul I felt that if I constantly switch from one language to another when talking with a child, then this will not be a plus in our communication in Russian.
In addition, my husband and I, eight years of marriage before pregnancy, had already become a habit of communicating in English. We wondered if we would have to switch to Spanish after the birth of our son or continue to communicate in English while talking to each other? At this stage, I began to look for literature that would help me understand all these issues.
Five years ago, I found several faceless articles in Russian and I didn’t come across a single book that I could read on a topic that interested me. Then I turned to sources in English and immediately came across Naomi Steiner’s book “7 steps to raising a bilingual child.” Don’t rush to enter it into search engines; at the end of the post I will indicate useful literature.
After reading this book, I realized that the most effective way of teaching is the so-called “One parent - one language”. That is, regardless of the situation and environment, each parent communicates with the child only in the language of their choice. In our case, I must speak only Russian, and my husband only speak Spanish. The author of the book advises to talk in advance with relatives and friends on the topic of bilingualism, to explain to them that my communication in an unfamiliar language is in no way my bad manners.
The author also describes seven common misconceptions about raising bilingual children. But at the time of reading the book, I had already read a large amount of scientific and psychological literature on the development of the brain of children and about early development in general. Therefore, I had no misconceptions; on the contrary, I was absolutely sure that the baby would easily absorb two languages.
By the way, scientists believe that a child is able to develop in several languages at once (up to seven languages at the same time!). Which, by the way, happens in some families where the mother speaks Russian, the father, an English teacher, decides to communicate with the child only in English, and the grandmother speaks to her grandchildren in her native Georgian language.
But in our case, everything turned out to be not so simple. My husband's family was divided on bilingual parenting. Grandmother Alexandra believes that bilingualism leads to children beginning to confuse languages and, as a result, not mastering any of them. This is exactly the N2 myth described by Naomi Steiner in her book. I think that if I did not have the full support of my husband in this matter, it would be difficult for me to “go against” my relatives. Fortunately, my grandmother’s opinion did not shake our decision to communicate with our son in two languages in any society.
Do you think this is the only time I encountered misunderstanding? At the age of three, we had a need to transfer the child to another kindergarten. Having developed my son using the Doman method, I still have great respect for the method of Maria Montessori. In my opinion, these methods could complement each other in the development of my child.
After making inquiries about Montessori schools in our city, I signed up for a conversation with the director of one of them. In a conversation with the director, the conversation turned to the topic of a foreign language; at this school it was English, which is introduced at the age of three. Having learned that Alexander was bilingual from birth, the director, literally choking with indignation, began to retell to me the teachings of Maria Montessori that before the age of three a foreign language should not be introduced, since the native one should be absorbed first.
My arguments about bilingualism and the fact that both languages are native to my son did not work. As you understand, admission to this school, which is headed by a person who does not support bilingualism, was no longer an option.
What about our English? Naomi Steiner says that she spoke to her children from the moment they were born in English, her husband spoke to them only in Italian, and her parents spoke to each other in French. At the same time, children who heard French speech not directed towards them began to understand individual phrases at the age of two or three years. In other words, they became passive speakers of a third language.
Here I want to define the concept of a bilingual person. Who are these bilingual children? To what extent do they have to speak languages in order to consider themselves such? I think that the answer to this question should be given by the parents themselves when they set themselves the goal of raising a bilingual child. For some families, it will be enough for children to understand and speak a second language. Others set higher goals - so that they can express themselves, read and write in a second language.
In general, it is believed that there are not many balanced bilingual people in the world, that is, those who are equally proficient in both languages. During pregnancy, I also decided that my son would develop without nannies, with the inclusion of early development in his life. Realizing that early development would give me the opportunity to teach my son to read in Russian, I immediately set the goal of balanced bilingualism.
And although it is considered normal for children in bilingual families to mix languages, my husband and I decided to switch to Spanish when communicating with each other. This was our personal decision, I am not advocating for other families to refuse to communicate in a third or fourth language, if they have one in their lives. As I wrote, scientists claim that a child’s brain is capable of recognizing and learning up to seven languages.
However, the fact remains that our son never mixed languages. And even now, when he has four languages in his arsenal, he automatically switches from one to another depending on who he is talking to. Besides, I was not interested in passively learning English, as was the case in Naomi's family. In my opinion, it is better to introduce a third language later, if it is not natural, and learn it at a good level.
How to raise a bilingual
And yet I am a living person, the mother of an only child, that is, I have no experience in raising children. There have been several moments over the years when I have worried about my son's linguistic development.
First moment
Dad works a lot and there was no full-fledged acquisition of a second language. I had an experience on this topic when Alexander was about a year old. I understood very well that my husband was our only breadwinner and his work was important. At the same time, I realized that he came home almost before putting the child to bed. Communication in Spanish was approximately 30 minutes a day.
A year and a half has passed since I read Naomi Steiner’s book, and to be honest, what was imprinted in my memory from what I read was what was important at the beginning of the journey to making a decision about bilingualism. And at that time I was already acting, making my own decisions based on the circumstances. Our friends are the owners of a private kindergarten. In order for Alexander to grow up as a balanced bilingual, we decided to send him to kindergarten for three hours a day when he turned 1 year old.
I’ll get ahead a little and say that Naomi Steiner’s book was published in Russian. After re-reading it, I noted that the author writes that parents need to be flexible in their goals and find the right solutions when life circumstances change. For parents who work a lot, Naomi advises introducing relatives to the language environment, hiring a nanny in the language of interest or a visiting native speaker who will play with the children.
Having analyzed what I re-read based on the circumstances of our family, I believe that at that moment we made the right decision. In kindergarten, Alexander not only absorbed the Spanish language, but also developed socially, which is important for a child growing up without brothers and sisters.
Second point
Late start of speaking. It would seem that having read a huge amount of relevant literature, I knew well that boys, even in monolingual families, speak later than girls, and also that for bilingual children the development of a passive vocabulary is considered normal, almost up to three years. But as I wrote, I’m just a living person.
At 9 months, Alexander said his first “mom”. I was happy and thought that my baby would continue to delight me with new words. But there was a rollback, which is also normal, and until 1 year 4 months we did not hear from mom or dad. After these two words returned, our son was in no hurry to say other words.
I began to worry and even turned to a specialist when Alexander was 1 year 7 months old. I wanted someone to help me get my son to talk. Fortunately, the specialist turned out to be an adequate person and, after checking the child, she sent me with the words:
If he doesn't speak after six months, you can come back.
At 1 year 11 months, Alexander spoke! One evening! He just started giving us phrases. These were not individual words, but short sentences. This is how he accumulated his passive vocabulary.
We have been studying all this time. My main assistant was the “Reading from Cradles” kit from the Umnitsa company, with which Alexander began reading at the age of one and a half years. As you understand, a child can read words without talking. These classes really helped me build a vocabulary base with words that I don't use much in life.
Of course, I read to my son myself; I bought books from the Ozone online store, which does a fairly good job of delivering literature abroad and has a good selection of books even for the very little ones. Do you want to see how my baby talked in one month?
At that time we were working with Album on speech development for little ones, which contains pure sayings. The mother should say short phrases, and the baby should repeat them after her. Just imagine that exactly a month has passed since Alexander began to speak!
Third point
Accent. You probably heard it while watching the video. Personally, the accent didn’t bother me in any way, and yet I couldn’t understand why it appeared. There are no Russian speakers with an accent in our environment; my pronunciation is quite clear. For myself, I decided to just continue my classes with Alexander and hone not the accent, but the correct pronunciation of sounds.
I would advise parents who are trying to do the same to teach more poetry with their child in the language that interests you. Poetry is very helpful in achieving correct pronunciation. This is how the pronunciation was at two and a half years old, that is, six months after the previous video. The accent was gone.
In the kindergarten where Alexander went, the study of English was introduced in groups with three-year-old children. I decided to help my son master another language, and most importantly, observe in our classes how he reacts to the introduction of English.
My husband and I’s fears that the child might get confused or reject the new language were completely unfounded. On the contrary, Alexander was in love with our English lessons, very soon we moved from individual words to phrases and could communicate in English while walking in the park, for example.
To learn English, I chose the Little Reader program. So, the introduction of English into Alexander’s life occurred at 2 years 11 months, since he was born in October and September, with the start of classes in kindergarten. garden, fell at this age. We have practically fulfilled the wish of Maria Montessori - introducing a foreign language at three years of age.
For me, our classes turned out to be quite useful. As you know, the brain is a machine that hides far away programs that are not used in a constant rhythm. I know this well, because I used to have a good command of German and Turkish, but without using these languages, I completely forgot them. Therefore, I was only glad to study English with my boy.
We sang songs, read books, watched short cartoons. And even in our family a wonderful tradition has appeared - on Sunday we all speak only English. Our family travels whenever possible. During the three trips that we took since Alexander learned English, we spoke only English. In other words, they were completely immersed in the language environment.
None of us planned to introduce the French language. It so happened that from the age of four, Alexander had to move to another kindergarten and, in order to avoid a constant change of institutions, we decided to choose a kindergarten at the school. In the Dominican Republic there are such institutions with the Dominican, American and French education systems.
Having walked around the Dominican ones, it became clear to us that the level of education in them is very low. Since Alexander is in love with the English language, it was logical to choose the American education system, but it turned out that its prices are not commensurate with our income.
And although our friend, the owner of the kindergarten, recommended the French Lyceum to us from the very beginning, we went to it last. Our doubts were just linguistic; we were not sure of the correctness of entering the French language when the child had almost just begun to learn English.
But the circumstances were such that we had no choice but to get acquainted with the French Lyceum. Having spent an “Open Day” at this institution, my husband and I left happy, with the firm intention that our son should study here. The education system, its level, the attitude of teachers towards children and the financial side - we were happy with everything!
We had eight months before the start of classes at the lyceum. We had absolutely no doubt that Alexander would quickly adapt socially, but we didn’t want to throw him like a kitten into a language environment. At that time, I did not speak French at all; my husband studied French at school and at university, but a lot of time passed after that.
Naomi Steiner says in her book that during unexpected family changes you need to be flexible and in no case abandon other languages that the parents practiced with the child. That's what we did - we left Russian, Spanish, English and added French.
The Little Reader program was purchased in French, and once a week Alexander attended play-based classes that lasted an hour and a half. I made a selection of very short cartoons that we watched after Little Reader class.
The introduction of French occurred when Alexander was 3 years 4 months old, that is, five months after the introduction of English. I can’t say that the child rejected the new language, but he did not get the same pleasure from learning it as he did with English.
Several times Alexander asked me a question:
Why should I learn French?
At that moment, I completely forgot about the book in which Naomi talks about similar situations and gives recommendations. Therefore, I acted according to my own intuition.
The first thing I decided was that it needed to be taught in a more interactive way. And in order to do this, I needed to know the language myself. I told Alexander that we would study it together, which set my own example. Our classes began to take place in a playful way, I prepared them in advance.
“The ability to read is the basis of literacy and knowledge of any language,” says Naomi Steiner in her book and lists 7 reasons indicating the importance of the ability to read in a second language. Personally, I am surprised by the doubts of some parents about the need to be able to read in learned languages. But if there are any, then Naomi will definitely convince you of the need for such a skill. If I had continued to read in German and Turkish, they would now be in my arsenal.
Alexander started reading in Russian when he was one and a half years old; today we have already abandoned books on Doman (I continue to do them only in cases where there is no analogue in printed materials), and so he reads printed publications with large letters.
Naomi Steiner in her book writes about the phenomenon of the transfer of acquired pronunciation, reading and writing skills from one language to another. But as I have written several times, while reading her book during pregnancy, I did not focus my attention on later plans in learning languages. Therefore, this phenomenon was completely forgotten by me at the moment when Alexander, at 1 year 10 months, read in Spanish.
My husband purchased a children's poster of the Spanish alphabet and hung it on the wall in our son's room. Sometimes he showed interest in bright letters and dad told him about them. Imagine our surprise when we realized that Alexander reads Spanish!
The phenomenon described by Naomi worked for our boy. It didn't just work in Spanish. We did not conduct special reading lessons in any language other than Russian. Alexander automatically started reading each of them after becoming familiar with the alphabet. Today, he speaks and reads four languages.
Ability to write in a second language
The ability to write in a second language is a kind of linguistic aerobatics trick after the ability to speak and read it. I realize that people have different abilities, but I am sure that there is a writer in all of us and everyone can find joy in expressing their thoughts in writing. However, the ability to write does not require the application of significant creative abilities, but simply represents the final and absolutely necessary stage of language acquisition
Excerpt from Naomi Steiner’s book “Foreign as Native”
This book in the Russian version came to me quite recently. I am grateful to fate and the publishing house MIF for the opportunity to re-read it in my native Russian language. Remember all the rules of bilingualism, and most importantly, gain confidence that we are on the right path.
In September, at the lyceum where Alexander studies, elementary reading and spelling are introduced. The book “Foreign as Native” describes several tips on how to teach a child to write in an interactive way. It’s so good that I re-read the book right now, when the next stage of language acquisition is approaching, which I did not want to go through with my son only from workbooks. Now I can take Naomi's advice and use my own personal ideas that came to me while reading the book.
Foreigner as native
Book's contents:
- Preface
- Introduction
- Step 1
Creating the Foundations of Bilingualism - Step 2
Define your goals - Step 3
Bilingual coaching - Step 4
How to make a language development plan - Step 5
We struggle with difficulties - Step 6
Reading and writing in two languages - Step 7
Bilingual child at school - Conclusion
- List of resources and additional information
Since the author lives in the USA, she accordingly indicates English as the main language throughout the book. I think that we are all adults and each of us can automatically associate this language with another, which is the main one in the country of residence. For us it’s Spanish, for others it’s German, and for the Russian reader it’s Russian. The essence remains the same - usually one of the languages is dominant, the child will learn the main language in the country even if before kindergarten the parents spoke to him only in their native language.
Therefore, if you decide to read this book, I highly recommend reading it from beginning to end. Only the chapter “A Bilingual Child at School” touches on the topic of schools in the United States, but even there there is very useful information to consider about how you will maintain a second language over the years.
If your other half (husband or wife) speaks English, then I highly recommend purchasing the book 7 steps to raising a bilingual child at Amazon. This way you and your partner will be “on the same wavelength”. Both of you will be able to clearly understand the path that lies ahead for you and your children. It will be easier for you to choose a training plan based on your family's circumstances.
And finally, I want to tell all parents that no matter where you live, you are capable of raising your children to be at least bilingual, that is, bilingual. This will definitely be useful to them in life, and as Naomi says in her book, in order to do this, it is not necessary to speak the second language itself.
However, you need to realize that you will have to maintain the language environment for many years. And only after children become independent, can choose the literature they want to read, travel to other countries or work in a given language, only then can you, as a parent, consider your mission complete.
To give you confidence in this decision, I will allow myself to show you another video where my son is 4 years old. He grows up in an environment where ONLY I speak Russian to him, yet Russian is the main language today. You can live in Russia, where everyone around you speaks only Russian, the only difference between you and me will be that we are surrounded by different languages.
Alexander is not a genius, he is just a boy who was given the opportunity by his parents to realize his potential. If you think that bilingualism will have a positive impact on your children, give them this opportunity!
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Svetlana
Bilingualism (bilingualism) is the fairly regular and natural use of two languages by the same person in everyday life. If there are more languages, there may be three or four languages. These languages neighboring in one person are not necessarily developed to the same degree: some may be known to the speaker in written and oral form and are constantly actively used, another - only in everyday oral form, a third - only understandable, but not active. Multilingualism develops in children if the family lives in a foreign language environment or the parents speak different languages. Let's talk about the different sides of mixed marriages associated with raising children in two languages and two cultures at the same time.
Who marries foreigners?
Most people want to marry “even for a chicken, but on their own street,” so that they do not have to sacrifice their habits and life values. However, about 10% of people dream of neglecting the current conditions and leaving their familiar environment. An even smaller number are ready by any means to break out of the shackles of what seems to them to be a stagnant routine, to break ties and go wherever they can, just to get away from here, and are looking for any opportunity to do this. They want to change the course of their family's history. A lot of time can pass from idea to implementation, and often potential spouses of foreigners never find their “soul mate.”
According to the testimony of Russian wives of foreigners, some of them, for various reasons, always dreamed of getting married abroad and deliberately looked for a foreign husband. Others looked in horror at friends dating foreigners until they faced their own fate. Still others could not find a satisfying partner in their usual environment and sought something exotic. The fourth studied or worked together with foreigners and did not distinguish them based on their nationality among friends, and then the feeling of sympathy grew into love. Finally, the fifth, having seen enough of how mixed families were falling apart, decided on a dare to “wind up” the foreigner and make their marriage successful and thereby prove that “ours are the best.” As always, the example of others is important: if someone has already had a mixed marriage, it becomes easier for another to follow in his footsteps and take into account the accumulated experience. It is not without reason that in families formed as a result of a mixed marriage, children will most likely also enter into a mixed marriage. Geographic mobility, a thirst for adventure, and a love for the nontrivial are partly inherited character traits.
The situation when a Russian woman marries a foreigner is much more common than the opposite. In Soviet times, the proportion was more equal: men were also active in looking for foreign partners. It is no secret that many expressed their protest against Soviet power in this way. But so far I have never encountered a case where any of those who concluded an “inter-marriage” admitted that they wanted to provide their future children with a parent who would guarantee them a bilingual upbringing. At the same time, it is precisely this problem - raising children in a situation of two or more languages and a corresponding number of cultures - along with the relationship between spouses, that is a stumbling block in mixed marriages.
Foreigners come to Russia involuntarily (as refugees or labor migrants), to study, for work or as tourists. A special category is those who come here with a special purpose - to find a life partner. Depending on which side our country turns to its guests, their attitude towards the state and citizens is also built. Unconditional, reckless love is a relatively rare phenomenon in our time. Russians themselves have begun to travel abroad more often, they know the characteristics of many national cultures first-hand, and enjoy discussing the comparative merits of overseas culinary achievements, natural beauties and historical monuments. And the psychology of foreigners and their mentality is no longer a sealed book. The world has become smaller, and there are more places where Russian-speaking people live.
Where to live with a foreigner?
It is impossible to ignore the fact that foreigners with whom marriages are concluded are not in an equal position. On the one hand, there is, so to speak, historically established public opinion, the prestige of a particular race in the opinion of the Russian people, the attitude of ordinary people towards different “nations”. There is a well-known love for the French, awe of the British, a sense of superiority of the “big brother” in relation to many others, as well as distrust of all foreigners. On the other hand, there is Russia's official policy towards different countries, the course of which depends on external and internal economic, social, religious and other considerations. Each person marrying a foreigner must decide whether he will take into account public and official opinion, neglect them, or seek compromises. In any case, the day will come when all the nuances will have to be explained to relatives, neighbors, and children. We will have to somehow explain why these particular people are the child’s mother and father, why his family is not like others, that it is no worse and no better. We will have to use the example of our own life to teach others tolerance and political correctness.
Historically, Russian remains the language of interethnic communication with citizens of the former USSR, regardless of what country or republic they are from. But attitudes towards preserving national languages have changed. If previously mixed marriages usually switched to Russian, now Russian-speaking partners are increasingly asking to be taught their national languages. Becoming multilingual has become fashionable and prestigious. Probably, both economic benefit and calculation for the future play a role here: if you have to live in another country, the language will come in handy.
Many people believe that in Russia marriage with a foreigner from far abroad is too unusual, so it is better to leave here to a place where such options are more tolerant. Such places of residence are usually not Russia or the country where the foreigner is from, but places where immigration and simply mixed families are more common: Australia, Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, the USA. “And the antelope went to live with the bison with the giraffe...”, as Vysotsky sang.
In the modern world, marriage with a foreigner often becomes more profitable if the resulting family lives in Russia. Here you can get a higher salary both in absolute and relative terms (compared to the cost of living). The social circle is often more intellectual and interesting than in the foreigner’s homeland. They are attracted by affordable and high-quality opportunities to satisfy cultural needs (theatres, museums, exhibitions, social events). It's cheaper to hire a servant. Finally, Russia is characterized by warm interpersonal relationships, which are so important for raising children in the early years and have a beneficial effect on their later life.
Living in Russia in most mixed families is not considered as the only option (except in cases where the foreign spouse is a refugee and cannot return to his homeland, or cannot travel to other countries for some other reason). Typically, a family spends part of the year in Russia, part abroad, and does not exclude the possibility that after some time circumstances may change, so that another country becomes their permanent place of residence.
As is well known, the dangers that await foreigners in Russia are partly overlapping with the usual ones (theft, bureaucracy, corruption), and partly unique. This is everyday racism, disregard for other people's values, fawning in the hope of being invited to visit abroad and receive first-class service, robbery (they charge exorbitant prices compared to native residents). A foreigner is still, as in Russian classical literature, treated at best as a motley strange bird, babbling something in a foreign language, or a dumb fish with cold blood, at worst - as a grimacing monkey or subordinate to a person - according to definition - a dog, if we take comparisons from the animal world. A stranger, an incomprehensible person, behaving differently from everyone around him, of course, causes fear, and the best case of defense, we are taught, is an attack. At least, only those who fully master the Russian language and accept the customs of the country can be considered one of their own.
Prejudices and stereotypes.
Old features of attitudes towards foreigners include exaggeration of their merits: they say they don’t drink, love their family, shower loved ones with expensive gifts - in relation to residents of the East, they don’t lie, work hard, are rich - in relation to residents of the West. Most Russian men and women bring into marriage with foreigners the stereotypes that exist in Russian society regarding the role and place of husband and wife in the family and home, as well as firmly established principles of raising children. Boys may be told that they always have to fight back, that they are future soldiers, that men don’t cry, that sewing is not a man’s job. Girls are told that they must learn to cook, clean, do laundry, always take care of themselves, and obey their husbands. In Western European countries, many differences between men's and women's responsibilities at home have been erased; spouses devote equally much time to work and household chores. Requirements for equal representation of men and women in leadership positions force equality in children's toys: dolls, cars, knitting, construction sets - all these are activities for both boys and girls. In Muslim countries, on the contrary, the difference in behavior between men and women is even more emphasized. There, girls and boys should not touch each other unless they are related, and brothers are responsible for their sisters. Fasts are observed differently, and holidays and weekends are celebrated in their own way. Old people are considered wise, grandmothers dominate in raising children. In Europe, grandparents do not always have their share in upbringing, and youth is highly valued. There they believe not in traditional healers, but in doctors, not in folk remedies, but in patent medicines. Doctors usually treat not the patient, but the disease, and act according to a scheme. In Russia, they try not to let children drink milk and juice straight from the refrigerator, believing that they may cause a sore throat. You are not allowed to walk on the floor barefoot. You can't draw while lying down. In a museum you cannot sit on the ground in front of a painting and look at it. In eastern countries there are even more superstitions and spells that should be cast over a child. Children are accustomed to other foods.
It is often possible to combine opposing views if both spouses are ready for patience, compromise, and have experience communicating with people who differ from them in their worldview. Things don't always work out well; According to statistics, mixed marriages break up more often. As one divorced woman who has been married in three countries said, “the dream of marrying a foreigner remains a dream.” It is no secret that often those who have an adventurous character or who do not have good relationships in their homeland look for a spouse abroad, and for such people the problem of coexistence becomes more acute. The incompatibility of the temperaments of parents in an intercultural marriage may be the cause of contradictions that affect the emotional balance of children.
Examples of multilingual families.
A Tatar woman from a Bashkir village, who in childhood spoke only Tatar, and from the age of seven - when she started school - switched to Russian, studied in St. Petersburg and married a Cuban, who, after graduating from university, left as a refugee for Sweden. The born girl heard her Tatar grandmother, her mother’s Russian and her father’s Spanish. Then, at the age of three, she went to kindergarten and six months later she spoke Swedish, to the delight of her grandmother: “Everything is fine, she has discovered the Swedish language.”
A Somali woman married a Russified Kazakh. The common language was Russian. Soon after the birth of their son, the family moved to New Zealand at the invitation of relatives who had settled there as refugees. The child went to a Somali kindergarten; Dad speaks Russian to him, mom speaks Somali.
An American woman who came to Russia to work married a Chechen. They speak Russian to each other, but Ellie is learning Chechen and has converted to Islam. Her husband demands that she speak English to her daughter.
The Azerbaijani family lives in Moscow, actively communicating within the Azerbaijani community, but rarely visiting Baku. One of the daughters married a Georgian, and Russian became their common language. The children, a girl and a boy, went to a Russian kindergarten. It is not yet clear what religion the children belong to, and resolving this issue is not relevant. The Azerbaijani language and the Azerbaijani environment dominate in education.
A young German mathematician came to the Siberian city of N., because... Only in this city do specialists work who are interested in its narrow scientific problems. He first learned about this from the Internet, and then specifically looked for some conference where he could meet people from the academic institute he needed in order to receive an individual invitation. Having achieved this, I arrived with a huge amount of warm clothes in June; the summer was especially warm. Most of the researchers were at their dachas - it was time for vacation. There was no new scientific literature in the library. Few people could speak English; only members of the older generation could speak German. The laboratory assistant took pity on the unlucky scientist, tried to explain to him the principles of life in Russia, and introduced him to her family and friends. Gradually adapting, Wolfgang began to get a taste for this spicy life and learn Russian. He left because his scholarship ran out, and then suddenly returned again, married his Russian language teacher, Svetlana, from whom he took private lessons in exchange for German lessons. This is how they developed a habit: one day Sveta speaks Russian, and Wolfgang speaks German, and the next day it’s the other way around. From her first marriage, Svetlana has a son, Timofey, who was then two years old and whom she did not immediately take into her new family. The wedding took place in Germany, and twin daughters Maria and Anna were born there. At first, both spoke in German: the young family lived not far from their loving grandparents, who were retired and were waiting for grandchildren. My husband's parents believed that it was difficult for children to learn two languages, and insisted that everyone speak only German. During this time, Svetlana learned German tolerably well and began working as a translator on the Internet. On a scholarship from the German Scientific Society, Wolfgang went to work in America for two years; The girls went to an English-speaking kindergarten and began to speak English. Timofey had a hard time in Germany; he did not fully master German. He liked it better in the USA; English has improved significantly. Then Wolfgang again got the opportunity to work in Siberia, heading the department of joint research between Russia and Germany. For three years now they have been living in N. again, the children go to a Russian kindergarten where English is taught as a foreign language (they are gradually losing this language, although the pronunciation is still very good); Timofey in an English special school. They speak Russian with Russian relatives and friends, and mom and dad try to maintain German at home and always address their children in this language. They go to Germany on vacation (twice a year, at Christmas and in July). They plan to move to Germany next year, but then Wolfgang plans to find work in China and give his children the opportunity to learn Chinese. In the next summer, parents want to bring their children to Russian grandparents for a month and to German ones for a month. Thanks to their strong character, parents have so far managed to consistently implement their principles. Wolfgang believes that a modern successful leader must know several languages, including English, Russian and Chinese.
A Ukrainian woman married an Indian man, with whom she studied at the Technical University in Voronezh. My husband got a job at Nokia, they lived in Finland for a year, then in France for five years, and now they have been living in Mexico for two years. The first child was born in Russia; his grandparents spoke only Russian to him until he was five years old, his mother and father mostly studied and could only see the baby from time to time; Dad spoke to him in Hindi, mom in English. The second child was born a year before leaving Russia, when it became clear that the move was coming. The third is in France. Nobody specifically deals with language issues in the family. Mom now consistently speaks Russian to the children, and dad speaks English. In France, children have mastered French, and are now beginning to learn Spanish. The home languages remain Russian and English. In the summer, the family traveled to India, where the children spoke a little English, but learned only a few words from Hindi. The children visited Ukraine only twice; the children understood, but did not begin to speak Ukrainian.
A Korean woman became the wife of a Russian Greek. The father speaks Russian to the children, the mother speaks Korean. The family is planning to move to Greece, where Greek will probably dominate.
A Serbian woman came as a refugee to Yekaterinburg and married a Russian. The husband’s family insisted that everyone speak Russian: “You have no return home, so get used to living like us.” The grandparents raised their grandson, and the mother secretly tried to speak Serbian. The father did not understand this and scolded his wife. The woman secretly left for America and took her son with her. Now my father doesn't know where he is. In America, the child found himself in a Russian-speaking environment, since the Orthodox community helped them, so the mother was forced to switch to Russian. English became the dominant language. The child speaks English with friends and answers his mother in monosyllables in Russian.
A Vietnamese family has been living in Chelyabinsk for a long time in a hostel where Vietnamese families predominate. Parents work in the market. My son started kindergarten at two and a half years old. At first he refused to eat, cried, and did not play with anyone. Then I began to try some dishes and began to understand certain words. Six months later he began chatting in Russian, and two years later he became a leader in games. The parents still spoke Russian poorly, and the child became their translator (which is generally prohibited by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, since children should not be responsible for the affairs of adults, transmit and receive information not intended for them). At school, at first he had difficulty learning to read Russian, but then he again showed remarkable abilities, becoming an excellent student and leader of the class. Many people offended him, but his friends often defended him from those who made inappropriate jokes about “all Asians.” The young man became friends with a Russian family and often spent time there, and recently proposed to his Russian girlfriend. Discussing the future of the children, they came to the conclusion that they would live in Russia, but would try to sometimes travel to Vietnam.
Features of the mutual influence of languages.
The development of each of two or more languages in a multilingual (multilingual person) seems to follow the same scenario as one language, but may not coincide in time. First one language takes the lead, then another, depending on what environment is dominant, what the child is interested in now, who he is communicating with. Structures and words formed in one language are partly transferred from one language to another, partly added to each other, and partly displace each other.
If languages are strictly divided by areas of application (for example, each parent acts on the principle of “one person - one language”, speaking only their own language, or they speak one language at home and another in the outside world), then languages as As a rule, they do not mix. The child always knows who to address in what language. However, if parents use several languages in communication, and also if there is not one child in the family, but several, the situation becomes more complicated. Not everyone already knows who and how to turn to; more mixed statements appear, in which words and structures of both languages are present. The first child usually learns both languages better in childhood, the second is worse, and the third is even worse. However, in the future it often turns out that school and university education, practice and work increase the level of proficiency in the language that was weaker.
It is not true that a child selects only easier-sounding words from each language. He does not know a word in one of the languages when it was not pronounced in this language, when there is no complete correspondence in meaning between the words of two languages, when the word that dominates was clearly and distinctly pronounced (later in age - appeared in writing) against the background of the corresponding object or phenomenon. Words that sound more interesting and have some associations acquire stronger connections in the speaker’s mind.
Language is very closely related to lifestyle and culture. If the culture of a second language is not represented in all its diversity, there are no realities to which the corresponding names would refer, then there is no reason to study them. For example, to get acquainted with national cuisine, you need to cook and taste these dishes. To learn the names of fishing equipment, you need to go fishing in the appropriate place and catch the fish that are found there, in the way that is customary in these places. Although national songs and dances are more accessible for transportation to a different environment, but against the backdrop of a different nature, in other climatic conditions they still sound and look not convincing enough.
At a later age, some people never mix languages, while for others, the language is subject to all sorts of influences, every now and then some inclusions penetrate into it, constructions transferred from another language appear. Some people only remember one name for each thing and have difficulty thinking of how to say something in a second language. Sometimes such features are associated with the fact that children were raised in bilingual families, where parents mixed languages. There is an assumption that extreme cases of such defective semilingualism are associated with disturbances in the development of speech function, either at the level of perception or at the level of speech production.
In the case of closely related languages (for example, Russian and other Slavic), scientists - specialists in teaching these subjects say that they can and should be introduced simultaneously, explaining which language a particular word belongs to. A child with whom the father speaks Ukrainian and the mother speaks Russian will distinguish between both languages; if they speak Surzhik, he will master Surzhik.
How to help your child learn languages?
It is best to always, regardless of the circumstances, speak your native language in the presence of anyone. Explain to guests that this is the rule of your house. Explain to the child that he is one language richer than the others. Explain to your spouse that nothing is being hidden from him/her, that if he/she wants to participate in communication, he/she can learn another language. Explain to grandparents that they will always be family and friends to the child, but it also depends on them how well the child masters the language. Explain to kindergarten teachers and school teachers what bilingualism is, that a person is able to learn several languages from childhood, that this is a normal phenomenon for more than half of humanity, that this does not make a person inferior, but, on the contrary, can give him an impetus to his development.
Parents should talk to their child a lot, in a variety of ways, with rich intonation, gradually expanding their vocabulary and complicating their speech. You need to speak by repeating the same constructions in different situations, varying their filling with words. The same word should be used in different contexts, in different combinations. You should always describe in words what is happening, conveying in speech the maximum number of details that are interesting to the child, emphasizing them in your voice. As the child develops, you should touch on new topics, explain unfamiliar words, play word formation (for example, come up with suffixes to roots, thereby “increasing” or “decreasing” the subject, select verbs starting with the same letter, paraphrase sentences that describe the same letter). the same picture, compete to see who can come up with more questions for the same character, shorten and expand descriptions, etc.).
It is important that the child has communication partners - peers, older, younger, male and female, who would provide the opportunity to hear different versions of the language, in which different kinds of words would be heard, different manners of pronunciation, living memories. Usually, the mother is more involved with the children than the father; accordingly, her language is more developed, but the father can also make his language meaningful for the child.
Auxiliary means - videos, books, performances, educational materials. They should be at hand, and the more, the better. Children sometimes think it is important to watch a certain movie or read a certain book many times. However, you should not overload your child with the same type of exercises, which do not give anything new to either the heart or the mind. You should show the same movie from time to time, read the same book, perform similar tasks in each of the languages you study; fortunately, in a globalizing world, all this can be found on the market. Interesting posters with words and poems can hang on the walls.
If a child has a question about comparing linguistic phenomena with each other, one should try to give an answer. If a child makes a remark in a language other than the one in which the parent addressed him or usually addresses him, he should repeat it in his own language, and then answer it in the same language. You should not take the position of being offended, worried that the child does not want to communicate in Pushkin’s language. It is more important to maintain warm, friendly, good relationships.
Questions that most often arise when raising bilingualism.
Does an adult whose native language is not native have the right to speak it with a child? Yes, if he thinks that it is important for some reason, for example, there is not a single other person nearby who would speak this language to the child. Thus, one bilingual woman (mother’s language is Finnish, father’s language is Russian) married a Russian. While the family lived in Russia, she spoke to the child in Finnish, he understood everything, but answered in Russian. When she moved to Finland after the divorce, she began speaking to her son in Russian, and after a while he was already answering her in Finnish. Then she got married and moved to Brazil, where Portuguese gradually became the dominant language, although her mother tried to support other languages. Now my son is studying in the USA, understands Finnish, and is friends with Portuguese- and English-speaking peers; The activation of the Russian language was facilitated by an affair with a Russian-speaking immigrant.
How to correct mistakes in children's speech? During the oral period of speech development - before school - the incorrect language should be reformulated unobtrusively, naturally, correcting the mistakes made. One family practices constantly repeating after the mother all the phrases she utters, but, obviously, this is too much and definitely an unnecessary mental load. At school age, you should focus on the written basis, explain how Russian words are structured: what types of prefixes, roots, suffixes, endings exist, when they are connected to each other, what changes occur, how pronunciation changes due to stress transfer. Of course, you should read as much as possible in both languages.
Is it possible to immediately teach reading and writing in two languages? It is better that these processes are spaced out over time, so that the home or mother language first acquires writing. This makes it easier for both adults and children. Once mastered, the skill of reading is transferred to other languages, even if the writing is completely different. Some letters are bound to get confused, but this also happens in adults who regularly use multiple writing systems. Experts say that bilingual children begin to read in a second language faster than monolingual children and make fewer spelling errors, because their self-control system is more developed and is based on the morphonetics of another language.
When and to which kindergarten is it better to send? In the usual case, it is recommended to send the child to the kindergarten closest to home in order to reduce the hassle of travel by transport. It is better to send a bilingual child to a kindergarten where each of his languages will be supported and developed, and then to a bilingual school. It is better to send a weak child, whose parents cannot pay enough attention to him, to kindergarten, where his main, dominant language will be supported, and then to school, where the other of the pair of languages will become the main one. A linguistically strong child can be sent to kindergarten and school, where the language will be different from that of the family, and in addition, other languages will be taught.
How much do you need to practice the language to maintain it? Fifteen minutes a day is enough. But this should be interesting, meaningful communication, some new words and expressions, reading with discussion, a cartoon with comments, role-playing game, looking at pictures or photographs with live sound recording of the events depicted in them, making crafts, drawing and modeling with an entertaining story. about what is happening. In compiling this list, I would like to emphasize that it is various types of activities and communication that enrich and improve speech.
Pitfalls and difficulties.
When observing the development of a bilingual child, one should be wary, in general, of only one thing: that none of the languages will be developed at a sufficient level. “Monitoring” should be carried out in relation to each of the interacting languages, but it is necessary to be concerned only when the child is not able to express himself, cannot find contact with peers, is not interested in what is happening, does not want to “develop”, learn new things, read, play, etc. in one of the languages. Bilingualism is not an obstacle to development; on the contrary, it makes the child more competent, but if he has mental problems, they will manifest themselves quite clearly in his speech.
In the development of a bilingual child, experts note, both languages may begin to develop later than in a monolingual child; Each language may have a slightly smaller vocabulary and grammatical reserve, but together they will cover the potential of a monolingual child. Multilingualism is not a separate sport, but an all-around event where only comprehensively developed individuals win.
The cognitive function of speech - knowledge of the environment - forces parents to open the world to the child through their native language, to join the system of values, typical ways of formulating their thoughts, names the environment, separating the conscious from the mass of what is visible and audible. If this function does not work, then something is being done incorrectly. The second language, even if it is acquired simultaneously with the first, still depends on it and builds on it.
Frustrated expectations and unexpected joys.
For a good life, a child needs to have beloved adults and beloved friends. He is ready to accept the rules of communication as the rules of the game, culture as a system of symbols associated with a certain house: at one grandmother’s (Arab) we wear a headscarf, we dress in long clothes; With another grandmother (Jewish) we keep the Sabbath. If a child is demanded that he always and everywhere behave only this way and not otherwise, he will feel like a liar, a bad person, will begin to be afraid of relatives or hate one of his halves.
Not all children become fully bilingual, especially if there are many children in the family. But through the early introduction of multilingualism, the basis for good mastery of other languages will be given to everyone. Typically, children who have been immersed in the elements of different languages since childhood do better in both mathematics and foreign languages.
Many parents perceive the presence of a different, incomprehensible language as an insult and demand that they either speak clearly or have everything translated. They think that it is confusing for a child to be addressed in one language or another. They believe that in preschool childhood only one language should be present, and the second can be introduced only after the first has been mastered. Indeed, sometimes early bilingual education does not give completely convincing results, but subsequent development puts everything in its place. Thus, children who at the age of five began to speak with their parents in the language of the majority of the environment or at the age of 12 refused to continue classes with a second language teacher then regretted it and subsequently sought to restore the lost language. The crisis of sixteen years - an identity crisis - forces you to take a new, more positive look at your identity and emphasize your individuality.
Children have the ability to look at some things more soberly than their parents. Parents may have experienced the humiliation and torment associated with their language and nationality, but their children did not have the opportunity to feel this. They think that all people are equal, that all languages are additional advantages of each individual who has spent time and effort to master them. They walk through life with pride and are not ashamed of their mixed heritage. They better understand how quickly the modern world is changing, what is ahead of them and how to prepare for it.
Benefits and advantages.
Many parents of bilingual children praise themselves, saying that language is the only thing they could, wanted and passed on to their children. A second language is always a working tool, potential, a way to earn money and lead a more interesting lifestyle. A language learned from childhood is acquired according to the same patterns as one’s native language, and “sits” just as deeply in a person. It is often more perfect than artificially learned.
The ability to behave adequately in different cultures, not to point a finger or giggle, to try to understand what they tell you and what they show you, is the most important property of a modern person. Not everyone can be like a fish in water in any environment, but bilinguals develop the ability to quickly navigate a situation and find non-trivial solutions. They have a communicatively different quality of communication and attitude towards the environment.
People who speak two languages are called bilinguals, more than two - multilinguals, more than six - polyglots.
According to the age at which the acquisition of a second language occurs, they are distinguished:
- early bilingualism;
- late bilingualism.
Also distinguished:
- receptive(perceptive or “innate” bilingualism), associated with the interpenetration of cultures;
- reproductive(reproducing) - a historical form of bilingualism associated with colonial expansion, conquest and annexation of territories.
- productive(producing, “acquired”) - language education.
1. Two or more citizenships - multiple citizenship (a situation when a person acquires a second citizenship without the knowledge or permission of the state of which he was originally a citizen) - for example, a Russian citizen acquires British citizenship without formalizing a renunciation of Russian citizenship. 2. Dual citizenship (a situation where a person acquires a second citizenship in accordance with a special agreement on resolving issues of dual citizenship (Russia had such international treaties - agreements only with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan).
Great Britain is a democratic and democratic country. It is customary here to resolve complex issues with authorities in a legal manner. On this government resource you can find your MP - a member of the House of Commons of Parliament and contact him with a statement or request, including on the actions or inactions of the Home Office
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