Multilingualism: The ‘How To’ of Introducing Another Language

What can I expect when my child is learning a new language?  

Silent period – This is a period of time where the child will gain skills in understanding the new language, but may not be using, or expressing themselves in, the new language. This period may  last between 3-6 months. 

Language Loss – As a child begins to use the home language less and less, and the skills in that language may regress. A dominant language will emerge and it is usually the langue that a child goes to school in. 

Language Transfer – A process in which the structure (structure of words, sentence structure, vocabulary) of the home language is carried over into the new language.  

Code-mixing – this is switching between languages in a sentence or conversation. This is not of concern and is a normal part of learning more than one language.  

The characteristics listed above are normal part of developing skills in a new language and nothing to be concerned about. If you do have questions about your child’s language development, or if someone has advised you to only speak one language to your child, speak to a speech-language therapist. 

What if my child is neurodivergent and/or has additional learning needs? Can I still teach them another language? 

YES. Neurodivergent children can learn another language. For all children, having another language available to them will serve as a tool in their ‘tool box’ for thinking and learning. 

How do I know if my child’s language difficulty is a language delay or merely a language difference? 

A language delay is when a child’s language skills are developing in the expected sequence or order, but in behind that of children their own age.  A language difference is when a child may be exhibiting one of the typical processes for multilingual children as described above (such as code-mixing). All these characteristics are typical in the language acquisition process. 

If a language difficulty in BOTH languages is present, a disorder is suspected.  

For multilingual children without learning difficulties, these characteristics will appear ONLY in one language and not in both languages. 

My husband and I speak both English and German. Should I speak only English to my child, and my husband speak only German to our child? 

Not necessarily, you should speak to your child in the language that you are the most fluent in. If you are fluent If you can speak both languages well, there is no need to follow the ‘one person, one language’ approach. 

How should I teach my child another language? 

Use routines to start speaking to your child in another language, routines are great because they use the same words, usually in the same order and often multiple times a day. A routine can be a short as a song or as long an activity of daily living such as meal times or getting dressed. 

Make sure the routine is something that your child enjoys doing and is not a rushed or stressed time of the day e.g. rushing to get out the door to get to school. 

Meaningful learning will occur within meaningful contexts – so, don’t rely on flashcards when teaching new words, rather give your child lots of opportunities to hear different words and sentences in the new language, in real-life situations. 

Model the correct word or sentence structure for your child without ‘correcting’ them. Rather than saying “no, say it like this”, if you know what your child wanted to say, say the word or sentence back to them without expecting them to copy you and move on with your activity. This shows your child that you understood them and let’s them hear the correct way to say the word or phrase without shooting down their attempt.  

Language Abilities and Academic Success 

Two types of language skills are: 

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Linguistic Proficiency (CALP). 

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) : 

This is the social and conversational language used in everyday conversation; it is embedded in context. . Think of this as ‘social language’. 

It may take 2-3 years to develop . 

Often without instruction 

It often develops without needing to teach it explicitly. 

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) 

This is the language used in the classroom by students to communicate how they understand concepts and academic content. Think of this as ‘academic language’. 

It may take 5-7 years or more to develop this skill . 

As students progress in school, they are required to use language in a way that is cognitively challenging and in situations that differ from everyday conversations.  

This is why a child may be able to use a language well with their friends on the playground, or when telling their teacher about their weekend; but have difficulties understanding the concepts taught in math, or answering the questions on the reading passage. 

Key take aways: 

Switching between languages is normal and not a sign of a difficulty, in fact, this is why it is so useful to know more than one language – if you can’t find the word you want to use in one language, you can use the word form your second language.  

Children with a developmental language disorder will show difficulties across all of the languages that they speak, not just one.  

Children with developmental delays, intellectual disabilities or social communication differences can develop skills in another language and this will not cause further delays or difficulties.  

Using a new language socially will develop before being able to use the new language for learning.