Rhett and I were raised in the U.S. – a country founded on the squashing of other cultures. Neither one of us speaks any other language fluently, and we wish we were not the majority in this fact. Alas, a resolution passed by the U.S. Senate in 2005 admitted that only 9.3% of Americans speak both English and another language fluently. That is pretty sad, especially considering that 52.7% of Europeans speak both their own country’s language and another. Usually, surprise-surprise, that second language is English. It’s embarrassing that so many other countries effectively teach multiple languages to their children, and that nothing other than sheer arrogance seems to explain our lack of interest in raising multi-lingual children in the U.S.
From my travels in Japan and Western Europe, I have learned that most Europeans and Asians are taught to speak English. Whether they speak fluently or just functionally, they clearly recognize the importance of interacting with the world outside of their own nation’s borders. What about us? Alas, I’m ashamed to admit that I can’t even speak easily with many of the people who live inside the U.S. borders. The reason is that while average Asians and Europeans are taught English in schools, many people who come to the United States are here because in their native countries, there were no opportunites for education, no jobs, no clean water, or no medical care. Many immigrants were victimized or endangered before they came to the United States, and many more were victimized or endangered en route to this country. These are the people with whom I, as a social worker, need to be able to work. But they don’t speak English, and I don’t speak any language that these immigrants likely speak. I have colleagues at Carolina Outreach with whom I would be better able to communicate if I spoke Spanish; I have numerous clients with whom I work but for whom I cannot advocate effectively or provide adequate therapeutic services because I do not speak Spanish. To be fully competent in the social work profession, I would say it is nearly essential to have a better-than-conversational level of Spanish proficiency.
It isn’t just social workers, either. Business people need to be multi-lingual as well. According to Financial Executive International, “Nearly 85 percent of recruiters in Europe, 88 percent of recruiters in Asia and 95 percent of recruiters in Latin America either "strongly agreed" or "somewhat agreed" that being at least bilingual is critical to succeed in today's business environment. Recruiters everywhere agreed that in 10 years, it will be "more important than today" for executives to be at least bilingual (Europe, 74 percent; Asia, 72 percent; Latin America, 79 percent; North America, 66 percent). They also reported there is a "significant competitive advantage" for executives who are multilingual (speak more than two languages fluently)--Europe, 66 percent; Asia, 52 percent; Latin America, 79 percent; North America, 49 percent.” According to that same article, only 34% of recruiters in North America think that it’s even “somewhat” important to speak more languages than English. I think that’s tragic. Where do we get off thinking that everyone who wants to play must come to our table to do it? Why do we think that it’s “our way or the highway.” The fact that this is empircally true is not an excuse. It’s only empirically true because we’re stubborn and we’ve been bullying other countries with our wealth and military. That’s not a character I want to assume for myself as an American, and I really don’t want to do that to my son. I don’t want to do that to the world as I raise my son.
Kids can learn languages more easily during early childhood, and in fact, can even learn several languages at a time. The exact age that this changes is in question, but most people think it’s ideal to teach additional languages before 5, and agree that until about age 7, kids will absorb whatever they hear, in whatever language. So why so many monolingual kids? Easy. Monolingual parents. Ahh! I don’t want to limit my son’s ability to communicate with people of diverse backgrounds because of my own ignorance.
So, I’ve been researching the issue. Here’s what I’m trying in order to do the best that I can in laying the foundation for Daniel to be able to speak more than one language, and to grow up with a strong understanding of the importance of doing our best to facilitate communication with diverse people.
According to William Staso, Ph.D., it is possible to raise multi-lingual children in the United States, even if one is not one’s self multi-lingual. Here’s what he says: "First, obtain a tape recording of a male and a female speaking the language. The recordings should ideally last about an hour to assure all the language sounds and patterns are being used. Let your baby hear this recording at least once a week over the first 6 months. At or around 6 months you will then need to have a fluent speaker of that language begin to interact verbally with your baby for a couple of hours a week. As your child gets older, he/she will need someone fluent in the second language to speak with in order to develop language capability. You might consider having your child spend a few hours a week at a preschool setting in which that second language is used."
I’ve e-mailed the author with some questions. Specifically, how many languages can we do this with? We think we have access to Spanish, French, and Italian speakers who could interact with Daniel at least once a week. Staso says that exposing kids to multiple languages will usually delay their acquisition of speech, but as long as that doesn’t matter to Daniel, that's okay with us. Also, according to Staso, the EEG's of infants being exposed to auditory stimuli are identical whether the infants are awake or asleep. He cautions against having TV or radio on at a volume baby can hear, unless we want the baby to take in that information. So, if we play the recordings for Daniel while he is sleeping, will he benefit? When is the best time to play them? Also, how loud should we play the recordings? I asked this because in other reading I have come across several sources that state that male infants hear as much as 80% less well than female infants, and that this is likely to be the reason that so many male infants talk much later than most female infants.
All my questions asked and contemplation admitted, I’ll now disclose that I’m actually pretty skeptical about whether this can really work. Can only a few hours of exposure per week really influence a kid that much? But the answer to this question doesn’t matter for a couple of reasons.
1) We aren’t going to use recordings at any time to substitute for our own loving, engaged interaction;
2) Even if he doesn’t learn any actual language from the exposure, hopefully he’ll thoroughly soak in the diversity of sounds that exist outside of English, and will be more comfortable and enthusiastic when he begins his formal study of non-native languages in the future; and
3) We don’t have any other way of giving him a shot at learning other languages at this stage of his life. How sad is that?
POSTED BY EMILIE BROWN AT 6:11 PM
3 COMMENTS:
Kerry said...
Don't feel bad - from what I hear from Turks whose kids were raised here, it's hard even one one or both parents do speak another language. Imagine your kids not being able to speak to their grandparents! It's tough to make them want to learn when all their friends speak only English.
MAY 21, 2008 11:47 AM
Robin Lettuce Stack said...
Come to Guatemala and learn Spanish! Sorry, shameless pitch.
MAY 23, 2008 6:13 PM
Em said...
William Staso's e-mail response to my questions re: teaching Daniel multiple languages: http://randomparentingideas.blogspot.com/2008/05/regarding-helping-your-son-learn.html
MAY 24, 2008 1:18 PM
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