Myth busters of bilingualism
More than 60% or the world population speaks more than one language. However, too often parents who speak languages other than English choose to stop speaking their home language to their children because they think it will be better for them. Sometimes this stems from the parents' experiences, especially if they arrived in the U.S. speaking little or no English. They naturally want to give their children what they didn't have -English- not knowing that by speaking their home language they can actually improve their children's chances of academic success in school without hampering their English in any way. What’s more, parents often are convinced that they shouldn’t speak their home language by teachers, educators, speech language pathologists, and even healthcare professionals, whose training revolved around monolingual (English-speaking) children.
See below to learn the truth and embrace bilingualism!
Myths and facts about bilingualism Heading link
| MYTH | FACT |
|---|---|
| Speaking Spanish at home will slow down my children's learning of English and/or result in less complete learning of English | Bilingual language acquisition proceeds along the same path as monolingual acquisition. Copious research shows that there are many cognitive and social benefits to being bilingual. The more Spanish the child is exposed to, the better! |
| The more English used at school, the more English my child will learn. | Research around the U.S. shows that children score higher in English and their academic subjects when they study half of the day in Spanish. |
| Speaking Spanish at home will leave my children with an accent in their English. | Children raised bilingually in the U.S. do not have any 'foreign' accent in their English. They acquire English just as well as their peers. |
| Raising children bilingually can cause a speech impairment. | Speech delays are neurophysiological. If a bilingual child has a speech impairment, they would also have had it if they were monolingual. |
| If we switch to English at home, we will increase our children's English learning. | Their English learning will not be faster or better. Actually, the more Spanish used at home, the stronger levels of bilingualism the children will develop. |