Who wouldn't want their child to speak two or even three languages by the time they're a few years old? We certainly do. Now I'll share some personal and shared thoughts about language learning.
First of all, you need to know that people learn their native language differently than they do a foreign language later on. The brain uses different functions in early childhood to acquire language. This is why a child can learn a language flawlessly up to a certain age, while an adult does so with great difficulty, and often does not succeed completely. This is also why, for example, someone speaks the local language with an accent even after 20-30 years of living abroad. The French, for example, had an actress of Romanian origin who spoke French with an accent for the rest of her life, which did not prevent her from performing French classics on the French stage. They simply forgave her for this. Musical hearing is usually also important in pronunciation. Those who have a good ear will usually have better pronunciation. But among those who have acquired a foreign language as adults, it is really rare to find someone who speaks without an accent.
Children, on the other hand, can acquire perfect language skills. Despite this, perhaps there is no need to force language learning very early. Francibaba, for example, grew up in a bilingual environment. His mother spoke to him in Hungarian, and only in Hungarian, but the environment was French. As soon as he entered kindergarten, the language of the environment, in this case French, became the dominant one. His first word was Mama, which, to his mother's great relief, he actually said in Hungarian, but a year later he was already answering questions asked in Hungarian in French at home. The matter was further complicated by the fact that they had already started teaching him English in kindergarten, and it was no small blow to his parents' vanity that by the age of three the child already understood and could speak three languages. A few years later, when they were already living in Hungary, Hungarian became the dominant language for good. From then on, the child only spoke Hungarian at home, dreamed in Hungarian, and by the time he was a teenager, he declared that he was only willing to date Hungarian boys because he didn't want to be with his girlfriend. foreign to speak in the language.
However, there was some resistance to switching languages, which mainly occurred at school. Later, this was investigated, and finally a Hungarian expert on child development gave the all-clear. It is relatively well-known that bilingual children start speaking later. However, few people know what problems using multiple languages, especially in a learning environment, can cause. It is said that 98 out of 100 children have difficulty with this. So there will only be two lurkers who will overcome this obstacle without any problems. This is especially interesting to know for those who raise children abroad.
Francibaba's environment consisted almost exclusively of multilingual children. Hungarians raised their children abroad, sending them to French or English schools. Multilingual couples were intoxicated by the wealth of opportunities available to them, allowing their children to be taught four or five different languages at the same time. Of course, there were exceptions, little geniuses who, by the time they were teenagers, could communicate almost perfectly in all these languages. But this was not the average. For example, children who attended foreign-language schools typically did not learn to write or read their parents' language correctly, and if the couple did not speak Hungarian at home, communication with Hungarian grandparents also encountered difficulties. My favorite story was when a Hungarian mother, who gave birth to a child to a Catalan father, asked me whether she should educate her child in two or three additional languages, because everyone wants the best for their descendants. I quietly remarked that perhaps sometimes a parent needs to exercise self-restraint, and while there are of course exceptions, sometimes less really is more.
The fundamental problem with multilingualism and schooling in multiple languages is that sometimes a child – especially when it comes to very different languages – does not master any of the languages perfectly. For example, they do not have the active and passive vocabulary they need to start school successfully. This means they start with a disadvantage that can accumulate later, and even minor or major failures at school can seriously damage their self-confidence.
The conclusion is that everyone should first master their own native language perfectly. If they already have it, then a foreign language can be added to it in childhood, but it does not necessarily have to be learned in that language. Even more foreign languages in early childhood may be a real mischief. It will come later. If someone already speaks two languages, then it is very easy to learn a third or fourth. And it is not such a big deal if this happens later, and maybe only with an accent. I say this, who has lived off my language skills my whole life.
source: https://franciababa.blog.hu/