Kids From Bilingual Households More Flexible Thinkers, Research Shows

This piece comes to us courtesy of Education Nation's The Learning Curve blog. Patricia Kuhl, professor of early childhood learning and a co-director of the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, writes.

Babies are whizzes at taking in new information, especially when it comes to languages. At the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, we're studying how infants' brain activity in response to language relates to their later speaking ability.

The research goes beyond learning languages though. We're interested in what makes young brains so capable of absorbing new information, which could reveal how to maintain learning throughout life.

Our most recent studies investigate the brains of babies being raised in bilingual households. In these situations, babies' brains have a lot to take in - how do they make sense of the new words in two languages?

Here are some of our findings so far:

1. Brains of bilingual babies remain open to language learning.

In our latest study, we found that the brains of the bilingual infants seemed to remain "open" to learning for a longer period of time compared to monolingual infants. Because we now know that the early brain wiring appears to be different for monolinguals and bilinguals within the first year of life, it emphasizes just how important it is to have high quality interactions and input from the start. In fact, we also found that the more the children heard in that language as infants, the larger their vocabulary was later.

This piece has been truncated. Read the full piece at Education Nation's The Learning Curve.

Comments

[NikDanger]

10:25 AM on 09/21/2011

The comments here make me laugh. Are people actually AGAINST kids knowing more than 1 language? How could being multilingual ever work AGAINST someone? Will you kid necessarily NEED to know French to get along in life? Eh...probably not. But will it make him LESS qualified to do anything? Will it make him dumber? Will it hurt him in any way shape or form? I don't think so. Speaking something other than English will only make a person more competitive in the job market, whether or not the position actually requires knowledge of another language.

Job stuff aside, believe it or not there are actually people on the face of this Earth that speak something other than English! *gasp* Opening up a child to the beauty of another language is of no detriment to him or his American-ness. Nobody is saying to stop learning English for God's sake.

[spoonbill1963]

03:10 PM on 09/19/2011

Having two languages makes about as much sense as having two currencies.

[spoonbill1963]

03:05 PM on 09/19/2011

Sounds like more progressive BS to me.
English is the language in this country.

[yumster]

05:18 AM on 09/18/2011

I could have told you that before you spent the money for the research.

[tagtron]

06:21 AM on 09/17/2011

In other words, they'd make lousy Repuglicans

[InfinteShibumi]

01:36 PM on 09/16/2011

Thought we all knew this...

[Jayjaybe]

04:52 AM on 09/17/2011

Back in the day of the Selective Service Draft, when more of us got out of our fish bowls, it was commonly observed that service "brats" who were exposed to other languages as infants seemed to acquire more than linguistic advantages. Still happens but not so many of us are out there among our military overseas.

[arecibo48]

08:32 AM on 09/16/2011

God forbid anyone talks any language (specially Spanish) other than English. They are labled "unamerican." This is the only country that is intimidated whem other languages are spoken. We live in a global economy; business is conducted in many languages. There is no reason why we should be less educated than other countrys. Businesses are seeking people who can communicate with clients worldwide.

[Jayjaybe]

05:03 AM on 09/17/2011

The US business world is constantly complaining about the difficulty in finding employees, including college grads, who can communicate clearly and intelligently in English; this pertains to US-born English-only prospects. Business English consultants have had job security for decades because the larger corporations will provide "enhanced communication" training for their employees. Seemingly, many of the English-only advocates are protecting their own English inadequacies.

[tagtron]

06:22 AM on 09/17/2011

speaker of 3 languages = trilingual

speaker of 2 languages = bilingual

speaker of 1 language = gringo

[sajc05]

12:03 PM on 09/17/2011

and yet Gringos are doing so well.

Do you enjoy any modern medicine or technology?
who created it?

[arliobserver]

07:53 AM on 09/16/2011

Do not miss this point:
The USA is a very large land mass. English is the predominate language. In the nine hours by car between DC and Savanna GA one could have crossed 3 or more language borders in Europe. Americans should not be blamed for speaking - in most cases - just English. There is no practical imperative to learn another language. With the exception of Germany - several European countries could be contained within Texas alone.
As to travel:
The pickpockets and fanny pinchers of France and Italy, the merchants of North Africa who charge tourists exorbitant prices, the ridiculous exchange rate of the English pound and the hooligans on the streets of England, all contribute to the feeling of no need to travel in Europe and the Mediterranean. Outside of resorts - the grinding poverty of Mexico, Peru, Brazil are a problem to orderly travel. Taiwan is so prone to housebreaking and theft that expat Americans report to me the necessity of 24 hour house staff to prevent burglary. Why do I need to travel only to be abused and inconvenienced by these problems ????

[duel1980]

09:20 AM on 09/16/2011

We're not the only large land mass. Russians and Chinese also live on huge land masses but they do not find that an excuse to learn less.

[arliobserver]

12:14 PM on 09/17/2011

99.99% of Chinese and Russian citizens - total population considered - do not speak another language. In the very priviledged households of college educated Chinese and Russians - yes they do. Or they have picked up a close allied language such as in Ukraine, Germany, Portuguese if they speak Castillian Spanish.
The situation in the USA bears across a wide front- I will not be served in Moscow by an illiterate Chinese expat, or a Cholo from Peru. They are hunted down like vermin.

[moionfire]

01:33 AM on 09/20/2011

Russians are ethnically and linguistically diverse due to its former satellite states(Poland, Ukraine, etc). And yet many don't speak that many languages either. And most Chinese people don't speak more than one language unless they plan on studying abroad.

[Pierogi kid]

09:33 AM on 09/16/2011

bumpkin

[arliobserver]

11:51 AM on 09/17/2011

"Liberal Elitist"

[arliobserver]

07:26 AM on 09/16/2011

This article is a prime example of statistics being mis-used to express a big fat lie. In true bi-lingual households these findings are true. However - in the households of illegal immigrants (from whatever might be their point of origin - whether European or South american or Asian) - there is only one language spoken, and it is not English.
All we recieve from illegal alien households are kids speaking bad Spanish , or whatever. Then we have to teach them English in or our pre-K and K1-12 schools. We are not discussing the kids of an educated French / English household here. That world might be a French executive of a foreign company residing in the USA and having a strong grasp of both French and English. No - we are usually referring to ignorant labor, speaking a corrupt version of Spanish, and there is no English in their household. Educated legal immigrants and functionally illiterate illegals are not on a par with each other. Stop trying to use an education study based upon educated people to justify my having to endure an ignorant horde predominately from South and Central America.

[duel1980]

09:21 AM on 09/16/2011

I mean if you are proud of knowing less, kudos to you I guess....

[arliobserver]

12:05 PM on 09/17/2011

Context Might Help:
My classmates in public schools 3rd to 12 grade were the children of :
CIA agents
FBI Agents
State Department personel
DOD Employees
Active duty US Military Officers
Diplomats serving in DC
Professional Managers or Owners of Service Businesses
Agency for International Development AID
No - itenerant illegal aliens.
I studied French 6 years, speak tourist - read very well. Watch films in French.
Studied French in order to function well in Saigon if necessary. Most Vietnamese over 40 still speak French but decline to use it. A foreign language was a college entrance REQUIREMENT - back in the day - not true now - do not blame me.
Read a Spanish Newspaper every week - Watch Spanish News - Speak very little.
I Invite you to take a Driver Exam in most other countries - no English there !!

[sajc05]

12:07 PM on 09/17/2011

I don't think you know anything at all, being that you equate multilingualism to intelligence and knowledge.

Americans invent and create most of the modern day technology and medicine. we're doing fine in the brain capacity area.

[roonie4]

11:47 PM on 09/21/2011

I'm an 8th grade teacher of mostly children of immigrants - predominantly legal but quite possibly some are illegal. Most of these children speak Polish, Slovakian, Arabic and Spanish. They usually start kindergarten without any English, and by the time I get them, they are fluent English speakers. Most come from poverty. This study makes a lot of sense from what I've seen - the bilingual kids have a stronger ability to learn vocabulary and use language in a flexible way. The kids who know one language or didn't keep their first language enjoy learning words from each other and hope to become fluent in a second language like their friends. The diversity and acceptance is beautiful and my hope for the rest of this country. It is a shame that you remain so horridly closed minded.

[arliobserver]

01:28 PM on 09/22/2011

I am disgusted that none of the McDonalds counter help can speak French - so my attempts to use my foreign language skills are for naught.

All they do speak is Bad Spanish and MaDonna's English and I am damned tired of them. "Wellgum to MaDonna's can I hep yooo".

[dhinds]

10:42 PM on 09/15/2011

Knowledge of Spanish and English will permit communication with most of the Americas, which is where most of us here are.

While the two share a common etymology, their sentence structure is fundamentally different (and we think in sentences), as well as what's expressed (on the one hand) or understood (but not expressed) on the other.

And while most of the sounds are similar, 6 English vowel sounds don't exist in Spanish and and another does but isn't recognized.

The point is, there's more than one way to percieve and refer to the world and the sooner we know this, the more tolerant and astute we are, as a result.

I feel sorry for mono-lingual people, who may well be incapable of comprehending my message.

[duel1980]

09:22 AM on 09/16/2011

I love Spanish. It is a nice straightforward language with very little irregularities. By far the easiest to learn. Would that we all just take up Spanish worldwide and make life easier.

[dhinds]

04:48 PM on 09/16/2011

Bueno, entonces ya dijiste.

[sajc05]

12:08 PM on 09/17/2011

to bad most spanish speaking nations desperately need the english speaking nations to help them

[alpina]

10:34 PM on 09/15/2011

There is nothing in the study relating to latino children. Bi-lingual for this study could just as easily refer to asian kids or european. Why is this in latino voices? Grasping at straws.

[dhinds]

10:46 PM on 09/15/2011

Because there are no Asian or European HuffPo Sections, yet.

[Carlariz]

07:53 PM on 09/15/2011

I could've told you that... My bro is married to an Italian, we are hispanic, my niece which is 10yrs old, speaks, fluent Italian, Spanish and English, she is going on her 4th language which is French, now that is the future of this county, not these T baggers, who dont even go outside the country, let along their town....

[dhinds]

10:33 PM on 09/15/2011

Tbaggers are so ignorant it's ludicrous.

[MsGypsy]

03:41 AM on 09/16/2011

Why don't you tell me about the test scores throughout the publics schools in this country with high latino populations? Why are the test scores so low? And that's in every subject, BTW.

[sajc05]

12:09 PM on 09/17/2011

Don't expect an answer to your solid point. The lefties on this thread aren't particularly smart.

[bbertaud]

05:00 PM on 09/15/2011

I grew up trilingual, speaking English and French at home, and Spanish on the street...and don´t regret it

[bobbrowntown]

12:35 AM on 09/16/2011

you might like the version of la vie en rose by a group called pomplamoose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsMIuuV05uc

je ne regrette rien tambien;)

[sabelmouse]

07:21 AM on 09/16/2011

it's nice but what dores it have to do with bi or trilingualism ? i expected it to be sung in more than one language.

[Gay Iberian]

03:52 PM on 09/15/2011

Who cares if it doesn't make any difference whether one has more ability to learn multiple languages because one is bilingual? The article is great because it will give multilingual parents to encourage their kids to be bilingual. I was born in Spain and raised in the U.S. and as a child all I was interested in doing was to assimilate into the american culture and learn perfect english in order to be accepted in school and by the kids in my neighborhood. I nearly lost my culture and my native language by trying to assimilate and, although my Momk spoke Spanish at home I would often respond to her in english. I was fortunate to visit my native country many times as I was growing up and being with my family there and gradually regained my native language.

[Pierogi kid]

02:28 PM on 09/15/2011

my wife is a native Italian and has only spoken Italian to our kids where ever we are and my kids have become fluent in italian which will provide a great path to learn other latin based languages like psanish or french. It is funny when they speak english sometimes as some words for whatever reason always come out in italian like latte(milk). and bimbi(children) not sure why.