Some parents may worry whether teaching their babies two languages concurrently will overburden their babies’ minds, while some may wonder if babies get confused learning two very different languages from birth. These concerns are unfounded, according to the latest findings by psychologists from the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Led by Associate Professor Leher Singh from the Department of Psychology at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the study - which explored the learning of English and Mandarin - suggested that learning two languages from the start helps children master the rules of each language faster. In fact, learning English and Mandarin concurrently accelerate the learning of Mandarin.

“Our results dispel commonly held beliefs about bilinguals being slower in learning words,” said Assoc Prof Singh. “Parents need not worry that learning English will take away a child's potential to learn Mandarin as learning both languages may strengthen their knowledge of Mandarin.”

The results were first published online in the journal Frontiers in Psychology in April 2016.

Bilingual babies learn languages faster

In Singapore, English and Mandarin are the two most commonly used languages, despite being very different from one another. In English, tones do not change the meaning of words, but in Mandarin, they do, leading to a potential conflict for bilingual learners.

Assoc Prof Singh and her team, which includes Ms Charlene Fu and Ms Felicia Poh from the Department, studied 72 babies who were between 12 to 13 months of age, when they are starting to learn new words. They compared the ability of the babies to recognise that tone changes the meaning of a word in Mandarin, but it is not relevant for words in English.

During the experiments, when English-Mandarin bilingual babies were spoken to in English, they ignored tone when learning new words, but when they were spoken to in Mandarin, they responded to tone changes when learning new words. However, monolingual Mandarin babies did not show mastery of the Mandarin tone system until six months later when spoken to in Mandarin, when they were around 18 months old. This suggests that the bilingual babies had already developed expertise in the Mandarin tone system whereas the Mandarin monolingual babies had not.

When new words were introduced to their vocabularies, the English-Mandarin bilingual children surpassed their Mandarin monolingual peers as they could learn words in each language more effectively. This dispels widely held beliefs that bilingual children learn words more slowly because they are processing two languages.

Bilingual babies develop language skills before they turn one year old

The NUS team also made interesting findings in relation to the development of language skills in babies. The babies involved in the study were aged between 12 to 13 months. Researchers discovered that although these babies were not speaking in words yet, they already know a lot about words in each of their languages if they are bilingual. This indicates that babies can navigate the rules of language, even when the rules conflict, and can use this information by the time they are 12 months of age to learn two different languages.

Explained Assoc Prof Singh, “Our findings show that more exposure to one language is not necessarily better for babies. What led to better performance in learning Mandarin was being raised bilingually, with exposure to both English and Mandarin, rather than solely to Mandarin. This is a novel finding, and the first study we know of that shows accelerated word learning in bilingual children, strongly suggesting that babies are not thwarted by learning two very different languages.”

Further studies on development of babies

To further their understanding of language processes in monolingual and bilingual infants, Assoc Prof Singh and her team are conducting studies to look at how babies track words in speech, how they process sentences in each language, and how good they are in detecting errors in each language.

Concurrently, the team is conducting studies to investigate the social and moral judgments of bilingual and monolingual babies, to find out if bilingualism makes children more open minded in the way they perceive people.

When you are raising your child to speak more than one language, it is important to know how to go about it – this is the raison d’être of my blog! It is however equally important to be aware of the things you should avoid when bringing up a bilingual child. Generally, I am a so-called “towards” person – I like to write about goals and positive things to aspire to, because I want you, my reader, to focus your mind on the good things you can do. That’s also why I always tell parents to find a better alternative to saying things like “Don’t fall!”. Why? Because you do not want your child’s mind to be focused on “not falling”! It is actually very difficult to focus on not doing something. Compare “Don’t eat a biscuit!” with “Eat an apple” – what is your mind focused on? If you have to say something, instead of “Don’t fall!” say “Watch where you put your foot!” or “Hold on tight” or “Use your arms to balance!” – much more helpful. So today’s post is a bit different with all the “DON’Ts” – what I DO want you to focus on are the suggestions at the end of each point.

1 – Never criticise

Never criticise your children’s language use. You might at times feel like passing a less positive comment on which word or language they use a particular situation, how they pronounce a word or any other aspect of their communication – the advice is the same, don’t criticise. If you feel a strong need to recommend a different way of saying something, repeat what they said in the way you think is correct/better/more appropriate. First, though, carefully consider whether your comment is necessary. If it is, you could start by saying something like: “Did you really mean to say…?” or “I didn’t quite catch that …” to allow them to come up with a better alternative by themselves.

2 – Never compare

Comparing your children’s progress in any aspect is not helpful at all. Children are different and develop and learn at a different pace. Don’t ever compare them to their siblings or any other children. Your task is to help them feel confident about their language use, not knock them down. It makes me really sad when I hear parents commenting on their children’s language skills along the ways of “She hasn’t learnt the language as well as her cousin” or “Neighbour’s kids can speak much more fluently than you do.” If you are truly worried about your kids’ communication skills (in any language) speak to a specialist, don’t pass your own verdict. If you consult a specialist, make sure to choose one that has experience in dealing with bilinguals.

3 – Never ask your child to “perform”

No matter how proud you are about what languages your children know – never ask them to say something in front of others just to prove they can. I would even recommend diffusing situations where another adult asks your little ones to say something to show off their language skills. If you are bilingual yourself, you know how annoying it can be when someone asks you to “say something”. Children learning languages can be very sensitive about their skills and afraid of making mistakes. If in addition they are also of a shy nature, asking them to utter something in a particular language just for the sake of it is not the right thing to do. Instead, engage them in a natural discussion.

4 – Never make fun of how they speak

Have fun when passing your language on to your kids, but never ever ridicule their language use. Children do sometimes come up with the most hilarious words and phrases when they learn a language, but do not make a big deal of it. Also, do not comment about it to others when your kids are not present – it could be very hurtful if they came to know about it later. What I would recommend that you do though, is to note these words and phrases in a journal that you can give to them later on. When they are older and know the language better, they will be able to appreciate the funny side of it.

5 – Don’t expect perfection

Of course we all dream that our children will grow up and acquire a perfect command of whatever language we pass on. This is however rarely the case in real life. The fluency will vary greatly – even between siblings. If at any point you worry about your children not speaking as fluently as you would like to, think about what is important. Can they communicate with their grandparents and relatives? Are they happy to use their language in their everyday lives? If they do, a few grammar errors here and there, some words pronounced slightly differently or an accent is not really anything to worry about!

6 – Don’t constantly correct

I am not saying that you should never help your children find the right phrase or form of a word. It is alright to offer the correct version by rephrasing what they just said. Avoid making this a habit so that you do it every time when they say something that is not quite correct. Being frequently put right might negatively affect both their confidence and motivation to learn more. Instead, be encouraging and say “Wow, I wasn’t aware you knew that word!” or “I am so proud of you when I listen to you speak to your grandmother!”

7 – Don’t be rigid

There are certain rules you can follow to make sure your children acquire your language while growing up, but do not let these principles become so rigid that it takes the fun out of learning and speaking. The call for consistency in certain scenarios may feel contradictory to this, but it really is not. Occasionally switching a language is fine, more so the more fluent your children are. You want your language to be something your kids enjoy. It should not become a chore or something they avoid because of the negative associations with it. For example, if your children do not want to speak your language when their friends are around, because they do not want anyone to feel left out – do as they ask. As always with children, you need to be flexible and go with the flow when the situation calls for it.

8 – Don’t ever stop communicating

Many parents have (mostly successfully) used the approach of only answering their children if they speak to them in the “right” language. I am however not a huge fan of this approach, because it defeats the purpose of language: communication. Instead I would recommend that you should still stay consistent and not switch. You may end up leading a conversation where you and your child are speaking different languages, but this is fine. Try to figure out the underlying reason to your children’s choice of language, and find ways of addressing them.

9 – Don’t demand

This is very closely related to the two previous ones. For me this is a given, but needs to be noted. Yes, you want your children to speak your language, but trying to force them to do it is not the way to achieve your goal. Make learning your language compelling for them by creating an environment which is motivating and supporting for their linguistic development, but don’t try to make them do it. You will all enjoy the journey so much more.

10 – Don’t give up

As with everything in life, raising a bilingual child has its ups and downs. There are days when we feel nothing is going as we would like and wonder where to get the energy to continue. If you ever feel like this, think about the reasons you decided to embark on this journey in the first place. Consider all the advantages that bilingualism brings with it. Speak to other parents and ask for their support – they will be more than happy to cheer you up and help you continue. And you will be so happy you did!

May the peace and power be with you.

This is post I wish I wouldn’t have to write, and I had hoped advising parents to stick to only one language would be a thing of the past.
But it isn’t.
Only last week I was contacted by two worried parents from different parts of the world who had been told that their use of more than one language in the family is detrimental to their child’s language development and that they should change to using only one language – the majority one. Sigh.

Dropping a home language is not beneficial for learning the majority language.

“Bilinguals often are assessed in only one language, providing an inaccurate assessment of the child’s actual level of linguistic and cognitive development. A child assessed in only one language, typically that of the country in which he or she is being tested (i.e., English in the United States, often the second and less-proficient language), may be placed erroneously at a lower level of cognitive development than his or her true level.”

This is to say, a monolingual child who knew the right word for three objects (= three words) in one language was considered to be more advanced than a bilingual child who knew two out of the three objects, but knew the words in two different languages (= four words).

The way bilingual children learn a language is different from monolingual children and what may on the surface seem to be a delay in vocabulary learning is actually a different learning pattern. Bilingual children catch up soon enough, and they gain an array of benefits alongside another language (see last week’s post Bilingual is better – the advantages of speaking more than one language).

What about children with autism or other developmental issues? Should their parents stick to only one language? In her article ‘Is Bilingualism detrimental for Children With Autism?’ Dr Susanne Döpke states that

”There is no research evidence to suggest that hearing more than one language makes the symptoms of autism worse or that the English-only advice improves the abilities of children with autism – language-wise, conceptual or social.”

The Canadian charity The Hanen Centre which specialises in helping “young children develop the best possible language, social and literacy skills” recommends that parents should not give up on any of the family languages:

“It is widely accepted that parents should be encouraged to communicate with their children in their home language, and that professionals working with the child should support the family’s home language.”

Then we come to the crucial question – what to do if you are a parent in a family with more than one language and you are advised to drop one (or more) of your languages?

First of all ask yourself whether the person advising you has the necessary knowledge about bilingual children. The likelihood is that they don’t as they wouldn’t be telling you to drop a language if they did. Then think about the motivation behind the recommendation – how would it benefit the person if your child would only speak one language (normally the majority language)? I do sympathise with child minders and teachers, who have groups with many children whose first language is not the language of the education system, and I admire their engagement and commitment, but asking parents to drop a family language is not the right approach. A strong home language supports the acquisition of another language and parents should be given advice on other ways to help their children to improve their language skills. If you do feel concerned about your bilingual child’s language development, get in touch with a specialist who is familiar with bilingualism.

When raising a bilingual child, it is always good to plan ahead so that everyone is clear about who is going to speak what language in the family when the new baby arrives. This post is the third post in my series of different approaches parents can take if they decide to bring their child up with more than one language – the strategy is called time and place (T&P). The first post of the series was about one parent/person, one language (OPOL) and the second about minority language at home (mL@H).

The T&P approach means that parents separate the languages used with the child either by time or by place (or both).

Examples of T&P where time is the deciding factor:
– use one language during the day and another in the evening
– split the languages between weekdays and weekends
– speak different languages during alternating weeks or months
Some families have found that frequent swapping between languages is difficult to keep up with and have opted for longer periods for each language. You can read this article from Trilingual Mama about her 2-weeks-per-language system with her children.

When place is used as the “language separator” parents choose a specific place which is dedicated to a certain language. For the child this specific place will be the signal that it is time to switch to a different language. Examples of with T&P using place are:
– using one language inside the home and another outside it
– having rooms of the home dedicated to different languages (I have heard of families switching language mid-sentence when walking from one room to the next!)
– immersion schools are practically one variant of T&P, if the parents do not speak the school language at home


T&P is not nearly as popular as the OPOL and mL@H strategies, and this may be the reason that it has not been studied in any great extent. The main reason why T&P is a less used strategy is probably because it does not come naturally, like OPOL or mL@H can do. Instead it is definitely an approach parents have to think about and agree upon. T&P also requires quite a high level of commitment and consistency, especially in the beginning, until it becomes a routine. Families that successfully use the T&P approach however often say that once used to it, the children themselves are the biggest proponents of the approach and are quick to point out if anyone uses the “wrong” language.

Who should use the T&P strategy?

The typical parents who use the T&P system are those who speak more than one language with their children and want to separate the languages rather than switching between them depending on which language feels most appropriate (you can read more about the latter approach in next week’s post). The reason for speaking two different languages with a child is often that the parent is fluent in two languages and wants to pass both of them on to the next generation. This approach is also suitable for single parents if they want to bring up a bilingual child.

Parents who want to teach their child a language that they themselves know but are not fluent in also often use the T&P strategy – this way they can still use their native language to discuss more complicated or delicate matters with their children and reserve the additional language for “easier” activities. The child will of course need a more varied exposure to the language from other sources if the aim is for him or her to become fluent in the language.

T&P can also be used by parents when they want to introduce a language later on in a child’s life. Using the T&P method parents can introduce language gently for example through play and songs. By having a set routine in place when the language is used, it easier to stick to the plan.

If you find that T&P would be the best approach for your family, I recommend that you set up a Family Language Plan so that you get a clear picture of how much exposure your child will get to each language, and whether you need to find additional support for it to ensure that your little one.