Language and Culture: Bi-lingual Children

Being Bi-lingual means that you can speak more than one language fluently. For example, speaking English and Spanish (both fluently) would make a person 'bi-lingual'. You can, of course, be fluent in more than two languages and still be classed as Bi-lingual, as the term is not restricted to one speaking only 2 languages. (There is no limit!)

Raising Children to be Bi-Lingual

Some of my cousins speak two languages fluently - Japanese and English, and Chinese and English. Whilst for one of my cousins, their most useful language is English as they live in the USA, for my other cousins Japanese is their main language (although by blood they are half English) as they live in Japan.


An English-Dominated World
Much of the world today is English-speaking, as a lot of trade is made with the US as well as England, and our culture is incredibly influential. The English culture still lingers in India, long after the country was colonised years ago by the British as tea is still drunk there and cricket is a popular sport (as well as football). 

This is great for the British and the Americans as it means we have more allies and many understand the ways of our countries, but what does this mean for the rest of the world? Surely we should be more open and accepting of other's cultures, too? A part of this acceptance is learning (or attempting to learn) other languages. 

I have been on many holidays abroad and encountered incredibly rude Brits as well as Americans. There is one time I recall seeing a group of Americans in a French restaurant speaking English to all the staff, expecting them to be fluent and not even saying 'merci' (the French for 'thank you'). Of course, not everyone is like this, most people are respectful and make the effort to learn about the country's culture before traveling there. 

Acceptance of Other Cultures
Being more open and accepting of others cultures can be a quality we teach our children to have. I believe that the first step to introducing another culture into the house is by introducing a new language. 

Now I am not saying that our children should all be Bi-Lingual, but I do think that watching shows in another language and reading a few books in another language can be helpful to our children. I own several children's books from different countries of origin ' on is Hawaiian, another Irish, and I even have a little Hello Kitty book in French for my daughter. (This also helps me brush up on my french). Although most of these books are written in English (including a Japanese fairy tales book), they helped me as a child understand the cultural values and beliefs of others. 

An example of this is that I understand most of the visual jokes in the Japanese movie My Neighbours The Yamadas, which has several scenes that relate to Japanese fairy tales.

Are We Confusing Our Children?
In short, no. If done appropriately, speaking, reading and allowing our children to listen to other languages other than their native tongue can be educational and helpful later on in life. Obviously I would advise sticking to one main language (or it may become confusing for your child), but when integrating another language it is useful to translate words and phrases. When my daughter looks at her French Hello Kitty book, I read it to her first in French and then translate each word to English.

Surprisingly, the one and only cartoon my daughter will watch and calm down with (even when on the brink of a meltdown) is sung in French! I highly recommend the French version of Disney's Silly Symphonies!