Some parents of bilingual children worry when they hear statements that are
not true such as:
"Bilingual kids get confused learning two languages at once. It is impossible for children to learn a second language while trying to master their first".
Parents should speak one language to their child, and it should be the community language so that eventually when their kids go to school they won’t get confused.
Let’s get one thing straight though. While bilingual kids develop their language abilities differently, bilingualism does not cause confusion. Learning two or even three languages at once does not cause confusion.
But my child mixes languages, he must be confused
Mixing Languages is common with bilingual kids. Children who are learning more than one language at once are taking in double the vocabulary. Sometimes if they don’t have what they need in one language, they compensate by using the other. In one way they are lucky. Monolingual children don’t have this advantage. If a monolingual child doesn’t know a word, they may not be able to express themselves at all.
But my child goes to school and the teacher says my child is confused
Many teachers in monolingual schools are uneducated on bilingualism and may think your child is confused because they are unable to communicate as well as the other students.
If your child is starting at a school where the language is different to the one you speak at home, there may be a period where your child may stop talking. But don’t mistake this for confusion. Language immersion is one of the easiest and quickest ways to learn a language. Children initially listen and take everything in. They will eventually start to speak and will catch up quite quickly.
But my child has a speech delay, could this be due to language confusion?
Bilingualism does not cause a speech delay. If a child has a speech delay, it will usually occur in both languages. Language development is different in all children. Some bilingual children will start talking later than others, but this is also the case with some monolingual children. If your bilingual child has a speech delay it doesn’t mean they are confused. If you are worried, seek medical advice from a speech therapist who specializes in bilinguals
But learning to read and write in two languages seems confusing
Just as children can learn to speak in two languages at once, they can also learn to read and write in two languages at once. While there may be different alphabets or different sounds of some letters, children are able to distinguish between the languages quite quickly. Some language combinations may take longer than others, but most children are able to learn with no issues.
Bilingualism and language confusion
If you are raising a child in more than one language, you are likely to hear various myths and misconceptions about bilingualism. Make sure to do your own research, and don’t believe just anything you hear from others. Children have been raised to be bilingual and multilingual in many parts of the world for centuries. In fact more than half of the world’s population is bilingual. It can’t be that half of the world is confused.
