In most countries, multilingualism has always been the norm. In Germany, too, multilingualism has long been part of everyday life: around a third of children and young people in this country do not learn German as their only mother tongue. It is essential to encourage and support these children in learning their mother tongue – both for the development of their personal identity and for the successful acquisition of all the languages they will speak. Brochures published by the city of Tübingen and the BIVEM (Berlin Interdisciplinary Association for Multilingualism) provide information about bilingualism and multilingualism and offer advice to parents.
There are some misconceptions about multilingualism that are still stubbornly persistent and unsettle many families: that learning several languages at the same time is very difficult for children and that multilingualism delays children’s language development. In reality, children can learn all the languages they are surrounded by well.
Switching between languages trains the brain
Children can benefit greatly from their multilingualism if it is well developed, nurtured and actively supported. Furthermore, “thinking in several languages and regularly switching between two or more languages trains the brain. In addition, more parts of the brain are activated in multilingual children than in monolingual children. They are often more creative, can concentrate better and do several things at once (multitasking). Since the brains of multilingual children are accustomed to flexibility, other complex tasks are also easier to solve,” says the City of Tübingen’s brochure on multilingualism.
There are a variety of ways in which multilingual education can be implemented. The methods can vary from family to family. Learning several languages is particularly successful when the child speaks all languages as often as possible in situations that are as natural as possible.
Consistently separating languages
Language learning can also be supported by consistently separating languages from one another in a way that the child can understand. For example, if both parents have different native languages, the principle of “one person, one language” is often applied. The child’s parents speak different languages to their child. This way, children learn to distinguish between two languages at an early age. By contrast, the “family language – language of the environment” principle dictates that the family language be spoken within the family (at home, in everyday communication with each other, in family matters, etc.), while the language of the environment is spoken outside of it, i.e. outside the family.
More information can be found in the City of Tübingen’s brochure on multilingualism and the range of native language courses offered at the link:
City of Tuebingen | Mehrsprachig Aufwachsen
The BIVEM brochures on multilingualism are available in seven languages:
https://bivem.leibniz-zas.de/en/service-transfer/flyer-series/
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