Parents want it for their children, international careers really demand it, globalization practically insists upon it and more and more schools are providing it, but the simple truth is that becoming bilingual is for most people very, very challenging. But parents who want their children to grow up to be bilingual can do a lot to help.
A key way to help children toward bilingualism is to start them early. It has even been known for parents of two nationalities and so users of two languages to start talking to their child in both languages when the child is still in the mother's womb, almost as if when born the child will be bilingual. This, though, is taking things to extremes.
Whether or not such practices do really work in, as is claimed, "Tuning the baby's ear and mind to the two languages" is questionable, but children who are even as young as 18 to 24 months of age can already begin to show capacities toward being able to comprehend and communicate in two languages.
Of course, when children are this small we are not talking about the production of long sentences or even sentences at all but instead there may be a focus on single words and on particular nouns as they begin to grasp the names given to things. But little children can be taking their first steps physically and their first steps linguistically in two languages.
There have been suggestions that speaking two languages can be confusing for children but this is just not the case. Children can cope and they can cope more easily the earlier they are exposed to the two languages. It is therefore more about exposure and becoming comfortable with the two languages than any worrisome ideas about confusion.
What small children quickly develop is an ability to do something that is known as code-switching. This means that they can achieve comprehension and processing in two languages and so are able to produce words and expressions with ease within both languages. This can reach a level of sophistication that allows them to switch from one language to another practically from one sentence to the next or even in the same sentence.
But code-switching also means that a child can identify which language is appropriate to use when. There is an instinctive response here that is a natural consequence of growing up in a bilingual setting. This can be seen very easily when looking at children who are the progeny of parents of different nationalities.
Within one family here in Jakarta we have a perfect example of this. Two children with an Australian mother and an Indonesian father from Bandung exemplify a bilingualism that is practically enviable. They can fluently converse in both English and Bahasa Indonesia; they can even get by in Sundanese thanks to their father's background.
What makes them a perfect example of code-switching is the way in which they instinctively know which language to adopt when. If they are with their parents they will easily switch between English and Bahasa Indonesia using both languages because they know that their parents can understand them in both.
Meanwhile, if they are in the company of their Indonesian grandparents they will use Bahasa Indonesia and even occasionally slip into Sundanese. While if they are in the company of their Australian grandparents, English is the language that they instinctively know has to be used.
All of this exists for very practical usage reasons. The children are simply finding the best ways that they can to be understood and to understand what is going on around them. It is all part of what happens naturally as little children come to terms with language.
Small children learn any language by imitating sounds. They listen and imitate and so learn. This process happens naturally in children whether only one language is being spoken or even two. It should also be noted that this process is widely and rightly regarded to be beneficial if it is happening for two languages.
It is widely accepted that speaking different languages is beneficial for the development of the brain. Being able to speak different languages allows for improvement in the process of metacognition. This means that children instinctively gain a better understanding of what language is all about.
This is, therefore, not about language instruction and learning the structure or grammar of a language. This is sub-conscious, much more natural "language growth". Children grow into languages and so learn, or pick up, the language through exposure to it and practical use of it.
Some people deny it, but it seems a fairly common experience that the older you get the harder it becomes to learn a new language. This is because patterns and structures become fixed, even single words -- nouns become fixed and it can be difficult to become familiar with and internalize new ways of expressing meaning and applying new words to objects or concepts. As they say, "it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks".
But little children are not "old dogs" they are rather "young puppies" who are eager and capable of learning. Their brains are highly receptive and have often been described as sponges ready to soak up new ideas and ways and so too they are highly receptive to language and indeed languages.
The message here then is simple: starting them early in a bilingual, language rich environment is bound to prove beneficial. They will learn without really being conscious of the learning that is happening naturally within them and the long-term benefits of this may be incalculable. The ability to speak more than one language inevitably broadens horizons and opens up greater opportunities.
It can be difficult for parents who have grown up and lived in a monolingual setting to cope with the challenge of developing bilingualism but this is where good educators can and should come in to help. Children can and often will go beyond what their parents can do and this can be a good thing for them and for us all.
Another example illustrates how "natural" learning and exposure to language can get results and take children beyond their parents' expectations. A small child was being sent to an international preschool in Jakarta and the parents of this Indonesian boy were surprised one day when he began uttering words they could not understand. It eventually became clear that he was using Korean words as many of his preschool friends were from Korean families.
Again, results outside expectations but happening naturally and happening early because the child quite simply could pick up and learn the words. The lesson is clear, if bilingualism is an aim then start early. An early start reaps dividends later on.
Simon Marcus Gower , Contributor , Jakarta
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