Raising Bilingual Children

“When children are nurtured with patience and sensitivity, multilingualism can be a source of great fortune for them, their families, and society,” states newspaper of Mexico City. Studies have “concluded that children who speak two languages perform better in school than those who speak only one.” Sometimes parents worry when their children mix words from the two languages in one sentence or make mistakes by applying the rules of one language to the other. “But these grammatical ‘mistakes’ are trivial and quickly overcome,” says Professor Tony Cline, a psychologist who specializes in the language development of children. If the languages of both parents are taught from birth, they are naturally absorbed, and in time, the children will handle them separately.