martes, 26 de febrero de 2013

When to start learnig a second language

One of the things that parents have in common around the world is providing their sons with the command of a second language when they are still little children. The globalized world demands the learning of, at least, two languages, and bilingual schools offer this possibility for early child education. But the benefits of an early bilingualism go beyond. It is proved that those children who are exposed to several languages when they are very young are more creative and develop more skills. Learning a second language help to program our neural circuits, this means that it will make easier the study of new languages in the future.

But, when is the best moment to start learning another language? Experts on evolutionary psychology agree that once the knowledge of the mother tongue is enough for the child to be able to associate a word with an object, it is only at that moment when it is recommended the learning of another foreign or second language. That is to say, never start learning another new language when the child is 4 or younger. It is at this moment of the psychological evolution when a child offers any resistance to understand simple messages in other foreign languages and repeat them a short time later with an amazing ability to imitate new accents and sounds.

Children must get to like a language and enjoy it. We should not forget that the results will become evident in the long term, so that the best thing is be patient and acquire a second language, not study it as a school subject with exercises, rules and exam papers.