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.
