Magyar Baráti Közösség

MagyarHete  :: Judith Szentkirályi: Raising Children in a Dual Culture – Part I ::

Közölte lelteto Időpont: 2006. december 01., péntek, 00:27 PST (478 olvasás)     

CHANGING ATTITUDES: MELTING POT VS. MOSAIC – RAISING CHILDREN IN A DUAL CULTURE ,2006, August.

1. Background

"Melting Pot" – pre-WWII Many immigrants came to the USA mainly due to economic reasons. The “melting pot” was the accepted cultural norm. Most immigrants did not pass on their native language past the 2nd/3rd generations. However; They did lay the foundation for the following generations by establishing strong ethnic communities through churches, language schools, cultural and other organizations.

"Mosaic" – post-WWII Most immigrants came to the USA due to political reasons. The "mosaic" became the accepted cultural norm. Immigrants are passing on their native language past the 2nd / 3rd generations. Hopefully, the following will give some insight, informationand useful tips on raising children in a bilingual environment.

Personal

I was born and raised in Cleveland as part of the "mosaic" generation. My parents came to the USA in 1951 and my husband, Paul's parents came to the USA in 1956. We spoke exclusively Hungarian at home before learning English and our strong family and overall ties to the Hungarian community helped us to remain bilingual (church, Hungarian School, Hungarian Scouting, friends).

Research performed (direct and indirect)
Web articles and personal experiences were used when compiling information. My local library did not have many resources. Bilingualism is neither rare nor unusual. More than half the world's population (est. 2/3) is bilingual (Harding and Riley, 1990) and research has shown that the benefits of being bilingual are great, not only in terms of job opportunities and increased cultural awareness, but in terms of social and cognitive development. Children who learn to speak more than one language learn to "play with language." They learn that the same thing can have different names and this early lesson in abstraction gives bilingual people the mental flexibility and openness that produces cognitive and social benefits. The ability to switch linguistic codes and eventually think in more than one language increases conceptual development. However, some researchers are very concerned that because the pressure to assimilate to the dominant culture is so great, young children are not learning the language of their own families. We will try to touch on these aspects of raising children in a dual and bilingual culture.

Personal experiences
Our own childhoods and raising our two daughters gives us firsthand experience as well as our participation in numerous scout camps and teaching in Hungarian School. Paul's work experience at a multi-national company also gives him insight into bilingualism in the work-force.

2. Definitions and Terms

(The Random House College Dictionary)

Culture

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from an interest in and acquaintances with what is generally regarded as excellence in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. Social. the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.

Language

1. a body of words and systems for their use common to a people of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition

2. any set or system of such symbols as used in more or less uniform fashion by a number of people, who are thus able to communicate intelligibly with one another.

Bilingualism

1. able to speak two languages with nearly equal facility.

2. spoken or written in two languages

Uriel Weinreich, one of the "fathers" of bilingual studies and a bilingual himself offered the most famous definition in his renowned book Languages in Contact: "The practice of alternately using two languages will be called BILINGUALISM, and the person involved, BILINGUAL". (1926-68, Polish-American linguist, b. Vilnius, Poland (now in Lithuania), Ph.D. Columbia Univ., 1951) Leonard Bloomfield (1935: 55-56) added the notion of a certain "degree of perfection" in bilingualism, and William Mackey (1957: 51) incorporates Weinreich's alternate use of two languages into Bloomfield's reservations with regard to the degree of proficiency.

Other terms often used

"Early/child bilingualism" vs. "late bilingualism" (can be "natural" or "artificial")

A child who has been in contact with two languages from birth, and also to the child who acquired a second language in early childhood, but after the first language had already been established. Late bilingualism may be the result either of acquisition in a natural environment or artificial; the result of second language learning, as with the person who has studied for years, using graded language-teaching materials, attending courses, etc.

"Natural (primary) bilingualism" vs. "achieved (secondary) bilingualism"

The first term refers to when the child acquires two languages from the speakers around him/her in an unstructured way. The process involves no teaching and no learning. Achieved is therefore the opposite.

"Receptive" vs. "Productive" bilingualism

Those who understand a language - either spoken or written - but cannot produce it themselves are receptive bilinguals, and those who can do both are productive bilinguals.

Fluency

Most parents are satisfied if their child understands and speaks a foreign language. But, how well? Fluency isn't something that's engraved in stone. There are degrees of fluency from rudimentary knowledge to native speaker. There is active vs. passive knowledge, and there are levels of partial literacy through to full literacy. Verbal and literary skills have been divided into five groups:

Verbal Skills

1. Passive - understands spoken language but isn't able to reply.
2. Basic - can speak and play with other children.
3. Intermediate - can speak with adults in the minority language.
4. Advanced - child speaks well enough to go to school.
5. Native - child's ability to speak language is indistinguishable from monolingual children of same age.

Literary Skills

1. Passive - understands written language but is not able to write.
2. Basic - can read fairly well but has only basic writing skills.
3. Intermediate - can read and write well but not as well as peers of the same age.
4. Advanced - can read and write well enough to go to school.
5. Native - child's ability to write is indistinguishable from monolingual children of same age.

Between these definitions lie worlds. Learning is a life-long process in our constantly changing world. Therefore, bilingualism, too, is a process, not a result. So why do we want our children to become bilingual? Some of these reasons and benefits are covered next.

3. Reasons and Benefits

Reasons

"I want another language for my sons so they will be one step ahead in school."

"We want to share the culture and heritage of our native country with our kids."

"We'd like her to be able to play and talk to her cousins and Grandma when they visit."

"Spanish is necessary if you're going to live in California, and to make the study load less difficult while going through school, children may as well be learning now,"

"The best job opportunities are always for those who have can both speak and write in both languages."

"We hope for her to be able to read and write in two of the three languages, but we'll see what happens."

Language is the most effective way of bridging the "analytical" and "emotional" aspects of culture and multi-generations. Your reasons may be similar or different, but whatever your motivation may be we should learn the many benefits that bilingualism offers.

Benefits
Communication
Bilingualism enables the child to communicate with all members of the close and extended family as well as with friends. This helps developing a good family cohesion and building relationships. Bilingualism allows greater flexibility to choose a place to live and work.

Cultural
As language is part of culture, Bilingualism develops a broader cultural understanding and multicultural sensitivity, greater tolerance and social harmony.

Cognitive - Research shows that learning and use of more than one language enhances problem solving and analytical skills, allows better formation of concepts, increases visual-social abilities, furthers logical reasoning and supports cognitive flexibility.

Personal - Bilingualism also helps to stimulate creativity, raise self-esteem, increase flexibility and adaptability, enhance interpersonal and social skills and develop greater social sensitivity.

Curriculum
The understanding and development of concepts in more than one language allows the transfer of academic skills across the languages. Bilingualism facilitates collaborative and cooperative learning within a language-diverse environment. Languages can be chosen as subjects at schools or universities.

4. Myths vs. Facts

Myth - Learning two languages in childhood is difficult, can result in delays in language development, and you will confuse a child by raising it with two or more languages.

Fact - Children who have regular and rich exposure to both languages on a daily or weekly basis from parents and othercaregivers exhibit the same milestones in language development and at roughly the same ages as monolingual children. Thesame kinds of differences in the milestones of language acquisition are characteristic of bilingual and monolingualchildren. This myth is based on old beliefs prevalent in monolingual countries. Many decades of research have shownthat children can cope with 2 or more languages - such as in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and Finland. There is noscientific evidence to date that hearing two or more languages leads to delays or disorders in language acquisition.Many, many children throughout the world grow up with two or more languages from infancy without showing any signs of language delays or disorders. These children provide visible proof that there is no causal relationship between a bilingual environment and language learning problems.

Myth - The mixing of languages by children is a sign of confusion and real bilinguals never mix their languages.
Fact - Most linguists agree that this is not true. Yes, some mixing will occur, but it is both harmless and temporary. When learning more than one language, a child is bound to mix the two initially. This is perfectly normal. The child is still busy trying to make sense of the language patterns. The language mixing will probably occur in a series of stages. For example: At first the child may draw words from both languages and use them as one language, as they lack sufficient vocabulary; then later they may use the structure of one with the words of the other. bilinguals can also sometimes throw the odd word or expression (type it down) (its freeze point) in from the other language. As the child increases her vocabulary in each language, this phenomenon automatically disappears. Of course, the less you mix the languages yourself and the more consistent you are when speaking to your child, the less your child will mix.

Myth - Bilingualism is the exception.
Fact - Monolingualism is the exception. Estimates suggest that 75% of the world's population speaks more than one language. That means that despite the fact that most western cultures are monolingual, the majority of the world is multilingual. Many children learn one or more regional or tribal language at the same time they learn the official language of the country where they live.

Myth - Bilinguals have to translate from their weaker to their stronger language.
Fact - The overwhelming majority of bilinguals can think in either of their two languages. They do not, as some monolinguals assume, think in one language only and immediately translate into the other language when necessary.

Myth - One language should be properly acquired before starting another.
Fact - This is another misconception brought about by the same erroneous studies performed in the first half of the last century on American immigrants. These studies were negatively biased against immigrants and therefore invalidated later on. Quite the opposite is true: The easiest way for a child to learn two languages is from birth. Therefore, the earlier one starts the better. Since a newborn baby is potentially (biologically) capable of learning any sound in any language (a faculty that disappears with age), they will assimilate AS NORMAL any language spoken to them from birth. This innate capacity diminishes with age and that is why an older child will have a harder time learning another language. So don't leave it until they go to school, thinking this will help them.

Myth - A language is nothing more than a language.
Fact - As language is the means of communication it is heavily involved with culture. Language learning means understanding the culture the language belongs to as well. Language is tied to emotions and if you address your children in different languages, some of your children may feel excluded.

Myth - A bilingual child will end up feeling divided by and caught between two cultures.
Fact - This is not the case as bilinguals will tell you. As long as they are exposed to both cultures in a balanced and natural way - such as when their parents are at ease with their different cultures - both will become part of their identity, which will be all the richer for it. This does not mean that they will bind the two cultures into one, but that they will adopt whichever is necessary according to the cultural expectations of the person or situation.

Myth - You should stop if your pediatrician tells you it's not a good idea
Fact - Well, this depends. If there are legitimate developmental concerns, always consult a specialist. Most pediatricians only received training in language development for monolinguals, and in most countries, this aspect of a physician's training is minimal. Chances are, your pediatrician is no expert on linguistics research, bilingualism, or multilingual child development and is operating only from opinions, just as someone outside the medical field.

Remember that whatever advice others give you, you are ultimately responsible. Reason and hard facts generally stand the test of time better than mere opinions about your child's well-being.

Other Interesting facts

Korean children
Researchers Campbell and Lindholm (1987) report that by the age of five, Korean immigrant children achieve higher proficiency in their native tongue than graduates of an intensive Korean-as-a-second-language program run by the U.S. military. Developing heritage language resources would be far more efficient, not to mention more economical, than trying to create them from scratch.

ABC's, vocabulary, census, degradation
Researchers have found that knowing the names of the letters in the alphabet is the best indicator of good literacy skills. The more words children know, the better they will learn to speak and the better their chances of doing well in school.

According to the 2004 US Census; 17.9% of the US population above the age 5 speak another language other than English at home; and 117,975 people in the US speak Hungarian. According to Professor Clara Thurner, there is a 1% degradation of language skills per month if particular language is not used at all.