Why should you raise your child multilingual?

003 - In this episode, Kaisa and Camillo delve into the fascinating world of multilingualism and explore why raising children to be multilingual is an invaluable gift. As a couple deeply passionate about language and culture, they draw upon their personal experiences, anecdotes, and research to provide listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the advantages and challenges associated with a multilingual upbringing.

The episode kicks off by unveiling the remarkable cognitive benefits that multilingualism bestows upon children, showcasing how language acquisition opens doors to a plethora of lifelong advantages.

However, no journey is without its hurdles, and raising multilingual children is no exception. Through heartfelt conversations, Kaisa and Camillo share their own encounters with the challenges parents may face.

Finally, after exploring both the advantages and challenges, Kaisa and Camillo engage in a thoughtful reflection on whether raising children to be multilingual is a path worth pursuing. Drawing upon their experiences and the wisdom of others before them, they arrive at a conclusion that not only highlights the immense value of multilingualism but also encourages parents to embark on this linguistic adventure with their children.

Join Kaisa and Camillo in this episode as they celebrate the power of multilingualism and encourage parents to unlock a world of linguistic diversity for their children.

Subscribe to our feed and follow us on all podcast platforms. Reach out to us with your questions and topic suggestions. Let's build a community together!

RSS: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2188357.rss
Website: www.languageexperiment.com
E-mail: contact@languageexperiment.com
Instagram: @language_experiment_podcast

Transcript

002 - Why should you raise your child multilingual?

[00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome back to our podcast, the Language Experiment. Today we are going to talk about why you should raise your child or your children multilingual. I think this is an important topic to discuss because, it's probably a question that. A lot of parents are asking themselves, they're not sure if it's going to be feasible for them, depending on their situation or depending on what languages are in their family.

Maybe they're worried that some of the languages in their family are not going to. The children will not get enough exposure to some of the languages or whatever. There might be these worries in people's heads when they're thinking about should we do it or should we not do it? So I figured it would be great to spend this episode [00:01:00] talking about some of the advantages of raising multilingual children.

And also discussing briefly about the, I wouldn't say disadvantages, but I would say the challenges that come with raising multilingual, multilingual kids. So we're trying to give us our point of view and our answer to this question, why should you raise your child multilingual or should you do it to begin with?

Yay. That's me. And yeah,I was here. So 

how are you guys doing today? I wasn't just talking to myself. Good. It is good. Welcome. Let's first go to the, go to the advantages of raising multilingual kids. growing up multilingual or bilingual for that matter, can have numerous cognitive benefits.

So research has shown that bilingual individuals have better cognitive flexibility and they're also better at multitasking. [00:02:00] Which is, I mean, multitasking is not that great. It's not such a great thing to do. But then again, that's what we're required to do everywhere from work to to personal life. So, yay, multitasking.

they also have improved memory and executive function skills, which are important for high level thinking and problem solving. Additionally, being bilingual can lead to increased creativity and enhanced cultural awareness. do, do you wanna share an experience from our life where you.

Could see one of these, one of these being true. I mean, I guess it's, it might be difficult to pinpoint that something was directly caused by a child being exposed to multiple languages because definitely there's this genetic factor as well. [00:03:00] And then the environmental, but I don't know if you can think of, think of a good example 

 I think a good example would be it's, it's, it's a little bit complicated to, to put in general terms just because, each, each place where you live might be different. We have an,we are in a middle Canadian society, which is already bilingual, here in Quebec. Then, that daycare, I have so many other bilingual, trilingual kids that it's a little bit difficult for me to just say, well, I noticed this and I believe it could be caused by all the, the language that she's learning, different point of views, cultures, and so forth.

Mm-hmm. And what I'm talking about is basically how, how. I'm not say, interest, interested, but, it's not in [00:04:00] a, in a, simplistic way, but she's always interested to know where the, where are the countries, what, what kind of people lived there and wa What's, where is this place on the map? She keeps asking us, where is Finland?

Where is Brazil? she, she watches her movies and at some point is asking where that character, is from, and want to know the place on the map and so forth. Mm-hmm. And I, I do believe that these. Level of curiosity, what kind of people live there? even what do they eat? I believe it could be caused by being a multilingual kid in a multilingual environment.

And that exposure just transforms her interest in specific topics that typically you wouldn't see. Mm-hmm. 

obviously [00:05:00] it's impossible to say if it's causation or correlation. but I think, I think our daughter definitely has really this big interest when it comes to.

Different nationalities, different languages, different countries. she loves to look at maps and understand where everything is in the world. And I think we've had to explain to her at a very early point, what is culture? So she's sometimes asking questions like, why do these people do this?

Or Why did they say like that? Or why, why didn't men want Malala and the other girls to go to school? So we've had to explain to her that, well, in Malala's culture, these values are different. Or it didn't, it was, it isn't part of their culture or. In, in their culture, things work differently from, from our culture.

So [00:06:00] at a very early age, we've had to try to explain to her like, what is culture? Because that's a pretty abstract,thing to explain to a child, I guess. 

I think it's important also to, to mention that this is happening when she is turning four. And then when she turned for, onwards is just increased.

Mm-hmm. Because she is exposed to more things, obviously. And it just keeps snowballing. And it's not only that it is, it's sometimes she, the way that she. she plays, it's, it also brings these mix of cultures, which are things that happen in Finland, in her case, things that happen in Finland.

But with Brazilian characters. Mm-hmm. And she [00:07:00] just start doing this kind of associations. It's, it's really interesting to 

watch. Mm-hmm. I'm pretty sure exposure to different languages and different cultures in general has, something to do with that. So studies have also found that bilingualism can delay the onset of cognitive decline in the elderly.

being bilingual or multilingual can also expand one's career opportunities and provide a competitive edge in the global job market. I guess we both have personal, experiences of this, although neither of us. Grew up in a multilingual household. We both grew up unilingual and only learned foreign languages when we were a little bit older.

 but I think the same thing still applies. So, for example, for myself, I think one interesting [00:08:00] example of the usefulness of some language that didn't seem so useful. at first sight is Swedish, which is the second official language in, Finland where I'm from, 

no, no offense, 

sorry, Sweden.

And, since it's the second official language, it is, mandatory for us to learn it in school and there are a lot of people who. don't like that? Although it's mandatory for us to learn English as well. But, people argue that the usefulness of Swedish is just not there unless you, plan 

To go live and work in Sweden. so there are a lot of people who, who don't see the usefulness of that language. And obviously compared to English, I guess it, it makes sense since Swedish is not really widely spoken outside of Finland and Sweden. But I mean, I, I studied [00:09:00] Swedish and I worked for a little bit in Sweden after graduating from high school.

And then later on, like years later when I moved to Canada, my first, job while still at university, was. proofreading and translating video games. And I was hired because Finnish was one language that that company needed, but they didn't have enough work for Finnish translations. And when they found out that I also knew Swedish, they, I was able to get a full-time work there immediately.

And actually my knowledge of Swedish, Paid my bills for, for a couple of years, until I left that company. So I think that's a great example of, a language that helped me a lot in a, in a really kind of specific and niche situation. this language that didn't seem that useful, helped me to earn a living, in a [00:10:00] completely different part of the world.

Yeah, it's interesting. to me it's, it's also the fact that I knew this language, but in the same situation, same. We, if we're watching this episode right now, that's basically where Kaisa and myself we first met was in,video game vendor company, the editing and translating, and also working with.

Localization, of video games. myself, I'm responsible for the the Brazilian Portuguese language and her working Swedish, and sometimes Finnish. and basically I got the job there because they needed, people that knew the language. And again, we're talking about video games or we're talking about, different countries, different needs of translating, from video games to to little scripts, that are used in cinematic.

[00:11:00] It's, it's really interesting that Brazilian, Portuguese, I left Brazil to work with Brazilian Portuguese. And again, like yourself or the longest time was that job that was, paying my bills mm-hmm. And preparing for, for what whatever was coming next. Yeah. It's really, it's interesting to 

also remember that definitely we are living proof of how sometimes your own language can,help you in a, in a different country.

And then obviously, These days that we're working in a different field, the fact that we knew English and, and French provided us this opportunity. 

 in addition to the cognitive benefits growing up, bilingual or multilingual can also lead to personal and social benefits. So bilingual individuals often have a greater understanding and appreciation of different culture.

And can communicate with a [00:12:00] wider range of people. This can lead to increased empathy and tolerance towards others, as well as the ability to build bridges between communities. What do you think about that? Would you, would you agree? Especially in the case of our daughter? 

I think so. Whenever, whenever I see her interacting, with family and daycare ed educators and, I don't know, I, I'm trying, well say pediatrician, chiropractor cuz these are more frequent than I just compare her on the middle of the street in the supermarket.

But, All these people, they speak different languages and oftentimes when we are there, we are always speaking different languages. And it's [00:13:00] really interesting to see her in that kind of environment because with the pediatrician, she's speaks in French with a chiropractor. She speaks in English. We speak in English and French with them.

And in specific moments when you are looking from the outside, you see her speaking, let's say French with the pediatrician, but she turns to you and speak, sing Finn right away. Why the pediatrician speak to me in English. Then I returned to her to comment something and I said in President Portuguese, And the interesting bit of all this dynamic, it's everybody understand what's going on and what's not interested to, to the pediatrician, it's just family business everything works perfectly, it's so, so beautiful to watch her [00:14:00] interacting and absorbing those experiences.

 being able to participate mm-hmm. Of the debate of the, the, the situation, not just being an outsider. 

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I, I agree. I think in her regular day life, I mean, she's Canadian. She was born here. but just because she can communicate with all those four languages, It's as if she has four different personas and every situation that she is in, she never feels like an outsider because she knows the language.

So when we're speaking with my family, when my family's here, she isn't observing us from the outside not knowing what's happening, whereas she is able to dive into. To our, our finished bubble. Whereas I think for some, like for example, for you, I think you, you are already starting to, you understand, [00:15:00] finish well, you can speak a little bit, but you are still, you're not fully in the bubble?

 maybe just because you, you can't speak it. Whereas whether it's my family or your family when speaking Portuguese or. Some kind of a situation where English is spoken or her world in the daycare that's mainly French, she's able to enter that bubble and understand, be understood, fully communicate there.

that's a good example Of the social benefits and appreciating these different cultures and these different spaces that she's able to enter just because of those languages. Those were just some of the benefits, the advantages of raising, raising multilingual kids by no means.

were those all of them? I'm sure there are, there are plenty of others. but then I'd like to talk a little bit about, some of the [00:16:00] challenges that come with raising multilingual kids, because obviously while. Raising multilingual kids or exposing your kidto different languages. It's fantastic.

It's great, but nothing is perfect. And there are always some kind of difficulties or challenges that come with everything. I think one of those challenges, would be that in the beginning when a child is still learning those languages, they will be mixing languages.

They're still in a process of learning. If they're learning multiple, they might use those languages together. Or if one of those languages is stronger and one is weaker when they're speaking the weaker one, they might fill in the gaps with the language that is stronger with them and things like that.

other challenges could also be language dominance, which is kind of what I already mentioned. So when there are multiple languages involved, [00:17:00] it might be very challenging to, to keep the exposure to all of those languages equal. So it is natural that. One or several of those languages will be stronger, than others.

And how to balance that situation can be challenging, for parents. there's also something called language attrition, which means that due to, changing situation in the life of the child or the family, such as maybe a move to a different country or to a different neighborhood or change of school or, or something.

Where the exposure to a certain language maybe goes away or changes somehow. And language attrition means when a child loses their, first language, or I guess any language that they speak due to their not being exposure anymore. [00:18:00] So this is also something that depending on a situation can happen and it can be quite challenging.

but I think the main challenge with Multilingualism is that although it's not, is not some kind of a niche thing or a niche idea, but also it is not. It is not mainstream in a way, because if it were mainstream, then maybe we wouldn't be making this podcast here because we would've found all the resources in the world, about it, and we would've found all this, support and all this knowledge.

That was out there. But that is not the case. I, I'm sure the situation is changing and it's getting better. And also kind of by having this podcast, we're trying to change it. We want to make it more mainstream, but because it's something that is not [00:19:00] mainstream and maybe also not well understood, although there's a lot of research.

that leads to lack of resources. And the persistence of certain myths and these myths can be, can be harmful because they can, they can actually influence the decision that certain parents take when they're considering if they should raise their kids multilingual or not. so obviously I think we will have another episode that's, Totally dedicated to talking about the different challenges at length, so for sure there can be more challenges.

Absolutely. I don't know. Absolutely. Can you, can you think of, does something come to your mind right now about challenges that you could see or that we've experienced in addition to 

those? I think one of the challenges, Lies on the parents to keepthe [00:20:00] persistence up and running.

you can't just think that if it's low, by your standards, for example, it might not be. You might, jo you might not just. Consider the fact that you are introducing several different languages and they are trying to process every single one of them, and trying to build some sort of connection between language and environment, language in person.

So that's challenging to the kid, and it's not that. It's harmful. It's just, I think it's just a matter of, processing time. Mm-hmm. And when it starts to happen. And they start to get way more familiar with all languages and, like Kaisa mentioned, I mentioned the exposure, whatever language they feel more comfortable with and they hear the most [00:21:00] or they start to peek between the kids themselves or daycare, it's school, whatever.

Most likely you're going to start seeing, some sort of mix. or basically it's not even a mix, I would say. It's a filling word. They choose whatever filling word in whatever,language that they find in their brain, and they throw it in the middle of the, conversation. So a sentencing, Portuguese and one wording.

In English, it's going to happen a lot. And you just need to have patience and understand what time of the day this is happening. talk to the kid, back in your language. Sometimes pretend that didn't happen. Sometimes you have time to correct, but this is something, for another podcast episode, 

that's a good point also. the idea that, when you start this journey as beneficial as it is for the [00:22:00] kid now and in the future, you are embarking on a journey where, It's not that you'll just do it for a couple of years and then the kid is good to go.

It's actually like you're signing up for a lifetime of Yeah. Of doing what you're doing. So. Exactly. So I think like that's also, I. That's also a challenge, but it's not this challenge that parents wouldn't face in any other situations. that's also part of raising kids is is the, the work or the responsibility or doing what you do.

Obviously you are there for the long run. And I thinkthe same goes with,raising a kid, multilingual. So be prepared to just, even when you're having difficulties, even when it feels like it's not going well, and actually kid is just using words from another language when speaking to you.

don't give up and just trust your process and keep [00:23:00] going. Just because it's hard at some point, or it doesn't seem like it's working, it doesn't mean that it will not work in the future if you just keep at it. Exactly. I think that was a, that was a good overview of some of the advantages and some of the challenges, but we'll be talking much more about both of them in the future.

 to conclude, there is ample evidence to suggest that speaking multiple languages can be highly beneficial to an individual. For example, studies have shown that bilingualism can help improve cognitive abilities such as memory and attention span. additionally, being able to communicate in multiple languages can broaden an individual's cultural horizons and make them more open-minded towards different cultures and ways of life.

speaking multiple language can also offer practical advantages such as increased job opportunities and higher salaries in certain [00:24:00] industries. Therefore, it is clear that there are many advantages to being able to speak multiple languages, and it's important to continue to highlight and study these benefits in order to encourage more individuals to pursue language learning and language teaching.

 I guess taking all of these advantages and challenges into consideration, if there are parents who are asking this question, should we raise our kids bilingual or multilingual? What would you tell them? 

Yeah, for sure. Why not? 

Yeah, just do it. I mean, there the, the benefits and the advantages. I think they totally outweigh the, the challenges that there might be.

So we think it's totally worth it. 

I think, you should ask why wouldn't you? 

Yeah. If you have the opportunity and if it [00:25:00] fits your situation, why wouldn't you do it? 

 We'll leave you with that thought and thanks for being with us today, and thanks for listening. See you in the next episode. Bye bye.