Bilinguals are who? How to become a person who speaks two languages perfectly?

Today, more and more popular is the mastery of foreign languages. The explanation is quite simple: a specialist who speaks equally well and writes, for example, in English or Italian, will quickly find a prestigious job in an international company. In addition, there is an opinion that the study of several languages at an early age contributes to the rapid development of the child's speech apparatus. There are other reasons. As a result, more and more people are trying to raise their children bilingual, or even polyglots. But who are they and how to master several languages in perfection?

Who are bilinguals?

Bilinguals are people who equally speak two languages. Each of them is considered to be a native one. Such people not only speak and perceive two languages on the same level, but also think on them. It is noteworthy that, depending on the environment or place, a person automatically switches to one or another speech (and not only in the process of verbal communication, but also mentally), sometimes even without noticing it.

Bilinguals can be interpreters or children from mixed, interethnic marriages or brought up in another country.

In the pre-revolutionary period, wealthy families tried to hire for the upbringing of the offspring of governesses from France or Germany. Thus, many nobles from childhood studied a foreign language, becoming later bilinguals.

Bilingual or bilingual?

It should be noted immediately that along with the term "bilingual" there is a paronymic to it - "bilingual". Despite the similar sound, the meaning is different. So, bilingual - books, literary monuments, created simultaneously in two languages. Often these are texts submitted in parallel.

Kinds of bilinguals

There are two main types of bilinguals - pure and mixed.

Clean - people who use languages in isolation: at work - one at home - another. Or, for example, they talk with the same people in one language, with others on the other. Quite often this is observed in the situation with translators or people who have moved to a permanent place of residence abroad.

The second type is mixed bilinguals. These are people who speak two languages, but do not consciously distinguish between them. In conversation, they continually move from one to another, with the transition can occur even within the framework of one sentence. A fairly vivid example of such bilingualism is the mixing of Russian and Ukrainian in the speech. The so-called surzhik. In case the bilingual can not find the right word in Russian, instead of it he uses the Ukrainian equivalent, and vice versa.

How to become bilinguals?

There are several ways of occurrence of this phenomenon.

One of the main reasons is mixed marriages. Children-bilinguals in international families are not uncommon. So, if one parent is a native speaker of the Russian language, and the second is English, then in the course of his development the child equally well assimilates both. The reason is simple: communication takes place with each parent in his native language. In this case, linguistic perception in children develops the same way.

The second reason is the emigration of parents of one nationality before or after the birth of a child. Passive bilinguals are people who have grown up either in countries with two state languages, or in families of migrants. In this case, the second language is taught in the school or kindergarten. The first is instilled by parents in the process of education.

A vivid example of countries where bilinguals of this type are most often found are Canada, Ukraine and Belarus.

There are also people who have specially mastered the second language. Usually this happens if a person immigrated to another country, created a family with a foreigner.

In addition, almost every translator in the process of his training becomes bilingual. Without this, a complete and high-quality translation is not possible, especially synchronous.

Most often you can find bilingual, English for which is native along with Russian, German or, say, Spanish.

Benefits

What are the advantages of this phenomenon? Of course, the main advantage is the knowledge of the two languages, which in the future will help to find a decent job or successfully immigrate. But this is only an indirect advantage.

As scientists note, bilinguals are more susceptible to other people and cultures of foreign countries. They have a wide horizon. This is due to the fact that each language is a reflection of the life and traditions of a particular people. It contains specific concepts, rituals and beliefs are reflected. Studying foreign, the child also gets acquainted with the culture of its carriers, studies idioms and their meaning. It has long been known that these or those phrases can not be literally translated into another language. So, in English it is rather difficult to translate the name of the Shrovetide festivals, Ivan Kupala, as they are absent in English culture. They can only be described.

The brain of people who speak several languages is more developed, the mind is flexible. It is known that children-bilinguals learn better than their classmates, they are equally easy to give both humanitarian and exact sciences. In a more mature age, they are quicker to make certain decisions, do not think in terms of stereotypes.

Another undoubted plus is a more developed metalinguistic perception. Such people more often, seeing errors in speech, understand its grammar and structure. In the future, they will quickly master the third, fourth, fifth languages, applying the already existing knowledge of linguistic models.

Three study periods

The degree of language proficiency depends on the age at which the work was started. Children-bilinguals become both in the early, infantile years, and in later periods. They are isolated only three.

The first is infantile bilingualism, whose age limits range from 0 to 5 years. It is believed that it is at this age that it is best to begin learning a second language. At this time, neural connections are formed faster, which affects the quality of mastering a new linguistic model. In this case, the second language should be vaccinated already at the time when the child got acquainted with the basics of the first. At this time, the organs of speech, fine motor skills, attention and memory are physiologically developed. Approximate age is 1.5-2 years. In this case, the child will speak both languages without an accent.

Children's bilingualism - from 5 to 12 years. At this time the child is already consciously studying the language, replenishing his passive and active vocabulary. The study of the second linguistic model at this age also provides for pure speech and lack of emphasis. Although at this time the child is already clearly aware of which language is his first, native language.

The third stage is teenage, from 12 to 17 years. The study of the second language in this situation is often influenced by the school. Bilingual education begins in the secondary school, in special classes with the study of a foreign language. It is worth noting that the formation of it involves a number of problems. In the first place - with the continued emphasis in the future. Secondly, the child has to be specially tuned to the study of someone else's speech.

Strategies of bilingualism

There are three main strategies in the study of bilingualism.

1. One parent - one language. With this strategy, the family is immediately spoken in two languages. So, for example, the mother communicates with her son / daughter exclusively in Russian, the father - in Italian. The child understands both languages equally well. It should be noted that with such a strategy, as the bilingua grows up, problems can arise. The most common is when the child realizes that the parents understand his speech, regardless of the language in which he speaks. At the same time, he chooses a language convenient for him and begins to communicate mainly on it.

2. Time and place. With this strategy, parents are allocated a certain time or place in which the child will communicate with others only in a foreign language. For example, on Saturdays the family communicates in English or German, visits a language circle where communication takes place solely on a foreign language.

This option is convenient to apply for the upbringing of a child whose native language is Russian. Bilingua in this case can be raised, even if both parents are Russian-speaking.

3. Home language. So, in one language the child communicates exclusively at home, on the second - in the kindergarten, school, on the street. It is often used when parents immigrated to another country together with the baby and themselves are mediocre enough to own a foreign one.

Length of lessons

How many it is necessary to study a foreign language to become a bilingual? There is no exact answer to this question. It is believed that when mastering someone else's speech at a conscious age, it is necessary to give lessons at least 25 hours a week, that is, about 4 hours a day. At the same time, it is necessary to carry out not only exercises for the development of speech and understanding, but also letters and reading. In general, the duration of classes should be calculated based on the chosen training strategy, as well as the goals and time during which it is planned to learn some or other knowledge.

Helpful Tips

So, how to raise bilingual? We offer eight recommendations that will help you organize the lessons with the child correctly.

1. Choose one, the most convenient strategy for yourself and follow it steadily.
2. Try to put the child in the cultural environment of the language you are studying. To do this, familiarize it with the traditions of the chosen people.
3. Talk as much as possible with the child in a foreign language.
4. At first, do not emphasize the child's attention to errors. Correct it, but do not delve into the details. To begin, work on the vocabulary, and then learn the rules.
5. Try to send your child to language camps, game groups, visit with him language clubs.
6. Use audio and video materials, books to teach. Bilinguals in English can read both adapted and original literature.
7. Do not forget to praise the child for his success, to encourage him.
8. Be sure to explain why you are learning a foreign language, what exactly it will give in the future. Encourage the child to learn and you will succeed.

Possible difficulties

What difficulties can arise in the course of language learning? We list the main of them:

1. Limited vocabulary of both languages because of different spheres of consumption. So, if a child uses a foreign language exclusively at school, many lexemes designed to denote everyday concepts may not be included in his vocabulary, and vice versa.
2. Inability to read and write in one of the languages. Often arises from the parents' wrong approach to learning a bilingual child. Language, which is given more attention to it, becomes the main one.
3. The average character of the pronunciation. Both in one and in the second language there can be an accent.

4. Wrong stress in one word or another. Especially if in languages there are identical tokens with different stress.
5. The strategy of mixing languages in the event that the interlocutor understands both. In general, this problem is eliminated by itself in the process of growing up a child.

conclusions

Bilinguals are people who equally speak two languages. They are becoming so in infancy because of the language environment, with increased training in foreign speech. Of course, you can become bilingual at a later age, but this will involve a number of problems.