1. Emotional benefits
Children from families with a heritage language, but living in an area with a different local language, will find learning both languages quite thrilling and beneficial. Some of the initial emotional benefits include:
a. It enables the family to stay close. This is particularly essential, especially if the parents aren’t fluent enough in the local community language. This reduces the risk of communication shut down simply because the children and parents don’t speak the same language. Sending your child to a bilingual nursery such as a French Nursery in London would reduce this communication barrier. Letting your kids develop their heritage language skills also means parents can take an active role in bringing up their children.
b. Most parents learn(ed) their second language as their heritage, hence can speak both languages almost fluently. This may be because they lived in a different country where they had to learn another language or had a passion for learning different cultures and language. These parents will, therefore, want their children to learn both the heritage language and community language.
2. Practical Benefits
A language barrier can be a big concern if one is travelling from one region to another. Learning a second language, however, means you will be able to express yourself there. The second language also diversifies your job market. An excellent example of this are bilingual professionals fluent in one or more languages. If one is fluent in French, English, or German, he/she will be in demand in Ukraine and other Non-English language speaking countries. Most parents that understand this enrol their kids to foreign language classes in their tender age. While English may be the principal language in the commerce and business world, the demand for multilingual professionals has been on the rise in the US and other developed countries.
Letting your kids learn a second language at a tender age means they will be able to converse in the same in their adult life.
3. Educational Advantage
Fluency in two or more languages makes one sharper. According to child development specialists, a child’s brain is capable of learning a second language. Bilingual education shapes and trains a child’s brain. Scientists are still trying to uncover and understand how a child’s brain processes new words and languages. Aside from this, bilingual children have a competitive educational edge at school as compared to others. Some of these advantages include:
a. Bilinguals are notably better (score higher) in problem-solving and creative thinking activities. This is because their brain can translate concepts from one language to the other, which again boosts one’s ability to handle problems efficiently.
b. Bilingual children perform particularly better in early reading skills. One of the reasons for this is because these children see language as a tool and not a passive part of their life.
c. Bilinguals have more persuasive skills in both their primary and secondary languages. This is because bilinguals have more than one way to communicate. While most bilinguals will seem to have slow progress in early language development, they usually come up at the top after some time. This is because their brains conceptualize everything first, another reason why they have a higher skill level in their dominant language. Most of these children will perform better than monolinguals
4. Cultural Advantage
Accepting and understand the differences between various cultures makes the world better and more peaceful. The first step to learning a new language is by understanding their culture. This thus means bilinguals can immerse themselves in other cultures more quickly when compared to monolinguals.
Most children will have a particular interest in cultures from their second language. This mostly manifests early in life with the child showing interest in various educational avenues. These children will show particular interest in street festivals, museums, and fairs. Very few monolinguals will, however, show any interest in a culture other than what they are accustomed to. This is because their brains are yet to understand the possibilities that come with learning a different language and culture. Bilinguals will even show interest and also put an effort to learn a third language as well.
The ability to accept and understand various multi-cultural experiences opens up new possibilities for multilingual. This is particularly important considering the world today has embraced globalization.