To learn a second language, a child needs to really know his first one

“My three-year-old doesn’t watch much television,” a Spanish-speaking parent recently said. “My friends say that’s why he’s not learning English—because he doesn’t watch enough TV. Is that true?”

Obviously, the mother’s question was motivated by her desire to help her child. But if you’re like us, you may have to restrain yourself from shouting, “No!” Having an immediate, research-based answer to parents’ questions is a challenge for all of us. Knowing that many of you entertain similar questions about second-language learners, we’d like to share some research.

“Acquiring two languages from a very early age does not cause language problems, but rather has cognitive as well as social benefits,” says psycholinguist Kenji Hakuta in Mirror of Language: The Debate on Bilingualism (Basic, 1986). Young children can capably learn two languages from birth if they have consistent “conversations” with fluent speakers of each language. The majority of our questions, however, come from parents whose children are learning a second language sequentially, such as this mother, whose three-year-old is learning English, when his first language is only partially established.

What’s the best advice to offer this concerned mom? You’ll want to encourage her to speak to her son in the language he knows best and to have fun with her first language through family stories, books, songs, rhymes, and word games. Children are more likely to become readers and writers of English when they are familiar with vocabulary and concepts in their home language. Their primary language serves as a foundation for learning to read and write in English.

The mother’s friends were partially correct: the amount of language a child hears affects the rate of his language development, but listening to English television won’t help him learn English. Learning to talk is social and purposeful. Children learn their first language through social interactions with their family, and they learn their second language in much the same way. Patton O. Tabors, author of One Child, Two Languages (Brookes, 1997), asserts that “children learning a second language cannot learn the new language unless they engage in social interactions with those who speak the new language.” Tabors also acknowledges that these children are in a double bind because they are ignored or invisible in a social group unless they can speak the new language. Fortunately, children want to communicate, so the best way for them to learn English as a second language is to play with English- and Spanish-speaking peers.

Parents should continue to speak their home language not only because children need to be surrounded by rich vocabulary and discussion, but because the home language is tied to the children’s culture. If a family abandons its original language for English, children may lose the sense of belonging or, sadly, the ability to connect with their grandparents or extended family.

Young children are able to distinguish speech sounds, or phonemes, that their parents may not hear, which allows them to speak the second language with near-native accents. It’s not true, however, that young children learn a second language more quickly or more easily than an adult. No matter how old you are, it takes one to three years to develop conversational fluency and at least five to seven years to reach academic proficiency.

Tabors concedes that “raising a child bilingually in the U.S. does not just happen—it requires vigilance and persistence on the part of the parents.” This we know for sure: the most important message we can share with parents is to embrace your native language and celebrate your culture—your children will flourish!