Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Foreign/Multi Language Acquisition

Just out of curiosity, I wonder what the consensus (or lack thereof) is regarding the acquisition of foreign lanaguages before college. I don't mean just for the sake of college applications but for the purpose of a well-rounded education, particularly in today's global economy/village.

Even in my day (back in the 80's), you needed a minimum of two years in a second language but most applications to top colleges probably had three to four years of at least one language. I was actually borderline with just two years in one language on my high school transcript, but I was also bilingual in another language as well as studied yet another language in middle school.

With my oldest, I started his first foreign language as a preschooler and continued through his elementary years. He did not start another foreign language until high school. With my younger two, I started their first foreign language as kindergarteners and stopped by 2nd grade due to their concerted rebellious efforts. This summer (as rising 5th graders), they are each tackling a different foreign lanaguge on their own. Of course, I am available to provide assistance as needed although I have not been called upon much.

What do you all think? What have you or your children done?

I believe that most research suggests that that the best time to learn a language is before 5 or 6 (not sure of the exact age, but definitely before high school).

We are a bilingual household, so my kids understand a second language (speaking it is sometimes hard, but they're still young and the main reason DS4.5 won't speak Japanese to his father is perfectionism and fear of making mistakes.)

I can share our local experience- when I was in public school, most kids applying to top colleges had 7 years of foreign language if they continued taking classes each year. Most did well on AP exams and such; I was placed at the seminar level my first year of college (and eventually majored in it).

My kids' school starts their language program a bit later; just this year they moved it to begin in 7th grade (was previously 8th grade). This is still starting later than the neighboring top public and private schools, who begin in 6th or elementary. We have also had some problems with keeping German in the curriculum; at the moment it has been "saved" but has been on the chopping block for two years due to declining interest/enrollment in the classes. We haven't reached end-of-high school phase yet, but it is my impression that most kids (applying to top colleges) continue on and have several years of foreign language when they graduate, though I may be wrong about this. So far, that is our plan.

I expected DD to be fully proficient in all of her three languages but she started resisting very early. She doesn't mind her father's first language so right now, she is bilingual. I'm going to completely switch our communication to my first language soon. It'd be hard at the beginning since she would most likely ignore me but I really believe that in the long run, it'd be in her best interest.

It's interesting but I think that the best age limitation is based on the average person. I have known a few people gifted with languages who seem able to mimick perfect pronunciation even when exposed to a foreign language as an adult. Of course, the test of true mastery is really whether you are able to think in the foreign language so that it is a one-step process from brain to mouth or from brain to paper without translating to/from English.

Short of enrolling in the language immersion magnet school, foreign language instruction is not available in the public schools until middle school and the choices are rather limited at that point. Our high school graduation requirements include two years of the same foreign language (it used to be less vigorous and just required two years of any language) unless you want to graudate with one of the trade-oriented concentrations (like child-care, construction, food/hospitality, etc.) rather than go on to college.

Good luck! Many kids are reasonably receptive until a few years into elementary. At a minimum, even if she rebels, she will at least understand the spoken language even if she refused to speak it or read/write it.

Multilingualism is the norm effectively everywhere but the US. Heck, even the kids are multilingual!

I learned my second language (French) starting at 4, my third (Latin) at 11--which I promptly forgot, and my fourth (Spanish) at 12. I reached near fluency in Spanish and have been told by Spaniards that I have a Madrid accent. In university, my Spanish began to rival my French because of the effort I invested in it. So people can do well even later if exposed to native speakers. I think it's never too late to try a new language on.

Patricia Kuhl is the person to Google on foreign phoneme recognition.

I think that there is a different emphasis based on the age you acquire a foreign language. At a younger age (preschool/early elementary), you are also limited by your knowledge/sophistication and language skills in your primary language. There is even a huge difference in the college level Latin texts versus the texts geared toward middle schoolers. At the same time, a different part of your brain handles foreign language learning at a young age (0-8?)that impacts the ability to think fluently in the foreign language and retention of the foreign language.