UK flag | US flag
  • Call Us: 01908 557900
  • Email Us: info@k-international.com
  • Services
    • Communication
      • Translation
        • Document Translation
        • Legal Translation
        • Medical Translation
        • Government Translation
        • Retail Translation
        • Website Translation
        • Technical Translation
        • Gaming and App Translation
        • Software Translation
        • HMRC Translation
      • Transcription
        • Multilingual Transcription
        • Security Cleared Transcription
      • Interpreting
        • On-Site Interpreting
        • Video Call and Telephone Interpreting
        • British Sign Language Interpreting
        • Public Sector Interpreting
      • Accessibility Services
        • British Sign Language Interpreting
        • Large Print
        • Braille Translation
        • Easy Read
      • Copywriting
    • Compliance
      • Food Labelling Translation
      • Food Labelling Creation
      • Food Labelling Compliance
      • Food Allergen Labelling
      • Non-Food Labelling Translation
      • Non-Food Labelling Compliance
      • Multilingual Overstickers
    • Creative
      • Multilingual Audio And Design
      • Multilingual Voice-Over
      • Multilingual Desktop Publishing
      • Transcreation
    • Consultancy
      • International Labelling Solutions
      • Business Culture
      • Consultancy
      • Internationalisation
      • Product Concept Testing And Validation
      • International Marketing Translation
  • Sectors
    • Public Sector
    • Business
    • Retail
    • Legal
    • Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Medical Device
    • Financial
    • Technology
  • Govt. Frameworks
    • Crown Commercial Services RM1092
    • ESPO Language Services 402_20
    • NEPO Translation and Interpreting
  • About
    • Careers
    • TrackLingua
    • TalkLingua
    • Case Studies
    • ISO 9001:2015
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Services
    • Communication
      • Translation
        • Document Translation
        • Legal Translation
        • Medical Translation
        • Government Translation
        • Retail Translation
        • Website Translation
        • Technical Translation
        • Gaming and App Translation
        • Software Translation
        • HMRC Translation
      • Transcription
        • Multilingual Transcription
        • Security Cleared Transcription
      • Interpreting
        • On-Site Interpreting
        • Video Call and Telephone Interpreting
        • British Sign Language Interpreting
        • Public Sector Interpreting
      • Accessibility Services
        • British Sign Language Interpreting
        • Large Print
        • Braille Translation
        • Easy Read
      • Copywriting
    • Compliance
      • Food Labelling Translation
      • Food Labelling Creation
      • Food Labelling Compliance
      • Food Allergen Labelling
      • Non-Food Labelling Translation
      • Non-Food Labelling Compliance
      • Multilingual Overstickers
    • Creative
      • Multilingual Audio And Design
      • Multilingual Voice-Over
      • Multilingual Desktop Publishing
      • Transcreation
    • Consultancy
      • International Labelling Solutions
      • Business Culture
      • Consultancy
      • Internationalisation
      • Product Concept Testing And Validation
      • International Marketing Translation
  • Sectors
    • Public Sector
    • Business
    • Retail
    • Legal
    • Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Medical Device
    • Financial
    • Technology
  • Govt. Frameworks
    • Crown Commercial Services RM1092
    • ESPO Language Services 402_20
    • NEPO Translation and Interpreting
  • About
    • Careers
    • TrackLingua
    • TalkLingua
    • Case Studies
    • ISO 9001:2015
  • Blog
  • Contact

Blogging about language since '07

Brain of a Bilingual Baby‎

Language Blog
Please Share:

New parents are bombarded by well-meaning advice about how their parenting techniques could affect their child’s developing brain. A lot of this advice is exaggerated, like the potential benefits of showing your tots “Baby Einstein” videos. However, there’s a scientific consensus that infancy and early childhood is the best time to become bilingual, and that early exposure to two languages can have lasting, generally positive effects on cognition.

But why is it that? Scientists are just beginning to understand how bilingualism affects brain development in infants, and a new study from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences adds another piece to the puzzle.

Basically, switching back and forth between two languages is like mental gymnastics for your child, building the cognitive equivalent of both strength and flexibility. Study co-author Patricia Kuhl told Science Daily,

“The bilingual brain is fascinating because it reflects humans’ abilities for flexible thinking — bilingual babies learn that objects and events in the world have two names, and flexibly switch between these labels, giving the brain lots of good exercise.”

Between eight and nine months of age, monolingual babies lose their ability to distinguish sounds not used in their native language. This is the reason that people who grew up in Asian countries and learned to speak English later in life will often substitute “r” sounds for “l” sounds- the “l” sound isn’t used, so they literally have to reprogram their brains to hear a difference between the two.

When your brain distinguishes between two contrasting sounds, something called the “mismatch response” occurs. The study fitted infants with EEG caps to measure their brain responses to contrasting sounds from different languages. At about six months, monolingual babies from English-speaking households were able to distinguish contrasting sounds taken from both English and Spanish, but by ten to twelve months, their brains only reacted to contrasting sounds found in the English language.

There was a definite contrast with the bilingual babies. At six to nine months, the bilingual babies’ brains showed no response to the contrasting sounds in either language. However, at ten to twelve months, the age when monolingual babies were losing the ability to detect contrasting sounds in Spanish, the bilingual babies were able to pick them out in both languages. Plus, the stronger the “mismatch response” was for both languages at ten to twelve months, the more words from each language the child was able to learn at 15 months.

It seems that raising children bilingually literally changes the way their brains work to allow them to successfully use both languages later on in life.

Tags: Education Languages
Previous Post Original‎ Chinese Translation of “Colombiana”‎
Next Post Languages Sound Faster Than Others‎
Related Articles

October 21, 2020

 5 Halloween Foods From Around the World

By Richard Brooks

April 28, 2020

9 Creative Ways to Celebrate Birthdays in Lockdown

By Agnieszka Animucka

RECENT POSTS

  • machine translation: ultimate guide with image of robot hand hovering over keyboard

    Machine Translation: The Ultimate Guide

    17 February, 2021

  • How to Use Machine Translation: Our Top 5 MT Tips

    19 January, 2021

  • 5 Different Machine Translation Platforms, Reviewed

    19 January, 2021

  • An Overview of Post-Brexit Food and Non-Food Labelling

    26 November, 2020

  • What is Machine Translation?

    16 October, 2020

  • website localisation guide

    Website Localisation: The Ultimate Guide

    30 September, 2020

  • multilingual web

    The Multilingual Web: 6 Vital Facts

    17 August, 2020

  • ESPO language services announcement

    ESPO 402_20 Language Services Framework

    7 July, 2020

  • translation plugins for your website

    Translation Plugins for Your Website

    23 June, 2020

  • The difference between translation and localisation

    The Difference Between Translation and Localisation

    29 June, 2020

Categories

© K International 2019

  • Privacy Policies