What is the best age to start teaching a child a second language?

A second language denotes a person has already learned a first. Rephrase the question because children should be taught "other" languages alongside their primary language starting at birth.

Agree FizzBit. It should be taught at the same time from birth.

as soon as they begin to speak they can learn multiple languages.

@ cracaphat - one of my son's teacher said that it's not good to teach two languages from birth because it causes confusion. That kids need to master one language before picking up another. I was like, "What?!" Japanese seem to be comfortable in learning and only knowing their own language...

I would also think as early as possible. Are multiple languages feasible? Very young brains can process much more than we adults can ever imagine. cracaphat: Was your ex-student's opinion based on any existing research? Or was it just a bias against somehow "interfering" with the native language?

If possible, children should be taught two first languages, from birth (or even before birth - talk to your tummies, pregnant ladies!). They can learn a third, fourth etc., as and when the need/opportunity arises.

cracaphat's ex-student's concerns arise probably from a misunderstanding of what is going on in the bilingual child's brain. When our kids were little, I spoke to them exclusively in English (still do) while Mr cleo and almost everyone else spoke to them in Japanese. When the kids began to talk, at first it was a hodgepodge of Japanese and English all mixed up together - you had to be bilingual to understand them. Then gradually the languages sorted themselves out and the kids were able to identify who spoke 'like Mummy' and who spoke 'like Daddy'. Still, if they didn't have a vocabulary item in one language they would happily use the corresponding word from the other. Monoglots advised us that they weren't picking up either English or Japanese 'perfectly', and that we should stick to Japanese only. By the time they were halfway through kindergarten though, the kids were able to communicate in either language, perhaps not perfectly - after all they were still infants - but certainly every bit as well as their contemporary little playmates. I imagine the speech therapist is making a judgement on the speech abilities of three-year-olds. Wait till they're ten, then look again. Completely different picture.

Cleo, we are doing the same thing, and from the experience of all our mixed family friends, it should work well. I worry about when and how to add a third language. I don'r really believe the thing about talking to the tummy though, the research behind it is shoddy and inconclusive. But it doesn't hurt trying

I was raised in a bilingual household. As the youngest child, I spoke English with my older sibs, as that's how they communicated together, and I spoke my parents' language with them and their peers, and at the Saturday schools and summer camps I was sent on. I had no problems with either language, though obviously English has now won out.

I am so incredibly grateful for and proud of having had this opportunity - to be able to speak 2 languages from childhood as a matter of course can be only an advantage - there is nothing bad about it, and it has enriched my life. It certainly didn't impede my progress at school.

Sure, children may go through a period of being embarrassed about one of the languages, even disliking or rejecting it (as they do a lot of things connected with their family).

Ultimately, I don't know anyone who has grown up seeing it as an impediment. Do you?

From Birth. God knows it gets incrementally harder after that.

Once you have learned the language yourself is usually the best age to start teaching a child a second language. Any earlier than that and I think you would struggle.

In some European countries kids learn at least 2 languages from birth, ending with 3-4 by the age of 10. So, the Japanese opinion of "mind confusion" is pure BS coming from people not willing to make a significant effort towards learning at least English.

My two sons, ( now 30 and 26 yrs.) learned both English and Japanese at the same time, from birth.

The best way, with no other qualifiers or conditions, is to go live in another country where they speak a different language, and raise the child there.

In 1991, a Russian professor told us to start teaching from birth, but that each person should keep to their mother tongue and don't mix the languages. Apparently bilingual parents mixing languages make it difficult for the kids to sort out. So , I spoke English to my son, my wife spoke mandarin Chinese to my son and he got Japanese at kindergarten and Elementary school. There were no problems whatsoever ever and now at 21 years old he is completely fluent in all 3 languages. The Professor stated that the worst problem was Japanese mothers trying to teach their kids English at the same time as Japanese. They weren't able to sort out each language .Most kids will differentiate by parent or location.

Just adding to the above, this situation didn't exactly help me (as the father) to learn Japanese!!

@Urqinchina

I spoke English to my son, my wife spoke mandarin Chinese to my son and he got Japanese at kindergarten and Elementary school. There were no problems whatsoever ever and now at 21 years old he is completely fluent in all 3 languages.

Wow, well done! Lucky boy....

ebisen

Just so. Having lived in Europe, I watched many children become fluent in 3, 4, 5 languages at an early age, no problem.

Both my sons can speak 4 languages since me and and my are from different countries. Start when they are young. A baby can actually distinguish different languages already. Though it may be slower in terms of speech development at first, but afterwards, it is just like any other kids.

My ex -student who is a speech therapist for kids, said last year that starting at a very young age for Japanese was bad,due to impeding the natural development in the mother tongue.She almost had kittens when I told her I had 6 and 8 month old baby classes.

This belief is very common among Japanese. Where does it come from and why is it so widely believed? Japan Today should do a little article on this.

This belief (that starting a second language early is bad) is very common among Japanese. Where does it come from and why is it so widely believed?

It isn't only among the Japanese. When I was expecting our first, I read up widely about bilingualism, raising a bilingual child, etc., and came across any number of mentions of this belief, from all over the world. For a while we subscribed to a 'parents of a bilingual child' newsletter, and lots of people described their experiences of opposition to their efforts, mostly from monoglot family members and friends.

If you've raised a bilingual child, the reason is pretty easy to understand; when the child first starts articulating, his vocabulary is all over the place, and monoglots, who understand only half of the 'babble' and see that it isn't 'perfect', are anxious that neither language is going to be acquired properly. As I mentioned earlier, the languages soon sort themselves out and the child becomes able to express himself every bit as well as his monoglot friends, except that he can do it in two languages.

it is a natural ability to learn a language -a language does not have to be 'taught'