LITTLE PIM BLOG
New Brain Studies Indicate Early Childhood is the Best Time to Learn a New Language
It's proven that the best time to learn a new language is under the age of 6. New studies from the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences indicate "the notion that not only are very young children capable of learning multiple languages, but that early childhood is the optimum time for them to begin."
In the video below, research scientist and the study's lead author, Naja Ferjan Ramirez summarizes the results from the brain studies performed on sixteen 11-month-old babies, half raised in bilingual homes and the other half in monolingual homes:
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Our results suggest that before they even start talking, babies raised in bilingual households are getting practice at tasks related to executive function. This suggests that bilingualism shapes not only language development, but also cognitive development more generally, said Ramirez.
It's amazing to see the results from the brain-recording technique used in the study called magnetoencephalography. "The brains of bilingual babies were specialized to process the sounds of both languages, Spanish and English. The brains of babies from monolingual families were specialized to process the sounds of English and were not sensitive to Spanish," says Ramirez. No surprise there!
What's more interesting is that as early as 11 months old, we're able to see that the bilingual brains showed increased activity in areas related to executive functioning. According to The Center on The Developing Child at Harvard University, when children have the opportunity to develop cognitive skills early on, individuals and society experience lifelong benefits.
Executive function and self-regulation skills are the mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully....Providing the support that children need to build these skills at home, in early care and education programs, and in other settings they experience regularly is one of society’s most important responsibilities.
Are you ready to teach your little ones a new language? Check out the research behind our method to learn more about how we integrate scientific studies like these to help kids effectively learn languages, both native and foreign.
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6 Benefits of Raising Bilingual Children
According to the American Community Survey, close to 20% of people in the United States are bilingual. The number of individuals who have the ability to speak more than one language is on the rise. So, why are parents opting to teach their children an additional language (or two)? Just what are some the advantages of being bilingual? Let’s examine 6 benefits of raising bilingual children:
Increased Cognitive Ability
Jeffrey Kluger in a Time Magazine article says, "Babies are born with the inherent ability to speak and understand the world’s 6,800 languages, and that babies, and then children, are able to continue to easily learn multiple languages up into early grammar school."
Kluger goes on to say that later in life, having gained these language abilities as babies and children, multilingual adults “are better at reasoning, at multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas. They work faster and expend less energy doing so, and as they age, they retain their cognitive faculties longer, delaying the onset of dementia and even full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.”
More Flexible Brain
The ability to balance two separate languages and alternate between the two when the situation dictates would require a certain degree of flexibility. And as is true with any muscle, over time exercise will increase flexibility. Because bilinguals may acquire two languages in the time in which monolinguals acquire one, they quickly become more flexible learners*. The speed and apparent ease with which young infants learn the basics of a language regularly astound parents and scientists alike*.
Increased Listening Skills
As children begin to tune their hearing to learn unfamiliar sounds and words in the new language, their listening skills develop. It is somewhat similar to a musician having a trained ear for the sounds of the notes over time.
Did you know that babies hear their mother’s voices before birth and as newborns, they already know the rhythm of their native language? Once born, babies can actually recognize differences in languages*. Babies are particularly attuned to hearing phonemes, the sound elements or building blocks of language, and repeated studies show that babies are actually more attuned to perceiving phonemes than adults.
Higher Memory Retention
As children memorize new words, they are actually helping their brain to be better at memory work in the future. How is that? As you stimulate the brain with difficult, new challenges, you work it out; thus, giving the brain a boost in overall health, vitality, and increase in memory power.
Dr. Andrea Mechelli of University College London published her team’s research that found “grey matter” density in scans of the left-brain was greater in bilinguals than in monolinguals. The brain’s left side is responsible for processing information and controlling aspects of sensory perception, memory and speech. Dr. Mechelli found this increase was most significant in children who had learned a foreign language before the age of five.
Increased Marketability in the Future Workplace
A study from a Los Angeles-based recruiter found that almost 9 out of 10 headhunters in Europe, Latin America, and Asia reported that bilingual skills is critical for success in today's business setting. In this increasingly global world, bilingualism carries many benefits. Furthermore,
“66 percent of North American recruiters agreed that being bilingual will be increasingly important in the next 10 years.”
Better Problem Solvers
Language is like a puzzle. Letters and sounds fit together to make words, and then words fit together to make sentences. By fitting the pieces together in a new language, children become naturally more adept at problem-solving abilities. Visit the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's website for more advantages of being bilingual.
People everywhere have discovered the Little Pim program to their delight. Celebrities who have utilized the program offered these words of praise for Little Pim:
- Alyssa Milano – “Thank you so much for sending Milo The Little Pim language. . .”
- Tori Spelling – “Thank you so much for sending us Little Pim - Spanish. The kids love it – and I am learning from it too!”
- Kevin James – “We [love] little Pim. . .”
- Bill Horn & Scout Masterson – “Thanks for the Panda. . .We’re actually fans of Little Pim. . .”
At Little Pim, we have developed an award-winning program that taps into the young child’s unique capability to absorb new languages at a rapid rate. Using what children love most, lively adorable animals and other babies, we developed language learning videos that have been highly effective. Try us free today to start teaching your little ones a new language!
Raising a "People Person": New Studies Indicate Multilingual Exposure Improves Children's Social Skills
It's commonly accepted that bilingual children tend to have more opportunities to succeed in life than those who are monolingual. Speaking more than one language opens doors and allows for increased understanding of the world, not to mention the people in it. Studies have already shown that bilingual children may have increased cognitive function, consistently performing better than their monolingual peers at problem solving.
Now, it seems there may be other, equally important benefits to bilingualism and exposure to multilingual environments. In a recent piece entitled, "The Superior Social Skills of Billinguals," published in the New York Times by Katherine Kinzler, associate professor of psychology and human development at Cornell University, covers new studies which indicate that multilingual exposure improves children's social skills.
How does this work, exactly?
Being bilingual enables a child to view the world from another's perspective. They must understand when and to whom they should speak a certain language. Children who are not bilingual, but are consistently exposed to another language often have the same ability. Being raised in a multilingual environment is the driving factor, for example, young children who had grandparents who spoke another language or parents who introduced their kids to new languages and cultures at an early age with products like Little Pim.
Recognizing that other people have different perspectives and experiences allows bilingual children and those with multilingual exposure to put things into context. This greatly aids in communication.
We live in an increasingly global world – one where bilingualism carries many benefits. Luckily, the studies show that even exposure to languages before a child can speak is beneficial. In fact, the earlier a child is immersed in another language or culture, the more familiar they are with recognizing other perspectives.
Starting your child early with languages can help them to not only excel in school and, eventually, in the workplace, but can equip them with the skills they need to communicate effectively with people from all different backgrounds and perspectives.
For more information about helping your child build the skills they need for success in the global community, check out these articles and studies about the benefits of teaching your child a foreign language and why starting early is so important.
Are you considering teaching your child a second language? Comment below with your thoughts and experiences.
Stanford researchers say early language learning is critical
How do we begin to learn a language? How do young children go from the "goo" (baby talk) to being able to form real words and sentences by the time they're toddlers? In the video below, Stanford researchers discuss their studies involving children's language learning, what abilities are involved in language learning, and how language interacts with kids' understanding of their social world.
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The researchers explain the importance of understanding how kids learn so that we can begin to design better early childhood intervention programs for kids who aren't getting enough language input, or in cases of developmental disabilities.
They also stress that the language children are exposed to in infancy and early childhood has a huge impact on their later language and academic abilities. As Associate Professor Michael Frank says in the video,
The language exposure you get early on in life is really critical for your later language proficiency and your school performance.
Their conclusion backs up the premise behind our award-winning language learning program: the best time for kids to learn a language is before age 6. Be sure to check out the research behind our method to learn more about how we integrate scientific studies like these to help kids effectively learn languages, both native and foreign.
Little Pim Supports Universal Pre-K
All children deserve a smart start in life. National and local momentum has built behind universal pre-K, an international movement to make quality preschool education accessible to all children in the United States. Several states including Georgia, Oklahoma and Florida already offer pre-K to all children, and 40 states, overall, offer at least some publicly funded pre-K programming. Here in New York City, where Little Pim is based, a recent state budget agreement has enabled the mayor, Bill de Blasio, to begin working to add 53,000 new full-day pre-K seats to the city's public school system. President Obama and Washington lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing for Congress to approve federal support and we can hope to see more states follow suit in the upcoming years.
Progress is underway, but the United States must continue to expand access to ensure its children remain competitive in the global marketplace. Many other industrialized countries, including France, Sweden, Canada, India and Australia have long offered government-funded public preschool programs – and it's easy to see why.
Research indicates that high-quality early childhood education offers enduring benefits – benefits similar to those brought by early bilingualism. It has been found to improve children's long-term cognitive abilities, boosting language, literacy and mathematics skills, and to positively affect behavioral traits including sociability, motivation and self-esteem.
What's more, studies show, the benefits of pre-K for kids continue into adulthood, leading to greater college success, higher incomes and lower rates of incarceration. These benefits are most pronounced for disadvantaged kids but there are undeniable benefits to early education for children from all socio-economic backgrounds.
The growing support for expanding access to pre-K is exciting – and the result of parents and lawmakers taking action to level the playing field for kids and provide each and every one of them with the tools they need to succeed in school and beyond. We applaud their efforts and are in lock step with this important movement.
At Little Pim, the idea of democratizing education has always been one of our most important guiding principles. We believe strongly that all young children should have the opportunity to learn a second language when they can learn it best – in that critical window, from birth to age 6. These children will be better positioned to achieve success in an increasingly global world. In the wake of the Universal PreK movement, we would love to see a greater national focus on early world language education for all children.
What's Trending in Bilingualism
We've scoured the web to find breaking news and information in the world of Bilingualism. Check out our 5 favorite stories, below:
1. Taking bilingualism to the bank: In the Economist, bilingualism comes down to dollars and cents in, What is a Foreign Language Worth? The article looks at actual ROI (return on investment) for bilingual employees. While these numbers are lower than others comparisons we’ve seen, we found it interesting that you can expect being bilingual in German to increase your lifetime additional earnings by nearly three times that of Spanish. Will Goethe become more popular with the preschool set now?
2.Little Pim in the News: Our own Julia Pimsleur Levine, founder and CEO of Little Pim, is featured on Forbes this week in How to Speak Entrepreneur Like a Native. If you’ve ever wondered how Little Pim started, this is a great read. If you’re interested in hearing from Julia first hand about her entrepreneurial endeavors, her personal Forbes blog is here.
3. Kids bop to bilingual pop: It was only a matter of time before pop songs embraced the budding bilingual kids’ market. From the same producer who created the earwig “Friday” song by Rebecca Black, comes a Chinese/English song, “Get in My Car” sung by 10-yr-old Grace Liu. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5930503/10-year-old-grace-liu-wants-you-to-get-in-my-car-watch
4. “Hear and I forget, see and I remember” – National Geographic explores why it’s easier to remember new lessons, including a second language, when you use visual and tactile lessons---like Little Pim’s videos and books---and not just audible ones.
5. Say what? According to a New Zealand study, babies can actually make distinctions between words spoken in foreign languages.
The New ABCs: Surprising Foreign Alphabets Kids Will Love Learning
Do your kids love saying their ABCs? Then they'll be delighted to find out about completely new alphabets, such as Russian, Arabic, or Japanese. Not sure where to start? We've created a quick overview of just a few options we have at Little Pim. Try them out with your kids for some tongue twisting, language learning fun!
Pay attention to the following letter combinations that do not exist in the English language:
" “hl” as in “Hlieb” (bread) " “zh” as in “Nozhe” (bread), “Zholtoy” (yellow) " “ts” as in “Tsveta” (color) " “hv” as in “Hvost” (tall) " “zs” as in “Litzso” (face)
It’s important to pronounce your vowels correctly to be understood – you should open your mouth wide and purposely stretch out the sounds (always fun instructions for little learners!)
Now try this sentence out:
Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.
Привет! Меня зовут Крошка Пим. Я панда.
Privet! Menya zavut kroshka Pim. Ya panda.
The consonants in the following table are distinctly Arabic in the way they sound.
Kh -- The "ch" in "Bach" or "loch"; has a raspy sound H -- H is pronounced from the back of the throat The phrase SabaaH al-Khayr(good morning) has both the “Kh” and “H” R -- A rolled "r" sound, similar to the Spanish R, as in the word marHaban (hello)Gh -- A "gargling" kind of sound between "g" and "r," produced deep in the throat, as in the word Ghadaa (lunch)
Now put them together:
Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.
- .الصغير "بيم" إسمي مرحباً،
- .باندا أنا
Marhaban, Ismi Pim Assagheer. Ana Panda
Here are some basic pronunciation guides for Japanese:
- A pronounced “AH”
- I pronounced “EE”
- E pronounced “EH”
- O pronounced “OH”
- Double vowels – note elongation of the vowel
Now see if you can use the rules in the following sentence:
Hello, my name is Little Pim. I am a panda.
- こんにちは、
- 私の名前は小さいピム。
- 私はパンダ。
- Konichiwa, watashi no namae wa chiisai pim,
- Watashi wa panda
Ready for more unique alphabets? Keep the fun going with Litte Pim's Mandarin Chinese and Hebrew.
4 Surprising Infographics about Bilingual Education
Did you know the most commonly spoken language on earth is Mandarin? Or that students who studied a foreign language for at least 4 years scored an average of 140 points higher on the math SAT than those who didn’t? We found these fascinating facts and much more as we explored language learning and bilingualism Infographics around the web. We’ve collected a few of our favorites here. Click through to see the full graphic.
1. Second Language Acquisition By The Numbers
(credit, Huffington Post)
The facts and nothing but the language facts are the focus of this Infographic, including the most popular language to study in the United States (Spanish) and where scores improved on the SAT when students studied a second language (actually, they improved in all three sections!):
2. 50 Awesome Facts About Languages
(credit, UIC London)
If you’re looking for biggest, best, and most unusual language facts—from the number of world languages (7,000) to the easiest foreign language for English speakers to learn (Frisian, only spoken in parts of the Netherlands) this Infographic is for you:
3. The Benefits of Being Bilingual
(credit, BlueData International Institute)
What are the benefits of bilingualism? This Infographic links speaking a second language to improved concentration, boosted brain function, and increased creativity just for starters. Find out more:
4. Languages of the World
Finally, check out this Infographic from our friends at Pimsleur (which was created by Little Pim founder Julia Pimsleur Levine’s father, Dr. Paul Pimsleur) exploring the perceptions and realities of language learning in the United States.
Empowering Language Tips for Parents
SheKnows recently published an article on raising bilingual kids featuring our very own Julia Pimsleur Levine! The article encourages parents to "Fill Your Baby's Brain with Language" and includes some incredible case studies and language tips for parents who want to raise multilingual children.
The take home message is this: all parents are capable of giving their children the gift of a second language. Different families take different strategies: from One Parent One Language (where each parent picks a different language and sticks to it) to simply learning a new language along with your kids. The is no one right way to do it, and each family provides a bevy of useful language tips for parents who are thinking about introducing a new language. There is a style for every family.
Elsewhere on the internet, our friend Ana Flores of SpanglishBaby reminds us not to "underestimate how important commitment and consistency are in successfully raising a bilingual child." In her piece, she runs through some general Do and Don't language tips for parents to keep in mind as they begin to incorporate another language into their family's lives.
Both pieces are must reads for families who are just starting to speak in new languages and for parents who are looking for ways to expand on what they are already doing!
3 Things You Didn't Know About the Bilingual Brain
The internet is abuzz with news of a new study published in the journal Neurology that indicates that bilingualism can delay the effects of dementia (including Alzheimer's). While other researchers have certainly drawn the same conclusion in the past, this study has the largest sample size and is certainly worth reading about! But if you're more interested in how learning a second language will impact your child's brain NOW, here are a few more fun facts about the bilingual brain and language development from some of our favorite articles around the web:
- Children who learn multiple languages may make grammatical errors at first, but it won't last! Just as monolingual children sometimes make errors as they begin to learn the structure of a language ("I go'ed" vs. "I went"), so do bilingual or multilingual children. It's all a part of the language learning process.
- Socio-economic status has a greater effect on vocabulary than bilingualism. Some parents fear that adding a second language to the mix will stunt their child's development in their first language, but more and more evidence indicates that multilingualism is an insignificant indicator of how a child's vocabulary will develop. Read more at the New York Times.
- On the other hand, speaking a second language helps delay dementia regardless of education level. This new study demonstrates that even illiterate participants reaped the benefits of bilingualism, experiencing the same 5-year delay in symptoms as more formally educated participants.
