Switching between or combining languages is often viewed as a failure to adequately understand one or multiple of the languages spoken but is actually a sign of greater understanding of all of the languages. When a child is raised with multiple languages, refusal to speak in only one language indicates that the child understands that the translations are not always completely accurate and that mixing the languages is truer to what they are trying to say.

Also, there is a definite critical period for language acquisition and the ability to learn new languages decreases dramatically after childhood. Even if a child seems to be confusing two or more languages as a toddler, it is absolutely, without a doubt, better for their brain development and future ability to learn languages. Even hearing other languages growing up, without necessarily learning the languages, stimulates brain development.

Finally, many languages have sounds that don’t exist in other languages and babies have the ability to distinguish between every sound in every language while adults do not. For example, Hindi has four different D sounds while English only has one. Adults that do not speak Hindi or a similar language and only speak English or Romance languages (among others) can not distinguish between these sounds when they hear them and will almost never be able to learn to as adults. Babies can distinguish between all of the sounds but lose this ability as children if they are not exposed to it.

So, in conclusion, it will never hurt your child to learn extra languages (signed or spoken) in the long run even if it appears that the child is not properly distinguishing between the languages while they are learning. They are distinguishing and they will be more capable children and adults for the experience.

I guess one more thing is, if you’re considering teaching your child a language or enrolling them in language classes, while adults certainly can learn languages, it is massively easier as a child and sooner is always better.

LOL HOLY FUCK! I have bronchitis and you just HURT me making me laugh like that.

Babysigns? YES! It’s easy (you don’t need a book–just make up your own.) and will make your life and Dylan’s easier too, as he’ll be able to “tell” you his needs with little to no frustration. I think it’s important to be sure you always SAY the word at the same time you sign it, every single time, even after Dylan understands it and uses it frequently…it will encourage the verbal development that much more.

Good luck with it. It’s really cool when your child can express his needs without SCREAMING! :-)

The infant room at teh child development center where I work uses signs, and it is AMAZING. When you have 6 babies in a room, having them be able to communicate their own needs is a GODSEND. Not to mention it is completely adorable and awesome.

The other day she hurt herself pretty badly and just went around signing “hurt, hurt” and I felt like a good parent for giving her the ability to say that when she otherwise would have just been able to cry about it without my knowing exactly why.

We do basic ASL signs with some variations (some she made up, some she modified). Using food as a motivator is very effective, as well.

All in all, two thumbs up! In sign language, that means…two thumbs up!

We signed with our daughter and found it invaluable. I heartily recommend the Signing Time series of DVD’s as a fun way for the whole family to learn sign language. Unless of course, you’d prefer to take a 1/2 hour break while you plop the kids in front of the DVD.

Not that I’ve EVER done that. Ahem.

Hey, it’s EDUCATIONAL!

I’ve known kids who signed and didn’t talk for quite awhile – the signing seemed to exacerbate their shyness, which probably just had more to do with their personality than being a side effect of the signing. And I’ve known kids who signed and screamed at the same time.

So go figure.

Signing counts as a second language, doesn’t it? That’s always good for kids to have in their arsenal for the future.