Growing Up with Two Languages: What Mixed Households Mean for Kids

As someone who can say they grew up in a bilingual environment, but not a household, I wondered what I was missing out on. I would always go to other kids’ houses where both parents and children switched seamlessly between two languages mid-conversation and was fascinated. From the outside looking in, some might worry that growing up with multiple languages would confuse children or mess up their development. In the past, it was even common for pediatricians to tell parents to stick to one language at home, in order to not confuse the kids. Modern research, however, tells a completely different story. It turns out that kids raised in mixed language households not only survive – but also develop some impressive cognitive advantages over their monolingual counterparts. Understanding the processes in these households are an amazing example of how adaptable the human brain is, especially during childhood, and how such a tiny part of our life can have an enormous impact later on.

One of the biggest myths about bilingual households is that all the language mixing confuses kids. Parents often worry when their toddler mixes Spanish and English in the same sentence or can’t remember a word in one language but can in the other.  If you speak another language, you know that these happenings are commonplace and you might be worried too. But researchers who study bilingual development call this “code-switching” and have found that it is totally normal and not a sign of confusion. According to a study on early bilingualism, kids as young as two-years old can tell which language they are being spoken to in, and adjust themselves accordingly. The mixing is not in fact random, it follows specific patterns. The kids are actually showing intelligence by taking the path of least resistance when they need to communicate something. Recent brain imaging research even found that babies from bilingual homes who showed this sort of “code-switching” showed stronger brain activity in language processing areas and performed better on attention tasks, showcasing the potential benefits of mixed languages.

The real advantages of growing up bilingual show up in further cognitive tests that have nothing to do with language. Scientists have found that bilingual children also outperform monolingual children on executive function tasks. These include the mental skills that help you plan, focus, multitask, and control your impulses. The reason that many researchers have pointed to is the simple fact that bilingual kids are constantly managing two languages at once. Because their brains are continuously deciding which language to use, and consequently blocking out the other, and then perhaps switching back and forth depending on who they’re talking to, their executive control grows much quicker and stronger. As one researcher states, this practice at handling conflicting information makes bilingual kids better at tasks that don’t involve language at all, and these advantages can even make an impact far beyond childhood, as they can impact a child’s old age by building up their cognitive reserve, which helps prevent brain damage such as Alzheimer’s or strokes.

Of course, there are some challenges that come with growing up in a bilingual household that parents and teachers should understand. For example, in early childhood bilingual kids might have smaller vocabularies in each individual language comparatively, simply because they are splitting their time between the two. Another challenge arises mostly from when society or schools don’t value the home language of the kid. Families may feel pressure to abandon their traditional language and focus only on English in an attempt to better fit in. But doing so means kids can lose the connection to their family’s culture and even struggle communicating to their own relatives. Overall, the research consistently shows that there’s no evidence of harmful effects from a bilingual education or homes, and many, clear benefits that come with it. Parents, take notes, for teaching your kids several languages when they are young can lead to a lifetime of fluidity, cultural enrichment, and cognitive advantages that will last a lifetime. 

Works Cited

Bialystok, Ellen. “Bilingualism: Consequences for Mind and Brain.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 16, no. 4, Apr. 2012, pp. 240-250. PMC, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3322418/.

Bialystok, Ellen. “Bilingualism and the Development of Executive Function: The Role of Attention.” Child Development Perspectives, vol. 9, no. 2, June 2015, pp. 117-121. PMC, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4442091/.

Byers-Heinlein, Krista, et al. “Bilingualism in the Early Years: What the Science Says.” Learning Landscapes, vol. 7, no. 1, Autumn 2013. PMC, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6168212/.

De Houwer, Annick, et al. “Family Language Patterns in Bilingual Families and Relationships with Children’s Language Outcomes.” Applied Psycholinguistics, vol. 43, no. 5, Sept. 2022, pp. 1005-1032. Cambridge Core, http://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/applied-psycholinguistics/article/family-language-patterns-in-bilingual-families-and-relationships-with-childrens-language-outcomes/B1B43EDCF67B81A396B3E258B0B19F5C.

Hoff, Erika. “What Clinicians Need to Know about Bilingual Development.” Seminars in Speech and Language, vol. 37, no. 2, May 2016. PMC, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5021218/.

Hu, Xing. “Bilingual Children Outperform Monolingual Children on Executive Function Tasks Far More Often Than Chance: An Updated Quantitative Analysis.” Developmental Science, June 2023. ScienceDirect, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273229723000205.

Jensen, Emma Beth. “Shining a Light on How Bilingual Children Learn.” College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, cns.utexas.edu/news/features/shining-light-how-bilingual-children-learn.