This is a piece called "It's All About the Lingo" by Head of School Moshe Vaknin from our most recent "Bekesher." You can view the entire "Bekesher" online.
I grew up in Tzfat, Israel, in a neighborhood full of immigrants, where speaking at least two languages was natural for everybody. In my building alone, there were families from at least eight different countries: Spain, Romania, South America, and more. There were also families from different Arab countries, each speaking a different dialect. On the streets, however, we all spoke Hebrew. But, as children we learned a variety of different words and phrases from our friends and their families in their native tongues. These words were made very real to us, as they often dealt with the family’s home country’s food, music, and more. We learned to respect and enjoy different cultures and traditions; it was a truly a melting pot of Jews from all over the world. It was a great experience growing up in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural environment.
Again and again, research shows that being exposed to and learning more than one language tremendously benefits the development of a child’s brain-age. In their annual meeting in Washington, D.C., the American Association for the Advancement of Science presented research supporting this notion. Judith Kroll, a researcher at Pennsylvania State University, stated, “Bilinguals are also better than monolinguals at multitasking. Juggling their languages helps bilinguals ignore irrelevant information and prioritize tasks better than those who only can only speak one tongue.”
As children grow older, the number and complexity of tasks they are asked to perform increase, and the time to perform them decreases. Knowing at least two different languages will help them cope with and thrive in this environment. I can tell you that this is true among the many bilinguals I know. Many HAMC graduates tell me that they had an easier time learning Spanish or French in high school and college because they learned Hebrew for so many years before. Personally, as a speaker of three languages, my mind translates all the time. Even dreams come to me in different languages. I believe that this constant activity has helped me focus better when I need to juggle many diverse tasks at one time.
Historically, Jews were always bilingual, and, as a result, our rate of literacy was always high.
Therefore, I believe that teaching a second language as early as preschool should become part of the curriculum all across the country. It is important to start as soon as possible, since research shows that the older you start, the harder it becomes to learn.
The reason has nothing to do with the brain but rather with the environment and the social and educational circumstances. Ellen Bialystok of York University in Toronto, Ontario, said “As the human body begins its natural decline in old age, bilinguals seem to maintain better cognitive function.” Multilingual people maintain longer cognitive life than monolinguals.
We start teaching Hebrew as soon as a child enters the Hebrew Academy, even as young as two-years- old. Nothing is more promising than seeing our youngsters talk and sing in Hebrew in their ECC classes.
I must confess that I used to be embarrassed when my parents spoke to me in Arabic in front of my friends. Now I thank them every day for giving me the gift of being a multilingual. I hope that you will continue to give your children this everlasting present. It’s good for them, good for the country and good for the Jews.
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