If all the babies in the world were born to Shakira, they would all grow up speaking hecka-languages–and I don't mean just two or three, I mean like seven languages. ¿Tú crees? Wondering how I came to this conclusion? Pues, Shakira was on Twitter for a #ShakiraEdChat when someone asked her if you could teach children two languages from infancy, like for example English and Spanish. Not only did Shakira reply in the affirmative, but she blew everyone away by sharing all the languages Milan is already learning.
Read more ¿Qué más?: Raising bilingual kids is much easier if you do it this way
.@ShakNewsQuilla Cualquier niño puede aprender idiomas antes de los 3-a Milan lo exponemos al esp, catalán, ing, francés, aleman, ruso,chino
— Shakira (@shakira) December 10, 2014
So there you have it amigas, Shakira not only adamantly believes any child can learn multiple languages before the age of 3, she and Gerard Piqué are exposing their son Milan who is not yet 2 years old to Spanish, Catalán, English, French, German, Russian and Chinese. Wow, that's amazing as far as I'm concerned.
Shakira is not wrong about children being able to learn multiple languages at a young age. Studies back her up. As a matter of fact, Liza Sánchez, a bilingual education specialist, says that young children "are language sponges and will acquire new languages with ease. They will develop a perfect accent and can acquire multiple languages simultaneously."
I know that many parents and especially abuelos worry that babies and toddlers will get confused if you try to teach them more than one language at a time, but that's simply not the case. What actually happens is that when children learn multiple languages since infancy, it strengthens the neurological pathways responsible for language; it's like brain exercise that makes it so that it is easier for them to learn languages in general.
That's not to say that teaching children multiple languages is a piece of cake. I'm raising two bilingual daughters and I'm not going to lie to you, it's a challenge and something I have to recommit to every day, but it's important to me and I know it's a gift I can give them that will last a lifetime.
We can't all be like Shakira and expose our children to seven languages at a time, but kudos to her for giving her son the opportunity to strengthen those neurological language pathways.
Image via shakira/Instagram
