There is no question that raising bilingual children is better than raising them monolingual. While the language combination you choose doesn't really matter to get the benefits associated with bilingualism, today I'm making a strong case for it to be English and Spanish. Let me tell you why.
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- To communicate with family. If you're Latina, chance are some members of your extended family speak Spanish only or have a strong preference for Spanish. Maybe it's the abuelitos who immigrated as adults and don't speak English fluently or the tíos and primos who live back in Latin America. If you don't teach your kids Spanish, you'll be denying them the opportunity to create a bond with part of their family.
2) It's the second most widely spoken language in the world. Despite all the bad rap Spanish tends to get in this country, more people speak Spanish than any other language in the world besides Mandarin. That means that teaching your children Spanish will give them the opportunity to speak with a lot of people!
- More job opportunities. With 54 million Latinos in the United States, more and more industries are realizing the need to reach out this segment of the population. To do so, they need to hire bilingual employees who speak both English and Spanish. Not to mention the growth in business transactions between the U.S. and Latin America. It's also worth keeping in mind that bilinguals make more money than monolinguals.
4) It'll make them smarter. Ok, this applies regardless of the language combination. Being bilingual has been proven to make people better at planning, solving problems, multi-tasking and concentrating.
