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We can agree there are benefits of learning more than one language with respect to brain development of a child. However, the study we are discussing did not indicate that more than one language was being spoken at home. On the contrary, only a foreign language was being spoken. So basically, there is minimal benefit to child brain development in this scenario from birth to 5 years of age.
Let's be honest. Do you believe that the majority of people speaking foreign languages in the home are doing so to enhance brain development of a child?
I do believe there are some highly educated folks that understand this and therefore ensure children learn both operative English and another language as they grow up. But I don't think this is driving the trend of non-assimilation which if heightened will result in major cultural and social concerns for the nation as a whole.
If parents refuse to teach their children English or are not supportive of learning the language themselves by practicing it at home then can I opt out of my taxes for educating such children? Can we charge the parents an extra fee for this additional educational service? Or perhaps I can get a credit so that I can send my child to France because language immersion will be good for his brain development? lol
The thing is: no sane parent, from the most humble economic immigrant to a family of rich foreigners, would actively try to discourage their child from learning English in this country. It just doesn't happen yet has long been part of the narrative of scare tactics propagated by xenophobic groups within this country. English is the dominant language and every single group of non-English speaking immigrants eventually have children that sound like any other Kraft mac and cheese eating American kid. It's a lie. You are scared of a lie.
We can agree there are benefits of learning more than one language with respect to brain development of a child. However, the study we are discussing did not indicate that more than one language was being spoken at home. On the contrary, only a foreign language was being spoken.
Go back and read it again. It said no such thing. You are being unduly influenced by the OP's bogus thread title.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jvr789
So basically, there is minimal benefit to child brain development in this scenario from birth to 5 years of age.
Let's be honest. Do you believe that the majority of people speaking foreign languages in the home are doing so to enhance brain development of a child?
I do believe there are some highly educated folks that understand this and therefore ensure children learn both operative English and another language as they grow up. But I don't think this is driving the trend of non-assimilation which if heightened will result in major cultural and social concerns for the nation as a whole.
If parents refuse to teach their children English or are not supportive of learning the language themselves by practicing it at home then can I opt out of my taxes for educating such children? Can we charge the parents an extra fee for this additional educational service? Or perhaps I can get a credit so that I can send my child to France because language immersion will be good for his brain development? lol
I don't recall the study saying that non-English-speaking parents are obstructing their children from learning English. In fact, this seems counter-intuitive to me, since it's been a common historical pattern for English-proficient children to translate for their non-proficient parents. Everyone knows that children pick up a second language more quickly than adults do. (My mother didn't start using English as her primary language until she started school. Once she learned, she joined her older siblings in helping translate for their Swedish-speaking parents.)
BTW, whether parents intend to influence their children's brains or not by speaking a language other than English at home, the simple fact is that the positive effect is independent of their intention.
If parents refuse to teach their children English or are not supportive of learning the language themselves by practicing it at home then can I opt out of my taxes for educating such children? Can we charge the parents an extra fee for this additional educational service? Or perhaps I can get a credit so that I can send my child to France because language immersion will be good for his brain development? lol
So wait- you don't want to pay taxes because some foreign language speaking taxpayers don't speak your preferred language?
The thing is: no sane parent, from the most humble economic immigrant to a family of rich foreigners, would actively try to discourage their child from learning English in this country. It just doesn't happen yet has long been part of the narrative of scare tactics propagated by xenophobic groups within this country. English is the dominant language and every single group of non-English speaking immigrants eventually have children that sound like any other Kraft mac and cheese eating American kid. It's a lie. You are scared of a lie.
By not speaking in English in the home, you are actively discouraging a child from learning English.
I agree, our country has been able to assimilate in the past (I think this is what you were alluding to). But is there a tipping point? For example, in Europe you now have areas of foreigners which are basically no go zones for natives. Is that a lie?
Or even here in our own country as others in this thread have stated English only speakers basically being squeezed out of the construction trades b/c they don't speak Spanish? Is that a lie?
There is a tipping point with many things. If you remove any pressure to assimilate what happens? Do people assimilate because it is the natural order or do they increasingly cling to their native tongue, cultures and values?
This is nothing more than anecdotal evidence, but the wife and I just spent 40 days in Europe, in the month of September. We visited Barcelona, Rome,
and Budapest ( my birthplace).
Truth to be told, we spent most of our time in the touristy places, but it was hard to come across anyone NOT speaking some English, to a degree.
Also everywhere we went the signs were in the local language and English, sometimes the English sign twice the size of the local.
It was funny, while in Rome I asked a young man for directions, speaking slowly so he could understand me, and he replied in fluent English, speaking better than I ever did after living in the USA for 42 years.
Barcelona wast he most shocking, because while just about everyone spoke English, my wife often had problem communicating in Spanish, since some waiters and shopkeepers spoke tolerable English but not Spanish. Most of them were from an Asian or African country, and never bothered much the learn Spanish.
So wait- you don't want to pay taxes because some foreign language speaking taxpayers don't speak your preferred language?
Ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
I was sort of trying to make a joke here, perhaps a fail on my part. I guess the underlying point was when kids show up to school not speaking English they either slow down the class or need a special class with special teachers to get them up to speed. There is an extra cost associated with this.
Children assimilate once they begin attending school. At one time, my children attended an school district in greater Baltimore that translated the school newsletter into more than a dozen different languages. While many of their parents never fully became conversant in English, the kids became fluent very quickly. It was really quite astonishing.
That's not how it works. No matter their origin, children living in America are in school for six-plus hours a day and surrounded by English, which they learn easily. An immigrant family who speaks a different language at home is simply seeking to retain a connection to their past, the same way that my Dutch and German ancestors did for many generations after they emigrated. My daughter's best friend is Chinese-American, and they speak Mandarin at home to ensure he remains connected with his grandparents who still live in China and with whom he spends each summer. One of my friends came from Honduras as a teen. He speaks (a version of) Spanish at home, but he also speaks fluent English with absolutely no trace of an accent. Your fears are unfounded.
Last edited by randomparent; 10-24-2016 at 10:00 PM..
This is nothing more than anecdotal evidence, but the wife and I just spent 40 days in Europe, in the month of September. We visited Barcelona, Rome,
and Budapest ( my birthplace).
Truth to be told, we spent most of our time in the touristy places, but it was hard to come across anyone NOT speaking some English, to a degree.
Also everywhere we went the signs were in the local language and English, sometimes the English sign twice the size of the local.
It was funny, while in Rome I asked a young man for directions, speaking slowly so he could understand me, and he replied in fluent English, speaking better than I ever did after living in the USA for 42 years.
Barcelona wast he most shocking, because while just about everyone spoke English, my wife often had problem communicating in Spanish, since some waiters and shopkeepers spoke tolerable English but not Spanish. Most of them were from an Asian or African country, and never bothered much the learn Spanish.
While your evidence is anecdotal, it does offer a perspective that escapes so many of the people propogating this false narrative that some how: the English language is under attack. Around the world English is a very dominant (economically and socially) language. Many of these folks have never traveled, never felt what it's like to have to struggle to communicate surrounded by people that speak another language that they barley understand or don't understand at all or have never tried to learn another language.
The folks who maintain this false narrative are the same ones worried about the war on Christmas, the war on family values, etc. They completely operate on fear of the unknown and hate intellectualism. It scares the hell out of them to hear people speaking a language they can't understand in their immediate vicinity. So what do they do? They vilify the people speaking another language. It's a tale as old as time and it has a name: xenophobia.
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