If I had a dollar every time I heard “how can my six month old learn a second language when he isn’t even speaking his first?” I’d be rich. WHY does a child start speaking? Because he has heard a sound and emotionally experienced its meaning enough times to commit it to memory, recall it, and articulate a replica to get what he wants. WHEN does he start speaking a language? Generally between the age of eight months and three years (depending upon the child). By the time a child suddenly articulates something that sounds like “bottle,” it doesn't mean that, in that instant, he suddenly understands that sound-meaning combination. It means that he completed his eight month to three years incubation period and is now showing the world that he's ready to use it. Consider these sound-meaning combinations: “Casa,” “Maison,” and “House.” Most adults easily recognize that these words represent three different sounds associated with three different languages with just one meaning. Was it difficult for you to recognize these words or recall their meanings? Probably not. As a matter of fact it probably took your mind less than a second to instantaneously recall each word's meaning and language group. Our brain has tremendous power and storage capacity, and so has a baby’s. As a matter of fact, many experts are convinced that a baby’s brain is signficantly more powerful than an adult’s. We can see how easy it is for the human mind to process more than one language at a time. So make the most out of a child's golden opportunity years. Start the long process of introducing sound-meaning pairs in more than one language in infancy. It's one of the best ways to bring up a child to be bilingual (or better yet, multi-lingual).
