Mrs Gampe, do bilingual children have a harder time?

«Can I have the eau, bittöplä?» Five-year-old Leonie is growing up with two mother tongues. Her mother speaks Swiss German, her father French. Leonie used to mix the two languages
often mixed the two languages and entertained her parents with charming
her parents with her own charming creations such as «bittöplä» - a mixture of «bitte» and «s'il te plaît».
Today, in kindergarten, the child can easily separate the two languages and also speaks her weaker language, French, fluently and well in everyday life.
Many families speak several languages. In the canton of Zurich, around half of all kindergarten children speak a first language other than German. According to the
Federal Statistical Office, the trend towards multilingualism among children throughout Switzerland is on the rise.
In the past, bilingual children had to contend with many prejudices, especially at school: they were said to have no real command of any language, especially not in writing. We asked developmental psychologist Anja Gampe from the University of Zurich about this.

Mrs Gampe, will Leonie have a harder time later on than her monolingual school colleagues?

We have moved away from this prejudice. Children can easily learn two languages at the same time or learn a mother tongue and another, initially weaker language at the same time. Of course, there are children who find it more difficult with one language and who may also have difficulties in this area at school later on. However, this depends on the child and their abilities and not on how many languages they speak. It can also happen in a bilingual family that one child feels totally comfortable with both languages, while the other child refuses to speak one of them.

One preconception was that bilingual children have difficulties with spelling or dictation. Is that still the case?

No. This prejudice has been disproved. Perhaps Leonie really will never write great dictations - not because she is bilingual, but because her flair for spelling is not yet so well developed.

Does this mean that a child can learn as many languages as they like? Won't there be chaos in the head at some point?

This depends on the language and the child. The more different the languages, the longer it takes to learn. Bilingual children sometimes start speaking later, mix up the different languages at the beginning or can only name certain things in one language. And yet: there is no such thing as the infamous «chaos in the head».

According to current research, what are the advantages of a bilingual child?

A bilingual child usually has fewer words to choose from per language than a monolingual child, so it pays more attention to other communication signals and is communicatively more flexible. Non-verbal signs such as gestures are more important, and bilingual children use more communication strategies than monolingual children. We have recently researched the fact that bilingual children are better able to deal with misunderstandings. Due to the different language situations, they are used to not understanding something or not being understood themselves and are more adept at dealing with difficult communication situations than monolingual children.

What other skills does a bilingual child have?

A bilingual child learns structures better and is also more practised in visual perspective-taking . They are better able to empathise with another person and what they see. There is this famous study by the University of Chicago in which children were asked to move toy cars of different sizes. Some of the cars were outside the field of vision of the adult giving the instructions - but the children saw them all. The bilingual children were better able to put themselves in the other person's shoes and perspective, whereas monolingual children usually only saw things from their own perspective.

Are there any disadvantages? Does a bilingual child get bored
bored later in class, for example, if they already know the language?

No, you don't have to worry about that at all. Schools today are organised in such a way that every child is picked up where they are. And even a child who already has a good command of a language usually doesn't know the rules of the language in detail. Even someone with German as their mother tongue doesn't know what the past perfect tense is at first.

Does the age of the child play a role in learning the language?

The younger you are, the easier it is to learn a language. You haven't spent so much of your life with one language, there is still plenty of room for another.

Speaking many languages is very much in demand in the professional world. What should parents do if they only speak one language themselves but would like their child to grow up bilingual?

Under no circumstances should you speak a second or foreign language to your child yourself: A child will only benefit from an additional language if they hear it from a native speaker. There is nothing wrong with an English kindergarten, a Serbian playgroup or an Italian nanny if that is what you want. The important thing is that the child should have fun learning the second language.

Keyword fun with the language: There are bilingual children who only actively use one language and refuse to use the other. How should you react?

Do not force it. That doesn't help. If different languages are spoken in a family, then stick to the rule of «one language per person», this makes it easier for the child. If a child does not actively speak a language for a while, this can change again. It is completely normal for a child to speak one language better depending on the contact and environment. Perhaps the child simply feels more comfortable in the other language at the moment, but that doesn't have to be the case forever. Nice cousins who you want to play with, but who «unfortunately» only speak the other language, can quickly make you change your mind.

What was it like for you? You moved from Germany to Switzerland with your daughter just in time for her kindergarten start. How did she cope with Swiss German?

Strictly speaking, Swiss German is a dialect, even though I think it's a different language. My daughter had no trouble at all and spoke Swiss German without an accent after three months at Chindsgi.

About the interviewee:

First language and second language

The first language is the language that a child learns first and knows best. It is also known colloquially as the mother tongue, as the mother is often the main reference person. A second language is a language that is used as a second means of communication after or alongside
as a second means of communication after or alongside the first language. In contrast to second languages, foreign languages are not used in everyday communication.
Source: lexikon.stangl.eu

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