The main thing that makes America great is the diversity in languages, cultures, food, and people. If we as a country, started embracing each other's differences instead of shaming people for not being cookie cutter duplicates, we could actually be a world superpower.
The family I was born into is Black and American. They only speak English (well and Ebonics). Whilst growing up, I felt isolated and depressed. If you'd like to learn more about that, please order a copy of my book.
My life completely changed when I began learning American Sign Language (ASL), Spanish, and French because I was able to make meaningful friendships and hold conversations in those languages.
The only thing I would change about my language learning journey is beginning as young as possible. That is why I began teaching typical, hearing kids beginning at the age of 3 months.
Here are 10 advantages of learning a language or two WITH your child!
Travel
Creating unique memories while traveling is one of the best things you can do with your child because money can't buy this.
When the world shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, most people were too cautious to go explore the world. Maybe to protect themselves and their families or just out of fear from the risk level being elevated.
Now that the world has re-opened and more people are traveling again, learning a language with your child can enhance the quality of your travels. You are more likely to make meaningful friendships with the locals. You and your child have the opportunities to make memories that typical tourists don't see.
For example, while studying abroad in Southern Spain, I made friendships that have now survived more than 5 years. While there, I learned from locals what restaurants had the best food at the best prices instead of the tourist traps. I also learned how
to go rock climbing and climb trees. I even made a friend who lived in Spain, from Africa, who I now call my primo (cousin).
One day we will meet somewhere around the world and introduce our children to each other because we are family now. I love traveling and missed it the most since the world shut down.
These kind of friendships only happen when you take the time to learn from locals about why they love their city/country because they grew up there.
Quality Time
There are 7 days in a week and 24 hours in a day. That means per week there are 168 hours per week. If you as a parent work full-time and send your child to a brick-and-mortar school or pre-school for 40 hours out the week, that leaves 128 hours. Assuming you all get an average of 7 hours of sleep per night, that leaves 79 hours out the week. When you take away your morning routine, night routine, showers, time on the toilet, time on social media to decompress, time eating and cooking, that does not leave much time for family.
When you learn something new together, like a language or two, you maximize on the little time that is left.
At some point we all come to the end of our own timelines. I don't ever want to regret not spending enough time with my children and I believe most parents feel the same. Afterall, they are only so litte for a short amount of time, you might as well maximize it.
Build Trust in your relationship
There is too much going on in the world for your child not to feel safe talking to you about any of their troubles. We know first-hand what happens when kids get bullied and feel like they can't talk to anyone about it. This leads to them deciding to take matters into their own hands.
Being able to trust that a parent or teacher cares about them makes the world of a difference and can prevent a school-shooting. That is why Señora Enesse encorages parents and students to learn and practice together.
Build Confidence
Most typical, monolingual English speaking kids feel confident in their linguistic abilities by 10 years old. I started teaching some of my students at 3 months old. If their parents had begun learning and practicing with them,
by the time those kids turn 10, they'd be fully multilingual and confident to help break communication barriers.
Inspires
I live in one of the biggest metropolitan areas of the South. Here we have many people from all over the world and I love the diversity, even if they speak a language I have yet to learn. Learning languages has made me more compassionate towards connecting with people who are from different cultures and racial backgrounds.
As a black woman, people often make assumptions about me. I take every chance to break the stereotype of an uneducated person by connecting with as many people as possible in their native language when possible. Even when I make mistakes (sometimes I get nervous or excited), they are understanding, patient, and teach me something new.
I can't wait til I have the opportunity to build more unity in my community. I want to create the united community so that the next generations benefit from us working together.
Learning multiple languages has created a desire in me to have a global impact and I believe it can do the same for parents who learn with their children.
Can have private conversations in public
One thing I love about my daughter understanding English, Spanish, ASL, and a little French is the fact that we can have private conversations in public and around family. I don't know about your family, but mine is nosey and likes to involve themselves in the parenting of all the kids. There are certain parenting styles in my family I do not want implemented into rearing my children. I love that I can calmly talk to my daughter in languages that my family doesn't understand so that she can still experience a private connection to her parents in public and semi-public settings.
Please note, when we are around Spanish speakers and I want to privately speak to my daughter, I use sign language and vice versa for being around Signers.
Can help to improve reading test scores
When taking all those standardized tests in school, I always tested in the above the average group. However, I remember when the reading tests got easier. Due to many loan words in English being from Latin based words, know both Spanish and French helped me to guess the meanings of new words.
Marketability
I have been working since I was a child. Legally, I have been working since I was old enough. The only time I did not have a job was when I did not want one. I wanted to take a break after graduating from high school so that I could prepare for my move to college. However, hiring managers love hiring someone with a great work ethic who can create the opportunity for diverse customers to become regulars because they feel more comfortable and welcomed. I have worked for several billion-dollar customer service oriented companies. My first job was at Six Flags and I spoke Spanish there daily. I used French and ASL there often as well.
Invest in your child's future by learning languages with them.
Each one, teach one
When people see me, a Black multilingual woman, they begin to believe that they can learn more languages as well. The "Each one, teach one" concept is key to breaking communication barriers. Not all people are qualified to become language teachers, but we can all learn something from each other. When we learn something that changes our lives, we want to help others (typically) change their lives for the better. What good is it to be lonely when you can share the knowledge?
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