Creating bilingual minds | Naja Ferjan Ramirez | TEDxLjubljana

Summary

This script explores the remarkable linguistic capabilities of infants, highlighting how they can naturally become bilingual without the struggles often experienced by older learners. The speaker, a researcher at the University of Washington's I-LABS, discusses her studies using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) to observe brain activity in bilingual babies, revealing that their brains specialize in processing both languages from an early age. The talk dispels myths about bilingualism causing confusion or slowing language development and emphasizes the cognitive advantages and potential of nurturing bilingual minds from birth.

Takeaways

• 🌍 Being bilingual is common in Europe, but true fluency in two languages is less common.
• 📈 Fluency in two languages offers benefits like better job prospects and cognitive advantages, including a delay in Alzheimer's onset.
• 🤔 The struggle to achieve native-like fluency in a second language is a common experience, even after years of use.
• 🧠 The human brain is capable of achieving native fluency in two languages simultaneously without unnecessary struggle.
• 👶 Babies are linguistic geniuses, learning languages naturally without being explicitly taught, and can become native speakers of two languages if exposed to both.
• 🧐 The speaker is a researcher at the University of Washington's I-LABS, studying brain processing of language in bilingual babies aged zero to three.
• 🌌 MEG (Magnetoencephalography), a safe and non-invasive method, is used to study the brains of babies to understand how they process language sounds.
• 📡 Bilingual babies' brains are specialized to process the sounds of both languages they are exposed to, unlike monolingual babies' brains that specialize in one language.
• 💡 Bilingual babies show stronger brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is linked to cognitive flexibility and attention switching.
• 👶🏻 At 11 months, bilingual babies already exhibit brain differences related to flexible thinking, even before they start speaking.
• 🚫 Contrary to common concerns, bilingualism does not slow language learning or cause confusion; it may actually provide cognitive benefits.
• 🌐 The demand for bilingual education is increasing globally, and starting language learning from a young age is seen as beneficial.
• 🏫 Public education could potentially provide environments for all babies to learn foreign languages from an early age through play and social interaction.
• 🔬 Six principles of language growth in children have been identified, which could be used to create effective bilingual education programs.
• 🌐 A European capital is testing the idea of promoting foreign language learning for all babies from birth, with promising initial results.

Q & A

What is the primary advantage of being fluent in two languages according to the speaker?

The speaker suggests that being fluent in two languages is advantageous as it creates additional job prospects, allows for communication with more people, and has been linked to cognitive and social benefits, including a delay in the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Why does the speaker believe that achieving native-like fluency in a foreign language is challenging for most people?

The speaker believes that achieving native-like fluency is challenging because of the difficulty and effort involved in learning a foreign language, and the struggle to overcome the foreign accent even after years of use.

What is the speaker's profession and area of research?

The speaker is a researcher at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), focusing on the brain processing of language in babies between zero and three years of age, particularly in bilingual babies.

What method does the speaker use to study the brain of babies learning languages?

The speaker uses Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a method that is safe, non-invasive, and silent, to study the brain activity of babies as they process language.

What did the speaker's research find about the brains of bilingual babies compared to monolingual babies?

The research found that the brains of bilingual babies are specialized to process the sounds of both languages they are exposed to, unlike monolingual babies whose brains specialize in processing only one language.

What role does the prefrontal cortex play in the brain, according to the speaker?

The prefrontal cortex, highlighted in green in the speaker's schematic, is used to direct attention, switch between tasks, and think flexibly, which are important cognitive functions.

Why does the speaker believe that bilingual babies have stronger brain activity in the prefrontal cortex?

The speaker suggests that the constant switching between two languages provides exercise for the brain, strengthening the networks involved in attention switching and offering a cognitive boost to bilinguals.

What misconception does the speaker address regarding bilingualism and language learning speed?

The speaker addresses the misconception that bilingualism slows down language learning. Research shows that bilingual and monolingual babies start producing first sounds and words at the same age, and bilingual children may have vocabularies of the same size or larger.

How does the speaker refute the idea that bilingualism causes confusion?

The speaker refutes this by explaining that code-switching or code-mixing in bilinguals is not a sign of confusion but rather a sign of linguistic sophistication, as it follows grammatical rules and is used appropriately based on context.

What are the six principles or ingredients mentioned by the speaker that can help grow children's language?

The speaker does not explicitly list the six principles or ingredients in the provided transcript. However, the overall message is that a science-based approach combining the right ingredients can help create educational programs for language learning.

What is the speaker's vision for the future of bilingual education based on the research findings?

The speaker's vision is to scale up the approach of using science-based educational programs to allow all babies to reach their full potential and start learning two languages from a very young age, potentially changing the game for bilingual education.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 The Challenge of Becoming Fluently Bilingual

The speaker begins by questioning the audience's fluency in multiple languages, noting the rarity of true bilingualism despite the cognitive and social benefits it offers, such as job prospects, communication, and even delaying Alzheimer's. They share personal experiences of language learning struggles and introduce the idea that the human brain is capable of achieving native fluency in two languages simultaneously without the typical struggles. The speaker, a researcher, suggests that studying the language acquisition abilities of babies could provide insights into mastering bilingualism.

05:01

🧠 The Brain's Innate Language Learning Abilities

This section delves into the speaker's research on bilingual babies using Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a safe and non-invasive method to study brain activity. The study compares the brain responses of 11-month-old babies from monolingual and bilingual households to language sounds in English and Spanish. The findings reveal that bilingual babies' brains are specialized to process both languages, unlike monolingual babies who only process their native language. Additionally, the bilingual babies exhibit stronger brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with attention and cognitive flexibility, suggesting a cognitive advantage from early bilingual exposure.

10:05

👶 Debunking Myths About Bilingualism in Early Childhood

The speaker addresses common misconceptions about bilingualism, such as the belief that it slows language development or causes confusion. Research evidence is presented to counter these myths, showing that bilingual babies follow similar language development patterns as monolingual babies and may even have larger vocabularies. Code-switching, or mixing languages, is discussed as a normal and sophisticated linguistic behavior, not a sign of confusion. The speaker emphasizes that bilingualism does not hinder language learning and may offer cognitive benefits.

15:07

🌟 The Potential of Early Bilingual Education

The final paragraph focuses on the potential of early bilingual education and the need for creating environments where all babies can learn multiple languages from a young age. The speaker highlights the importance of social interaction and live language exposure for language acquisition in babies. They propose six principles for growing children's language and share preliminary results from a European capital's initiative to promote foreign language learning from birth. The speaker expresses optimism about the impact of this approach on bilingual education and the possibility of scaling it up for wider implementation.

Keywords

💡Bilingualism

Bilingualism refers to the ability to use two languages fluently. In the video's context, it is presented as a valuable skill that offers cognitive, social, and professional advantages. The speaker emphasizes the importance of achieving native-like fluency in two languages, as it can delay cognitive decline and open up more job opportunities. The video discusses the challenges and misconceptions about bilingualism, such as the idea that it slows down language learning or causes confusion.

💡Fluency

Fluency in this context means the ability to speak a language effortlessly and effectively, akin to a native speaker. The speaker points out that while many people can speak two languages, achieving fluency in both to the point of dreaming or taking a job in either is less common. Fluency is a key goal in language learning, as it allows for more natural communication and understanding.

💡Cognitive Flexibility

Cognitive flexibility is the brain's ability to switch between thinking about two different concepts or to think about multiple concepts simultaneously. The video highlights research showing that bilingual babies exhibit stronger brain activity in areas associated with cognitive flexibility, such as the prefrontal cortex. This suggests that bilingualism may provide a cognitive advantage by enhancing the brain's ability to adapt and switch between tasks.

💡Code-switching

Code-switching is the practice of alternating between two or more languages in the same conversation. The video addresses the misconception that code-switching indicates confusion, but instead, it is a normal behavior in bilinguals that demonstrates linguistic sophistication. The speaker gives an example from their own family where children combine three languages in a sentence, showing they are not confused but rather adept at language use.

💡MEG (Magnetoencephalography)

MEG is a non-invasive neuroimaging technique that measures the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain. In the video, the speaker uses MEG to study how bilingual babies' brains process sounds from two languages. The MEG machine is described as safe, silent, and baby-friendly, allowing researchers to monitor brain activity in real-time during language exposure.

💡I-LABS (Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences)

I-LABS is the research institute at the University of Washington where the speaker works. It is dedicated to understanding how children learn and develop. In the video, the speaker's research at I-LABS focuses on the brain processing of language in babies, particularly those learning two languages simultaneously, to understand the neural mechanisms behind bilingualism.

💡Bilingual Babies

Bilingual babies are infants who are exposed to and learning two languages from birth. The video discusses how these babies' brains specialize to process the sounds of both languages they are exposed to, highlighting the brain's plasticity and capacity for language learning. The study of bilingual babies provides insights into the ease with which very young children can become fluent in multiple languages.

💡Language Exposure

Language exposure refers to the amount and type of language input a learner receives. The video emphasizes the importance of language exposure for babies learning multiple languages, noting that the brain specializes in processing the languages to which it is exposed. The speaker suggests that creating environments with rich language exposure is key to fostering bilingualism.

💡Prefrontal Cortex

The prefrontal cortex is a part of the brain involved in attention, decision-making, and flexible thinking. The video describes research findings that bilingual babies show stronger brain activity in the prefrontal cortex when processing language sounds, suggesting that bilingualism may enhance cognitive functions related to this brain area.

💡Cognitive Boost

A cognitive boost refers to an enhancement in cognitive abilities. The video suggests that the constant switching between two languages that bilingual babies experience may provide a cognitive boost by strengthening brain networks involved in attention switching and cognitive flexibility.

💡Linguistic Sophistication

Linguistic sophistication is the advanced knowledge and skill in using language. The video argues that code-mixing by bilinguals is not a sign of confusion but rather evidence of linguistic sophistication, as it requires a deep understanding of the grammatical rules of both languages and the ability to combine them meaningfully.

Highlights

The majority of people in Europe can speak two languages, but few consider themselves completely fluent in both for professional or personal purposes.

Fluency in two languages offers job prospects, social advantages, and cognitive benefits, including a delay in Alzheimer's onset.

Learning a foreign language is often challenging, with native-like fluency rarely achieved despite effort and time invested.

The human brain is capable of achieving native fluency in two languages simultaneously without unnecessary struggle.

Studying the brains of language learners, particularly babies, can provide insights into effective bilingualism.

Babies are linguistic geniuses, capable of learning multiple languages effortlessly without formal teaching.

Bilingual babies can become native speakers of both languages they are exposed to, unlike adults or computers.

The speaker is a researcher at the University of Washington's I-LABS, focusing on language processing in babies.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG), a safe and non-invasive method, is used to study the brain activity of babies.

MEG reveals that bilingual babies' brains are specialized to process the sounds of both languages they are exposed to.

Bilingual babies show stronger brain activity in prefrontal areas related to attention and cognitive flexibility.

Bilingualism does not slow language learning; bilingual and monolingual babies develop language skills similarly.

Code-switching or mixing languages by bilinguals is not a sign of confusion but a linguistic skill.

Bilingualism is associated with cognitive advantages and is gaining popularity in education worldwide.

The human brain at birth is equally capable of learning one or two languages, suggesting early bilingual education is beneficial.

Creating environments within public education for early language learning could enable all babies to become bilingual.

Six principles of language growth can be combined in a science-based approach to develop educational programs for bilingualism.

Preliminary results from testing bilingual education programs in European capitals are promising for future scalability.

Transcripts

Translator: Tiki Li Reviewer: Queenie Lee

How many of you can speak two languages?

Most of you can. We are in Europe after all.

Now, let me ask you this:

How many of you would say that you are completely fluent in two languages

so that you could take a job or dream in either one of them?

Not as many.

Why is that?

I think we can all agree that being fluent in two languages is a good thing.

It creates additional job prospects. It allows us to talk to more people.

It also has been linked to several cognitive and social advantages,

and it delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

So, why are we not all fluent bilinguals?

Those of us who studied foreign languages in school

probably remember how hard it was and how much we struggled.

I'm certainly speaking from experience here.

I started learning English when I was about ten years old,

in school, right here in Ljubljana.

And about nine years later, when I went to study in the United States,

I thought my English was pretty good, I was able to do my homework just fine,

but I also remember eating dinner with my college friends

and not being able to follow their conversations,

or going on my first date in America

and only understanding about half of what the guy was telling me.

Now, I'm sure many of you have your own stories about foreign language learning,

but there's one thing that most of these stories have in common:

foreign language learning is hard.

It takes a lot of time, a lot of effort,

and it seems that no matter how hard we try,

we rarely achieve native-like fluency -

even in those cases

when we have been using our foreign language for years,

we still maintain that foreign accent.

Does it have to be this hard?

I don't think it does.

What I'll tell you today is that the human brain is fully capable

of achieving native fluency in two languages at the same time,

and that we don't necessarily have to struggle to get there.

So what is it that we have to do to create bilingual minds?

I think a very promising start is to study the brains

of those who are really really good at language learning.

Babies.

Babies are linguistic geniuses,

and all over the world,

babies learn their native languages naturally and spontaneously

without anybody actually teaching them how to do this,

but this gets even better.

Those babies

who have a chance to listen to and interact in two languages learn both,

and they can become native speakers of both.

You and I can't do that,

and computers can't do that either.

So, why and how are babies so good at language learning?

I'm a researcher at

the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences -

I-LABS for short.

And I study the brain processing of language

in babies between zero and three years of age.

I focus specifically on those babies

who are learning two languages at the same time, bilingual babies.

The approach that we take to study the baby brain

is called Magnetoencephalography,

MEG for short.

We call it the hair dryer from Mars.

But it's important to understand this machine is actually completely safe,

non-invasive, and completely silent, so pretty baby friendly.

We use Magnetoencephalography to study the baby brains,

and the MEG machine that we have at our institute

is actually one of the few in the world that's configured specifically for babies.

We also have a team of trained research assistants

whose job is to keep the babies happy and entertained

when we study their brains.

One question that we recently studied with MEG was:

What goes on in the brains of those babies who grow up in households

where two languages are spoken at the same time, by native speakers?

If we look at these babies brains before the baby's even begin to talk,

are they different from those of babies who listen to a single language?

Here's how we tested these questions.

We brought the babies into the lab.

Half of them were from bilingual families

where one parent was a native speaker of Spanish

and the other one was a native speaker of English.

The other half of the babies were from families

where both parents were native English speakers,

so English was the only language spoken in the household.

Then to prepare the babies for MEG,

we use those special digitizing pen and a hat.

And what this procedure allows us to do is to track the shape of the baby's head

so that we can then continuously monitor the babies' motions

when the head is in the MEG helmet.

We then brought the babies into the MEG room,

where they sat on a special highchair,

the head goes right into the MEG helmet, and the parents sit right next to them

when we look at their brains.

During the MEG studies,

the babies typically listen to the sounds of language -

in this case, the sounds came from Spanish and English -

so let's take a listen to see what that sounded like.

(Video starts)

(Video ends)

Some of these sounds are specific to English, some are specific to Spanish,

and some are common to both languages.

All babies in these studies were exactly 11 months old.

This is typically right around the time

when babies begin to produce their first words,

but they're not really speaking yet.

So, what did we find?

What we found was that the brains of monolingual babies

were specialized to process the sounds of English, their native language,

and were not specialized to process the sounds of Spanish,

the language to which these babies were not exposed.

What about the brains of bilingual babies?

Well, as it turns out, the brains of bilingual babies

were specialized to process the sounds of both languages - Spanish and English.

So what does this mean, and why am I so excited about this?

What this means is that the baby brain specializes

to process whatever language or languages are present in the environment.

The brains of those babies who listen to one language

specialize to process one language,

but the brains of those babies who listen to two languages

specialize to process two.

There's one more finding in this study that I'd like to tell you about.

There's a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex -

it's highlighted in green in this schematic that you can see.

But it's right here, in the very front of your brain.

And we use this part of the brain to direct our attention,

to switch back and forth between doing different tasks and to think flexibly.

I think we can all agree that these are extremely important tasks to do

in the 21st century.

We were curious to see how the two groups of babies compared

in terms of their brain activity in these prefrontal areas.

Interestingly, what we found

was that the bilingual babies had stronger brain activity,

stronger brain responses to language sounds,

specifically in these prefrontal regions.

Now, why would that be?

One explanation is that the constant switching

back and forth between two different languages

provides exercise for the brain,

that it strengthens these brain networks that participate in attention switching,

and that this provides a cognitive boost to the bilinguals.

Many other studies have actually shown

that bilingual children, but also bilingual adults,

have advantages when it comes to tasks that require cognitive flexibility,

but what's particularly intriguing here

is that we see brain differences specifically in these areas

that are related to flexible thinking at 11 months of age

before these babies are even speaking.

So our studies have shown

that the baby brain is fully capable of specializing in two languages

at the same time,

and that there are possibly some additional advantages

that come along with this for free.

So, given these findings you may be wondering:

Why are we not raising all babies to be bilingual?

There has to be a disadvantage here that I'm not telling you about.

Some people think so.

One common concern is that bilingualism slows language-learning down.

That it makes it slower.

Research doesn't actually support this.

Instead, what studies have shown is

that if we consider the patterns in bilingual learning,

they're actually very very similar to what we see in monolingual learning.

For example, bilingual babies start producing their first sounds

as well as as their first words at the same age as monolingual babies.

We also know that if we give bilingual children credit

for each word that they know across their two languages,

their vocabularies are of the same size if not bigger

than those of monolingual babies.

Another common concern is that bilingualism causes confusion.

This concern arises from the fact

that bilinguals sometimes combine their two languages

in the same sentence or in the same situation.

This is called code-switching or code-mixing.

So does code-switching or code-mixing indicate confusion?

Science suggests that it does not.

Most bilinguals code-switch, and my family is not an exception.

In my family, we actually speak three languages,

and sometimes we hear sentences from our children

that combine all three: Slovene, Spanish and English.

Does this mean that our children are confused?

I don't think it does.

So let me give you an example to demonstrate why this is the case.

My four-year-old will sometimes say sentences like

"Mom, is daddy pod tušem?"

This means: mom, is daddy in the shower?

Now, why does he say sentences like this?

There are a few reasons.

The first one is that he can.

Bilinguals, unlike monolinguals,

have another language from which they can easily borrow words,

and they sometimes do this

because they know words from one language sometimes better

than they do in the other.

So for example,

my son probably knows the word "shower" better in Slovene than he does in English,

so he uses it because it's easier.

The second reason he uses sentences like this

is that he knows I will understand him.

He rarely use Slovene words in his preschool

because he knows that his teachers and his friends

will have no idea what he's talking about.

Bilingual children typically know very very well

when they can and can't mix their languages.

And studies have shown that even two-year-olds

will adapt their language to match that of their conversational partner.

There's one final point about code-mixing that I'd like to make.

Even though it's called mixing,

it's not just randomly mixing together words from different languages.

It follows grammatical rules.

I rarely hear sentences such as: "Mom, is daddy pod tuš?"

Now, those of us who are fluent speakers of Slovene and English

will know that I can say "Daddy goes pod tuš,"

but "Daddy is pod tuš" doesn't work; it has to be "pod tušem."

This is because the verb "be" indicates a state,

and in Slovene, it requires a different case than the verb "go,"

wich indicates motion.

This is complicated, right?

The point is this: Code-mixing is not easy.

It requires a lot of linguistic knowledge in both languages

as well as then being able to figure out how to combine this knowledge

in a meaningful way.

So, rather than indicating confusion,

code-mixing is actually a sign of linguistic sophistication.

It's also a perfectly normal, and expected behavior

that we see in bilingual children,

but also in bilingual adults who are fully fluent in both languages.

So bilingualism does not cause confusion,

it also does not slow language-learning down.

In fact, science suggests that there are many advantages,

and the demand on bilingual education

is actually increasing in the US as well as worldwide.

People are also beginning to realize

that starting from an early age may be the best solution

because we know that at birth,

the human brain is just as capable of learning two languages

as it is to learn one.

So what should we do?

How can we provide all babies with an opportunity

to learn two languages from a very young age.

In families like mine, the answer is straightforward

because parents are native speakers of languages

that are different from what the child hears outside of the home.

But what about everybody else?

As a child language development specialist,

I often hear from parents who are eager to provide their baby

with an opportunity to learn another language,

but they're not native speakers of that language,

and they can't afford to hire a nanny who's a native speaker of that language.

Some parents think that their baby may be able to learn a foreign language

by watching television.

Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Older children may be able to learn some foreign language words

from electronic media,

but babies learn languages through play,

through frequent social interactions with live human beings

who are fully competent and comfortable users of that target language.

So really, the question comes down to this:

Can we create environments, within public education,

through which all babies will be able to learn foreign languages

from a very early age?

If we start very very early,

how much and what kind of language exposure

is needed to create a truly bilingual mind?

From research,

we know that babies can learn foreign languages surprisingly quickly,

but at the same time,

we also know that the type of language they hear

is critical in determining how much they will learn

and how quickly they will learn.

So can we make this work?

We think that we can.

From research,

we know that there are six principles, six ingredients, if you will,

that grow children's language.

We think that if we take the right science-based approach

that combines these six ingredients,

we can create educational programs

through which all babies will be able to learn foreign languages through play,

in the context of public early education centers.

We recently started to test this idea in one of the European capitals

where the government is very excited to promote foreign language learning

for all babies from birth.

The results of these studies are extremely exciting and extremely promising.

So stay tuned.

We think that this approach has the potential

to change the game for bilingual education.

We're hoping to scale it up

so that it will one day allow all babies to reach their full potential

and to start learning two languages from a very young age.

Thank you.

(Applause)