BROADER HORIZONS “Language is more than just a collection of words” Debby says “it’s so intertwined with culture. The better you speak a language the more you understand the culture of those who speak it which allows you to broaden your understanding of people”

W hen Faigy Folger was seven years old she moved from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn knowing not a word of English. Bais Yaakov of Boro Park placed her in the Yiddish class where the teachers and girls spoke both Yiddish and English. Faigy moved in April; by July she was managing in both Yiddish and English and by the following September she was conversing comfortably in both languages.

If you moved from Brooklyn to Buenos Aires today, how would your Spanish be in five months?

The brains of young children are singularly primed for learning language. Beyond that, learning a second language lays the neurological groundwork for a third: The more languages a person learns, the more he “gets” the concepts of language, making each subsequent language easier to acquire.

As Faigy was jumping rope in her two new languages, she was strengthening linguistic muscles that she would unknowingly need years later. As rebbetzin to Rabbi Arie Folger, Faigy has moved often, making her home in Antwerp, Basel, Munich, Strasbourg, and currently, Vienna. In each place, she quickly picked up the language of the land, be it French, Swiss-German, or German.

Goldie Sternbuch grew up in Antwerp speaking this unbelievable heptad: Dutch, German, French, English, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Flemish (with a smattering of Hungarian thrown in). “In Belgium, it’s fairly easy to pick up new languages, since you’re surrounded by them,” Goldie says. “In a yeshivah/Bais Yaakov classroom, five or six languages can be heard at the same time, since everyone speaks something else at home.”

For decades, speaking a second (or third or fourth) language was viewed as an interference, hindering intellectual development. Today researchers say that it is precisely this interference that strengthens a child’s executive function — skills such as switching attention between two things, staying focused, and holding and manipulating information in one’s mind. Bilingual children develop a heightened ability to monitor and keep track of their environment, in order to assess which language to speak in at any given time. Doing this results in greater mental flexibility, such as thinking out of the box to solve problems.

Research has shown that being bilingual also provides an edge in social skills. Having to determine which language to speak to whom trains a child to consider the perspective of others. (See sidebar: “The Benefits of Being Bilingual.”)

The ideal way to raise a true bilingual, the pros say, is this: Starting from birth, each parent speaks to the child in a different language, exclusively. At least one parent must be bilingual to achieve this. In this scenario, the child absorbs both languages naturally, and if the parents are consistent, the child won’t confuse the two. When a young child speaks two languages, it’s normal for him to borrow words from one when speaking the other; as his vocabulary in each language grows, this will taper off.

Swimming in a Sea of Language

Such test-tube conditions are nice, but most of the time, children are raised bilingually as a matter of circumstance: as the children of immigrants, or by living in a community that intentionally speaks a language different from the host country language, such as Yiddish.

The degree of fluency achieved in a second language is determined most by one thing: immersion. Throw an English-speaking child into an all-Hebrew environment, and his Hebrew will explode like dynamite. “If an American child moves to a place like Bnei Brak, his Hebrew may surpass his English by the end of his first year in school,” says Chaya Fine, an American-born speech therapist who lives in Sanhedria Murchevet and works with bilingual children.

Yet that may not be the case in other cities. Whereas years ago, the challenge for American immigrants in Israel was to ensure that their children maintained English, today the greater challenge is often for children of immigrants to master Hebrew. A person can be born in Israel, live there his entire life, and never develop a native-sounding Hebrew.

“Twenty years ago, when an English-speaking child entered the Israeli school system, by Chanukah he knew Hebrew — he was immersed in it all day long,” Chaya maintains. “Today, in places like Ramat Eshkol, where English is common in the playgrounds and schools, it can easily take two to three years to develop solid Hebrew.”

When a child speaks English at home and prefers to play with English-speaking friends, full immersion often doesn’t happen. It takes effort to provide enough Hebrew in a child’s environment for him to develop fluency. Books, CDs, language tutors, and after-school programs (chugim) in Hebrew are all helpful, as is hiring Israeli babysitters. But the most important piece by far is social exposure.

“Invite Hebrew-speaking friends, and if needed, up the ante with special activities,” suggests Chaya. “Until my twins were four, they spoke no Hebrew. When they started school, they made a decision to speak only English. Their attitude was, the world could speak to them in Hebrew, but they’d always have each other to speak English to, so they didn’t need Hebrew. I had to bribe them to invite Hebrew-speaking friends over, and needed more bribery to get them to actually speak to these friends in Hebrew. Eventually, the Hebrew came.”

Though full immersion is considered the best approach for language development, every situation is unique and sometimes, sudden immersion can boomerang.

“When we moved to Israel, my oldest was four,” says Sari, who is raising eight boys and one girl in Ramat Eshkol. “He was dumped straight from the boat into a completely Hebrew environment in the middle of the year, and it was a disaster. He couldn’t communicate his needs so he didn’t feel safe. He became aggressive both at school and at home, and didn’t pick up Hebrew at all. The following year, when he was five, we did something unconventional and placed him in a school with a morah rather than a rebbi. Although she only spoke Hebrew, she was very loving and gave him lots of TLC. He was able to relax enough to stop fighting and start absorbing Hebrew.”

If a child is particularly shy, or is a perfectionist fearful of making mistakes, he may refuse to utter a word in Hebrew — the emotional strain creates a mental block. This is not an uncommon scenario.

When Sari experienced this with her daughter, a speech therapist suggested that her morah not look at her directly and expect an answer in Hebrew; rather, she should throw out questions to everyone at once. Removing that pressure made a huge difference, giving her the confidence to answer in Hebrew when she felt comfortable.

Nechami Herskowitz is a bilingual language teacher in Yerushalayim. “I once worked with a boy whose American parents tried to speak with him in Hebrew, and he’d lie on the floor and refuse to answer them. I don’t recommend forcing a new language on anyone — it can backfire. Every child should feel his home is a safe zone, where he can communicate comfortably, with no pressure.

“Hebrew should be encouraged at home in a more passive way, such as being read to in Hebrew, but with no expectations on him. In therapy, I spoke to this boy in Hebrew, but allowed him to answer me in English, until he slowly became more comfortable with the language.”

To ease a child into Hebrew, Nechami believes a transitional gan is the way to go. “My kids go to a gan where none of the children speak Hebrew, and over the course of the year, the morah teaches it to them, at a slow but steady pace. All kids in the room are at the same stage, so no one feels overwhelmed or afraid of making mistakes.”

Is there such a thing as too much immersion? If maintaining fluent English is a priority, then the answer is: perhaps.

“Until my boys went to school, their English was perfectly age-appropriate,” Sari says. “Once they started cheder and were immersed in Hebrew long hours every day, the development of their English stagnated. Their grammar and vocabulary fell below age-level, and their English became accented. While their thought processes grew more sophisticated, they didn’t have the language to express these thoughts.”

It is for this reason, beyond any other, that the development of one’s mother tongue is invaluable; without it, the ability of a child to communicate deeply and freely with his parents may be compromised, to the detriment of his emotional health. One way to encourage English fluency, say American-born parents living in Israel, is to send your children to the US for the summer. It’s pricey, and not always feasible, but they claim with conviction that this has a tremendous and lasting effect on their children’s proficiency in English.

Balance through Books

When a child is struggling with language development — whether in his mother tongue or in a second language — reading can have a monumental effect.

“When we lived in France, my sixth-grade daughter had a French friend who spoke very little English,” Faigy says. “She was a big reader, but her parents didn’t want her reading secular books, and Jewish books were mainly available in English, so that’s what she read. Her English improved so quickly and dramatically that by seventh grade, she switched to the English class for English speakers.”

Reading is also critical for developing sophistication in a language. “While my conversational Hebrew is excellent, it’s full of slang and not on a high level,” says Dina Tyberg, 19, who grew up in an American neighborhood in Israel listening to American music, reading only in English, and writing reports in English. “Until today, I’ve never read a whole book in Hebrew, and I have to struggle to write an essay in Hebrew — my vocabulary is lacking.”

Outside of dominantly English-speaking Israeli communities, experts say it’s more common for American children in Israel to be stronger in Hebrew when it comes to reading and writing since Hebrew is the language these skills are taught in in school. Their vocabulary, however, may still be stunted because of lack of total immersion in the language.

“Children in Israel who speak English at home are missing vocabulary in Hebrew, and that affects their comprehension of what they’re reading,” Chaya says. “This can discourage them from wanting to read in Hebrew. It’s a catch-22, because the best way to boost vocabulary is through reading. Kids need to be eased over this initial hump by starting with books that are on a simple level, and working their way up as their vocabulary grows.”

Parents as Allies

Sometimes, parents’ own emotional hang-ups can unwittingly sabotage their child’s linguistic success. “I often see parents freak out as their kids learn Hebrew and start to sound Israeli,” Nechami says. “Parents need to realize that speaking Hebrew doesn’t turn their children into instant Israelis. Not only does such a misstep interfere with their development of their Hebrew, but it can create more fundamental problems of self-identity — I’m not American, but neither am I Israeli — who, exactly, am I? It’s crucial that parents have a healthy attitude toward their children’s learning Hebrew. If parents have negative feelings about a language, their children will sense it. Both languages need to be welcomed, and a child should be exposed to them in a balanced way, to facilitate fluency in both.”

When Sari moved to Israel, her children’s English was her number-one priority. “Living so far away, I had this mental image of us being cut off from my family, and that was very scary; the thought of my children not being able to communicate with my family was even scarier,” she says. “So at first, I fought the Hebrew, not allowing it into my home. With time, my outlook matured. I now realize that having good kids is way more important than what language they speak. My children are exemplary in so many ways — their imperfect English barely registers anymore. And my fears were unfounded: my kids are an integral part of our extended family.”

Sometimes bilingual children will reject their mother tongue for a period of time, Nechami says. Language is such an expression of who a person is, so a child may prefer to speak the language of the culture he identifies with most. When this happens, says Nechami, parents shouldn’t be alarmed — this resistance will usually wane.

When parents hear their children sounding like foreigners in their own language, many find it disconcerting, even disturbing. Having an accent is purely a function of the degree that certain sounds are in an individual’s environment. If avoiding an accent is very important to parents, Chaya says, the distorted sounds can be taught to children by a professional who speaks that language without an accent. For children speaking Hebrew, the missing English sounds are generally “r,” “l,” “th,” and “h.”

Linguistic Hurdle or Learning Disability?

What should parents think when their child really struggles to learn a second language? Is this normal or cause for concern? When in doubt, let the professionals tease this out. It can be tempting to explain away difficulties as part of the normal process of learning a new language, but that’s not always the case.

“By Chanukah of the first year, a student should be getting at least 50 percent of what’s going on in class,” Nechami says. “By the end of the year, a child should be speaking in the second language in school. If either of these are absent, it’s a serious red flag that cannot be ignored. The problem might be emotion-based — like lack of self-confidence — or it may be a language difficulty. A thorough evaluation can sort this out.”

Chaya explains that most children without language difficulties will easily learn a second language when they’re adequately immersed. However, there are many children who have minor difficulties with the storage and retrieval of new words. These children often manage to learn their first language effortlessly, yet learning the second language can be quite difficult for them, taking their parents by surprise since they were unaware of these language challenges. Children with obvious receptive (comprehension) or expressive language difficulties in their first language will generally exhibit these difficulties in the second language as well.

“I usually evaluate a child in their first language, to determine if there is a true language disorder,” says Libby Solomon, a speech therapist who works in Monroe with Yiddish-speaking children. “If there is, it needs to be remediated with therapy, which should be done in the child’s most comfortable language. The language skills they acquire — such as the ability to follow directions, understand a story, or answer questions — will translate over into a child’s second language as well.”

When parents notice that their child’s poor progress in a new language is affecting him socially, emotionally, or academically, should they switch to that language at home to encourage the process?

“This is rarely a good idea,” says Chaya. “Having a safe zone at home, and the ability to communicate on a deep level with parents, are both too critical to compromise on. But if the parents are equally comfortable in both languages, and the child is really struggling to pick up, say, Hebrew, I may recommend that they temporarily speak Hebrew to him. If a child has severe developmental delays, however, it’s generally recommended that he only speak one language, the local one.”

Skills for Life

While children of Americans in Israel will undoubtedly develop at least a basic Hebrew, 6000 miles to the west, in Chassidic enclaves like Kiryas Joel and Williamsburg, things are different, Libby says.

“In these communities, isolation from the outside world is intentional, and speaking Yiddish at home is a priority,” Libby says. “The girls learn English throughout their school years, so they can usually function nicely in the language. The boys, however, have very limited English instruction — it’s de-emphasized. I support this shitah — I myself speak Yiddish at home — but poor English skills can make it difficult for a man to earn a living in the outside world.

“Aside from making a living, I feel it’s important to have basic life skills in the language of the land,” Libby says. “Learning basic spelling is crucial. Without it, even writing out a check is impossible, never mind an e-mail. Poor English makes managing a phone call difficult, and lack of self-confidence when speaking can make it even harder.

“When a man with limited English goes to the doctor,” Libby points out, “explanations are often dumbed down for him, showing a lack of respect for men of high intelligence. Missing the finer details, both in speech and in writing, can lead to errors, confusion, and embarrassment.”

The good news, Libby says, is that she’s been told that chadarim are working on upgrading the standards of English instruction. In the meantime, if a child is struggling with English, Libby encourages parents to hire language tutors or provide English instruction at home.

If the goal is success in the business sphere, acquiring basic fluency is often not enough. “Many Europeans speak passably in multiple languages, but sometimes they don’t have complete mastery of any,” Goldie says. “Once an adult enters the professional world, it becomes important to learn to speak at least one language with sophistication and polish. In addition to allowing for professional success, it also makes a kiddush Hashem, particularly in Europe, where our neighbors’ opinions of us is such a sensitive issue.”

Aside from the ability to navigate the business world, being fluent in at least one language allows a person to better navigate his inner world. Sophisticated language facilitates better understanding of one’s thoughts and emotions, as well as the ability to express them.

When Debby from Amsterdam is asked what her native language is, she pauses, considering how to answer. “It’s a hard question,” she finally replies. “I think it’s Dutch. I’m fluent in Hebrew, English, and Dutch, but I don’t feel like I have full command of any of them. When I write in one language, I find myself wanting to use certain words from another language. I think it’s important for children to feel they’ve mastered at least one language perfectly, so that they feel fully confident expressing themselves.”

Unsophisticated language notwithstanding, Debby recognizes the gift of being multilingual. “Every language expresses ideas in a different way, so thinking in different languages expands the ways you can think about things. Also, language is more than just a collection of words; it’s so intertwined with culture. The better you speak a language, the more you understand the culture of those who speak it,” Debby says, “which allows you to broaden your understanding of people.”

THE BENEFITS OF BEING BILINGUAL

From infancy through old age, the advantages of bilingualism have been documented:

• In a 2009 study, seven-month-old infants being raised with one language were compared to those being raised with two. The infants were repeatedly presented with an audio cue, followed by a puppet appearing on one side of a screen. When hearing the cue, both sets of babies learned to turn their eyes to that side of the screen, in anticipation of seeing the puppet. After some time, the auditory cues were followed by the appearance of the puppets on the opposite side of the screen. The bilingual babies quickly learned to switch their anticipatory gaze to the new side of the screen, while the monolinguals did not. Researchers concluded that processing two languages enhances cognitive control, even before speech develops.
• A number of recent studies have shown young bilingual children to have advanced ability to understand the perspective of others, crucial for effective communication. In one study, four- to six-year-olds were shown three toy cars — small, medium, and large. The children were able to observe that the smallest car was hidden from the adult’s view. When asked to move the “small” car, bilinguals were far more likely than monolinguals to move the medium car, understanding that from the adult’s perspective, the medium car was the smallest one visible.
• In another recent study, neuropsychologists have found that bilinguals were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia; the higher the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of onset.