A study from the University of Singapore has found that babies who are bilingual learn the languages much faster than multilingual babies. The two languages involved in this study are English and Mandarin.
Science Daily reported that "learning English and Mandarin concurrently accelerate the learning of Mandarin." The study on bilingual babies was published online in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
"Our results dispel commonly held beliefs about bilinguals being slower in learning words," said Associate Professor Leher Singh from the Department of Psychology at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Singh led the study on languages and babies' grasp of them.
The Advantage of a #Bilingual Baby - https://t.co/BGH2uP3Jd4 #Brainfunction pic.twitter.com/hb6e1XIiwH
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Bilingual Babies Not Confused
The study covered 72 babies exposed to Mandarin only, or both English and Mandarin. It was finished in 2015. Straits Times said that this study is believed to be the first one to reveal that there is an advantage in language learning in babies up to two years old for bilingual babies.
The babies were found to be capable of differentiating between the English and Mandarin languages. It was also established that the babies were not confused by hearing both languages when they were one year in age.
Bilingual Babies Understood Mandarin Faster
According to Channel News Asia, the ability of the babies to recognize tone changes and word meanings when spoken in English and Mandarin was tested. When spoken to in English, bilingual babies reportedly ignored tone when learning new words. The opposite was true when they were spoken to in Mandarin.
Meanwhile, the babies exposed only to Mandarin only exemplified mastery of the Mandarin tone system after six months. The study points to the conclusion that the bilingual babies understood the Mandarin tone system quicker than their monolingual counterparts.
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