If the parents of a child speak different languages, then it is natural to assume that the child will simultaneously assimilate the two languages. What we see now from a large number of studies is that each of these languages are assimilate in the same sequence as a monolingual child, so there are no fundamental dangers for bilingualism.
To the contrary, a substantial amount of research shows that those who speak in two languages from childhood develop special cognitive abilities – they find it easier to navigate in a changing environment, make decisions more quickly and develop a capacity for abstract thinking at an earlier age than those who only know one language.
If we look at the history of Russian literature, then we see that nearly all of our wonderful famous writers of the 19th century were at least bilingual, and often trilingual from early childhood, such as Alexander Pushkin. This did not hamper him but to the contrary helped simplify the syntax of the Russian language.
There are an enormous number of bilinguals in the world. There are countries where bilingualism is normal. People live in diglossia, when in public they speak one language and at home speak another language, and they are forced to use different languages in different situations. If someone is raised in a multilingual society he becomes multilingual. If someone acquires additional languages via study in school, the he becomes plurilingual. That is the modern terminology used.
So what is special about bilingualism? How does a child decide who uses which language? For example, a child might decide that all women speak like his mother and all men speak like his father. Or all items used by his mother should be identified in his mother’s language and all items which his father uses should be referred to in the language of his father. Such kinds of decisions are as a rule temporary and they are not of a permanent nature.
Most suppositions used by a child do not involve the mixing of two languages. Children mix languages only when adults mix languages. In general, they become accustomed to the fact that there are different options for describing the world around them, and they use the words within each of these systems. However, there are instances when, for example, a child will attached to the English word dog the Russian suffix “ichka” to come out with “dogichka”. This phenomenon is encountered among bilingual children. However, such instances are largely oddities, and the majority of words are absolutely normal, just as with monolingual children.
It is very important how much input the child receives of the language in which adults speak to the child. The pedagogical approach is also important to ensure that the child is receiving enough of what he needs to learn. If something is learned in one language, then the child should be encouraged to learn this in the other language as well, so that both spheres develop evenly and the child does not feel unable to communicate in some situation when he needs to communicate in this language.
Children can learn to read in one language and then transfer these skills to another language. There is no problem with learning to read and write in a second language. The ability to comprehend writing, to understand what letters signify and their and how they make up words, is something which happens at a certain stage in development, and it is different for each child. This individual variability among children is very large. If a child attains a certain level, then going forward he can use this skill very well. If he learns to tell stories in one language, then he will be able to tell stories in another language. If he has learned some game, he will be able to play this game in another language.
Sometimes it happens that in comparison to peers the vocabulary of a bilingual child may be a somewhat smaller in one of the languages. However, if we count the words of both languages, then bilingual children have a much larger vocabulary than monolingual children.
The ability to simultaneously assimilate two languages remains through the age of 7-8 years old, after which with the learning of written language the ability to learn a language through natural communication typical of the first years of language learning fades. But bilingual children from birth can develop a native command of both languages.
Not all children develop in the same manner. Some will continue to retain excellent command of their second language. However, if someone began as a bilingual then his ability to study any other language will be much more highly developed than for someone who did not learn any other language prior during his preschool years.
If a person after 15-16, in the so-called post-puberty period, learns no less than five languages, than he is called a polyglot. This is a completely different ability. Polyglots are often not social in the sense that other people are, and although they can communicate in a large number of languages they often do not know how to use the languages, and they do not have any real need to know such a large number of languages. On the other hand, they seek out conversation partners in order to verify how correctly they formulate phrases in other languages. And that is not exactly what we would call ordinary human communication.
Approximately 7% of children have speech development issues or speech development delays, which are best identified and addressed as early as possible. When such speech development delays are discovered in bilingual children, it is often assumed that the child was overwhelmed at a young age. That is absolutely incorrect. Bilinguals are considered to be developing normally even if at least one of their languages is at the level of their peers. Only if both languages begin to show signs of slow development do we begin to say that this child requires special attention in terms of language development. Here certain measures need to be taken in order to support more weakly and more strongly developing languages.
How does a bilingual person feel? The question of identity (whether I belong to one nationality or another) often comes up with bilinguals. And they think up a wide variety of ways to explain who they are. For example, they say that they have different roots. Often they say that the person is not bilingual but rather someone with 7-8 different nationalities among his ancestors. In this case there is more affinity for compound identity then when one is forced to choose between two languages and two nationalities. As a rule, a person who has grown up in two different cultures has a strong affinity for both cultures and is prepared to identify with both of them.
Italian entrepreneur Marco Maggi's book, "Russian to the Bone," is now accessible for purchase in Italy and is scheduled for release in Russia in the upcoming months. In the book, Marco recounts his personal odyssey, narrating each stage of his life as a foreigner in Russia—starting from the initial fascination to the process of cultural assimilation, venturing into business, fostering authentic friendships, and ultimately, reaching a deep sense of identifying as a Russian at his very core.
Mikhail Kalatozov, a director who transformed the world of cinematography in many ways, was born 120 years ago. He was a Soviet film official and a propagandist. Above all, he was capable of producing movies that struck viewers with their power and poetic language.
Ukrainian authorities have launched a persecution campaign against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the biggest one in the country's modern history. Over the past year, state sanctions were imposed on clergy representatives, searches were conducted in churches, clergymen were arrested, criminal cases were initiated, the activity of the UOC was banned in various regions of the country, and monasteries and churches were seized.
When Nektary Kotlyaroff, a fourth-generation Russian Australian and founder of the Russian Orthodox Choir in Sydney, first visited Russia, the first person he spoke to was a cab driver at the airport. Having heard that Nektariy's ancestors left Russia more than 100 years ago, the driver was astonished, "How come you haven't forgotten the Russian language?" Nektary Kotlyaroff repeated his answer in an interview with the Russkiy Mir. His affinity to the Orthodox Church (many of his ancestors and relatives were priests) and the traditions of a large Russian family brought from Russia helped him to preserve the Russian language.
Russian graffiti artists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, and Nizhnevartovsk took part in an international street art festival in the capital of Chile. They decorated the walls of Santiago with Russian and Chilean symbols, conducted a master class for Russian compatriots, and discussed collaborative projects with colleagues from Latin America.
The leaders of the Friends of the Great Russia cultural association (Amici Della Grande Russia) in Italy believe that the Western policy of abolishing Russian culture in Europe has finally failed. Furthermore, it was doomed to failure from the beginning.
Name of Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko is inscribed in the history of Russian theater along with Konstantin Stanislavski, the other founding father of the Moscow Art Theater. Nevertheless, Mr. Nemirovich-Danchenko was a renowned writer, playwright, and theater teacher even before their famous meeting in the Slavic Bazaar restaurant. Furthermore, it was Mr. Nemirovich-Danchenko who came up with the idea of establishing a new "people's" theater believing that the theater could become a "department of public education."
"Russia is a thing of which the intellect cannot conceive..." by Fyodor Tyutchev are famous among Russians at least. December marks the 220th anniversary of the poet's birth. Yet, he never considered poetry to be his life's mission and was preoccupied with matters of a global scale. Mr.Tyutchev fought his war focusing on relations between Russia and the West, the origins of mutual misunderstanding, and the origins of Russophobia. When you read his works today, it feels as though he saw things coming in a crystal ball...
