"Yī , èr, sān" a little girl repeats after her mother, counting the steps leading up to the slide in Chinese.
"Sambhal ke," a father calls in Hindi to his son dangling precariously from the monkey bars.
"Bayu-bayushki-bayu, Ne lozhisya na krayu." A mother sings a Russian lullaby to a drowsy baby.
This mini United Nations at a local park is evidence of the growing number of Seattle-area families raising children speaking more than one language.
Two decades ago, about 10 percent of Seattle area families spoke a language other than English at home. By 2000, that number was close to 16.5 percent. Sponge, a language school for young children started in 2005, has grown rapidly to meet demand for their classes. The Seattle School District has a waiting list for families wanting to get into their bilingual programs.
Parents' reasons for wanting their children to have a second language vary. Some are swayed by research showing that learning more than one language creates unique neural connections in the brain and better verbal and spatial skills. Research shows that kids who grow up with more than one language become stronger problem solvers, more competent students, and have broader job prospects and intercultural competence.
Other parents want to share their native language with their American kids. And, as society becomes more globally aware, being bilingual increasingly is perceived as cool.
The families who have the most success in raising a truly bilingual child are those in which at least one parent speaks English as a second language and can share his or her native tongue with the kids. That doesn't mean there's nothing to be gained from exposing young children to another language, even though English is the only one spoken in the home.
Nairán Ramírez-Esparza, a research associate at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, says an increasing number of researchers are looking at the positive effects of second language exposure on young children. One such study exposed babies who only heard English at home to a Chinese speaker in a lab setting who read stories and played games for a few short sessions. These 10-month-olds developed neurons in their brain and were able to distinguish sounds in the Chinese language with just this minimal exposure in a lab.
The benefits of exposure to another language prompted Susan Ingham to start her 2-year-old son in French classes at the Sponge School when he was 5 weeks old. While Ingham studied French in school, she and her husband speak English. "Learning another language helps you think in a different way," Ingham said. "Our hope is that he'll have more cultural appreciation."
While she knows that going to class once a week won't make her son bilingual, Ingham is thrilled when he sees a butterfly in the garden and says "papillon."
Going Bilingual
For many families, raising bilingual children is a natural way of life. Parents moved from another country and speak their native language at home. For other families where one parent speaks a second language, raising bilingual children is a conscious decision made out of a desire to share cultural identity.
Tomoko O'Brien, who lives in Redmond, came to the U.S. from Japan to study and married an American. She now speaks Japanese with her children. "I would like them to connect with the culture I grew up with," she said. "Language is the best tool to cross cultures, and it is easier to become fluent if they learn in childhood."
People used to be concerned that bilingual children suffered speech delay, but that's not true, says Ramírez-Esparza. "We know bilingual kids are not delayed. Put words they know in both languages together and they are average. People were thinking that bilingual kids were behind because they were only looking at one language," she says.
Still, in the preschool years, it's wise to keep teachers and others in the loop, says Harriet Cannon, a local mental health counselor who specializes in multicultural identity and mixed cultural relationships. "Let the preschool teacher and doctor know that you are a bilingual family and speaking another language at home … That way if your child does not know the English for colors and numbers (though he or she knows them in French) they will understand why."
Stumbling Blocks
While people may feel solid about why they want to raise bilingual children, every bilingual family encounters stumbling blocks. It takes dedication and persistence, said Karyn Mikkelsen-Tillet, executive director of Alliance Francaise de Seattle.
"It's hard to be consistent," she said. "Sometimes I just want to say ‘Sit down and eat' in English. I have to think about how hard I want my daughter to be connected to the French language."
It's an added difficulty when family members who don't speak the second language feel isolated. Corey Heller is the founder of the "Mutilingual Living" website, which provides support and inspiration to families raising children in more than one language. She met her German husband while studying abroad and homeschools her children in English and German. Heller said her mother was upset when her son's first words were in German.
Cannon advises parents, "Have your elevator speech together." Tell family, teachers and neighbors, "We are preparing our child for a world where they have options." She said it helps to prepare your children for questions, too. That way they are ready and know to say something like, "We speak two languages at home," when people ask why they are speaking a language other than English.
Having the support of both parents is important. Cannon advises monolingual parents to make an effort to learn the second language. Melissa Miller is an English speaker; her Cuban-born husband is teaching their children Spanish.
She's excited about the process: "I'm being immersed in a culture I was not familiar with. I thought it might cause a separation in the family, but it's been bonding. It's a connection the kids have with their father who is away at work."
Still, she was happy when her husband tried to get her son to do something on the sly in Spanish, and to her husband's surprise, she understood. "I'm learning!" she told him.
Pushing Past Push Back
It's common for bilingual children to push back against speaking the second language in elementary school, Cannon says.
"Many families find that at home it's going well, but by the end of kindergarten their kids don't want anyone speaking a different language in front of their friends." She attributes this to the kids wanting to fit in with a group.
Chantal Herbert, who is French-Canadian, has seen this type of resistance from her 9-year-old daughter. "If I'm somewhere with her, it's natural to speak French. She feels embarrassed and tells me, ‘don't speak French to me!'"
Cannon counsels parents to accept the push back, but also keep at it. "Remind children, ‘We're keeping the culture because it's important to our family,'" she said.
With all the pressure from outside and in, it's easy for even the most motivated parents to lose steam. Heller believes that "living a language versus learning a language is key."
O'Brien enjoys sharing Japanese movies, music and books with her children. Herbert kept the process fun by reading Harry Potter in French – a book her daughter loved in English.
For parents who are feeling discouraged, Cannon encourages them to forge ahead: "I promise you, keep Japanese night. In high school they will want it back. It's cool to be global now, more so than 10 or 15 years ago."
Laura Spruce Wight is a Seattle-area freelance writer and mother of two.
