Here’s How Solenn Trains Thylane To Speak In Four Languages

Little Thylane Katana Bolzico is turning two on the first day of 2022 (Happy birthday, Tili! We hope you're having a blast in France!), and you may have noticed how her parents speak to her in both Spanish and French. Thanks to Solenn Heussaff's training program for little Tili, this girl can grow up to be such a linguist!

Solenn explained a while back that she trains her toddler to speak French and Spanish by letting her watch cartoons in the said languages. In her post, she mentioned that Thylane hears English and Tagalog every day, so she’s confident that her child will learn it fast. #TiliBolz, however, only hears French from Solenn and Solenn's dad, and Tili also only hears Spanish from Nico Bolzico. That’s why Solenn decided to provide her daughter with more exposure to her and Nico’s mother tongues through cartoons.

Studies say it's okay to teach your child two or more languages

A lot of parents are still under the impression that speaking to a child in multiple languages will confuse the child. This is a myth.

Various studies have proven that learning at least two languages can contribute to increased intelligence and make children more socially adept and in tune with others, compared to kids who only speak one language. These researches have shown that kids implicitly know when you’re speaking to them in various tongues.

If you are worried mixing languages in a sentence, This research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that it was easier and faster for babies (and even adults) to understand what was being said when sentences were crossed.

Bilingualism is highly encouraged for any child, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stresses that bilingual kids would become proficient in the languages they are taught by the time they are 5 years old.

Below, we are republishing an old story on the myths about teaching your child to be multilingual

MYTH: You will confuse a child by raising him with two or more languages.

FACT: A child’s brain can cope with two languages or more without affecting the dominant languages, as proven by decades of research in many multilingual countries (e.g., Canada, Switzerland, Belgium).

MYTH: Multilingualism is nice but uncommon.

FACT: About 75% of the world’s population speaks more than one language.

MYTH: Learn one language first and then teach the other language later.

FACT: This is not only wrong, but totally counterproductive. Studies have concluded that learning a second language simultaneously is magnitudes easier for both baby and parents.

MYTH: Your child will only mix the languages together.

FACT: Yes, mixing will occur, but it is both harmless and temporary. As the child increases his vocabulary in each language this phenomenon automatically disappears.

MYTH: At this age, becoming multilingual is too late.

FACT: No such thing! Children can always learn another language at any age–as can adults. It may be easier during the early critical period but a stimulating learning environment will get any child started with another language.