Many of the readers of this blog have the same intentions and goals: to raise bilingual, trilingual, or even multilingual children with a bright future ahead of them. We want to transmit our own cultures and languages to our little ones, while at the same time gifting them with some pretty awesome by-products of knowing more than one language. In comparison to monolinguals, individuals who are bilingual, trilingual, or multilingual:

(a) are better able to understand other people and cultures;

(b) have better attention span and better multi-tasking capabilities;

(c) economically benefit from their knowledge of more than one language;

(d) experience less cognitive decline in older age;

(e) tend to outperform their monolingual counterparts in reading and math tests;

(f) enjoy better educational opportunities, since now they can study in the various countries where the languages they know are spoken;

(g) many others

The reader may be thinking right now: “That’s great! As long as my child can speak more than one language, he or she will be golden!”. Well, not so fast, my friends…

The Four Communicative Skills

How proficient someone is in a language is usually defined as how well they are able to perform not only in terms of speaking, but also across the other three communicative skills. Each one of the four communicative skills has its own value to the speaker or learner of a certain language [1].

Speaking the language well allows us (and our little ones) to efficiency express our ideas, feelings, and opinions to others who understand that language. It allows us to crack a joke on the spot, to connect with the culture of that language, and in general, to get things done in that language.

Understanding that language well, that is, having good listening skills in the language allows us to understand T.V. shows and movies in the language, engage in real-time discussions with speakers of that language, understand what is going on when we hear oral exchanges in the language while traveling, and so much more. Together, listening and speaking a language well allows us to truly engage in conversations with others and consume audiovisual materials in the language.