Language is the marvelous attribute and skill that helps bind us together in relationships between individuals and across whole cultures. Being able to use more than a single language expands our capacities to:
- Consider other people’s perspectives
- Learn even more languages
- Improve problem solving skills
- Become better aware of our surroundings
Learning language from the start through exposure to multiple languages can provide lifetime benefits.
If you don’t know multiple languages yourself, you can get a boost from a variety of multilingual board books to support exposing your baby to the many ways people around the world greet each each other, imitate animals, and other baby-centric high interest content. Some new ones from our publishers include:
Hello, World, and Good Night, World, both illustrated by Alessandra Szmidt, published by
Flowerpot Press, provide lap sitters with sweet page spreads of the titular phrase rendered in
different languages by animals from the place the language is spoken.
Two new series of board books published by Child’s Play offer bilingual English and
Spanish experiences. The “Amazing Me” series, by Carol Thompson, depicts toddlers engaged in Dressing Up!/¡Me disfrazo! and other activities
such as dancing and singing. a set of four seasonal books by Ailie Busby (Spring/Primavera, and so forth) show and tell diverse children engaged in activities from dressing for the season’s weather to enjoying nature to playtime choices befitting the time of year.
Break out of your monolingualism when you read to your little one! There are many easy ways to find a way to share how other languages talk about the day.