Iftikhar, what utter rubbish!
Reader comment on item: Muslims "Lagging Behind"
in response to reader comment: British Muslims

Submitted by nick4693 (Japan), Jan 5, 2007 at 18:31

It is comments like this that clearly reveal complete ignorance about the importance of exposure to languages.

Both my children are fully bilingual (read, write and speak) because my wife and I had the foresight to expose them to two languages at the same time from birth.

Even close friends said that "they'll be confused." The only confusion was in the minds of these friends.

Probably the worst thing that can happen is that they first learn one language and then try to learn another through the first. Jimmy Carter's idea of providing all foreign pupils with a teacher speaking their native language also revealed just how ignorant he was about the capability of children.

Their minds are like little sponges, absorbing everything they are exposed to, and the earlier the better. Children are like parrots; they mimic what they hear and associate the meaning of words to whatever situation prevails.

My two were never confused. They knew from the outset that they were speaking two separate languages. And the other language they fluently speak today comprises completely different syntax to English, yet at no time did they exhibit confusion or misunderstanding.

The only confusion is in the minds of adults.

Mr. Pipes is so right! Bilingual education sucks!

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