Bilingual Baby

A frequent conversation in the Rosen household:

Peter: "I want Zelda to speak Chinese."

Molly: "Why Chinese?"

Peter: "She should speak a language that will be useful in the future. China is going to be a superpower. Americans should all be learning Chinese."

Molly: "What kind of Chinese?" 

Peter: "All kinds!" 

Molly: "I think she should learn to speak something romantic, like French or Italian."

Peter: "How will those languages be useful to her?" 

Molly: "Maybe we should let her pick what language she learns." 

Peter: "Or maybe she just learns Chinese."

Ellen Bialystock, a cognitive neuroscientist, has spent 40 years researching the effects of bilingualism on the brain.  What she found is really neat, who knew speaking two languages could delay Alzheimers? Now I know Zelda has to get going on that second language. You can read the article here.