Most children have the capacity and facility to learn more than one language.
The researchers found that the bilingual children consistently outperformed monolingual children on a range of cognitive tasks. As a result, they suggested that bilingual students had a more diversified intelligence.
Also researchers say that there are advantages to being bilingual. These advantages might include:
Thousands of businesses in Canada operate in more than one language. In today's global economy, those who are bilingual can choose from a wider range of national and international jobs that require employees with second language skills.
We live in an officially bilingual country and having proficiency in both official languages is obviously an asset which opens doors and increases mobility. The Government of Canada alone has about 67,000 bilingual jobs.
Knowing French provides more choices for advanced education and those who are fluent in French are more competitive for academic and professional opportunities in Canada and worldwide.
Learning French helps your child understand more about themselves, their country and fellow Canadians and provide deeper understanding of their own cultures.
It offers significant linguistic, academic and cognitive benefits as well as opens doors to knowledge, communication, culture and travel, and gives individuals an edge in the global job market.
Learning French strengthens English literacy skills as French provides the base for about 50% of the modern English vocabulary.
There are all kinds of other reasons to learn French:
More than 200 million people speak French on the five continents. The Francophonie, the international organisation of French-speaking countries, comprises 68 states and governments. French is the second most widely learned foreign language after English, and the ninth most widely spoken language in the world. French is also the only language, alongside English, that is taught in every country in the world.
French is a good base for learning other languages, especially Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian) as well as English, since fifty per cent of current English vocabulary is derived from French. After English and German, French is the third most used language on the Internet.
French is the international language of cooking, fashion, theatre, the visual arts, dance and architecture. A knowledge of French offers access to great works of literature, as well as films and songs, in the original French.
France is the world's number-one tourist destination and attracts more than 70 million visitors.
Speaking French also opens up study opportunities at renowned Quebec and French universities and business schools. Students with a good level of French are also eligible for French government scholarships to enroll in postgraduate courses in France in any discipline and qualify for internationally recognised French degrees.