Question: What are your thoughts on the relationship between multilingual ability in children and their overall ability to communicate and express themselves?

Birsu Kandemirci answered on 31 Mar 2023:

Great question! Even though multilingualism is not my area of expertise (I work with monolingual children for the most part, even though I compare children’s performances in different languages), it’s an area I am interested in. Research suggests that multilingual children may have an advantage in some social skills compared to monolingual children, such as the ability to take other people’s perspectives. While this is indeed an advantage, some challenges should also be taken into account, such as the initial confusion these children might experience when communicating (e.g., the need to track which communication partner uses which language).