Cynthia Simmonds (August 26, 2011) - Okay, before I even start writing (and you start reading), I need to admit one thing: I am a Language person. I love language. My four-year old regularly uses words like "infinitesimal" and "enormous." My three-year old, while carrying a long swimming noodle, said, "This is awkward." I like words, their origins and even grammar. I didn't even mind diagramming sentences in seventh grade, which I guess must have been a harbinger of things to come. I spent ten plus years studying language, more specifically how children learn language, at one of the best research institutions of the world.

The beautiful thing about children learning language is you don't actually need to teach them!! They learn just by being exposed to a language model. That's why my children use words like "infinitesimal" and "enormous"; their parents do too. As a graduate student, I spent years playing with children and transcribing videotapes trying to unlock the secrets of language acquisition.

I thought for sure, when I had my own children, that I would capture their entire process of becoming language-speaking creatures on videotape, I would dissect it into a million pieces, and I would share it with the world. However, when the time came, I just bathed in the glory of their discovery of language. I stand in awe of their daily linguistic accomplishments. And—I don't actually need to "teach" them anything—all I need to do is to talk to them!

Given my chosen field of study, perhaps it would not surprise you that I am a talker—and I gesture a lot with my hands, despite the fact I am not Italian. I'm sure this proclivity towards using language directly affected my children, at least in terms of the amount of language to which they were exposed.

My son began talking VERY early (most likely NOT related to the amount of talk to which he was exposed, but rather his own innate tendencies. My daughter was also exposed to a lot of talk, but she initially talked much later than her brother). For example, at eighteen months, Nick and I were playing on the floor. I was "flying an airplane" saying, "vroom-vroom" as I circled the plane around his head. Nick informed me, "Mama, car go 'vroom-vroom' not airplane." Seriously! Correcting his mom already—at eighteen months! And he was correct, cars do go "vroom vroom," but I didn't have a good airplane noise.

That said, I posses a lot of knowledge about language and its development, however, I don't have much knowledge of languages (Enter Language Stars). A few days after the airplane incident, we were at a party talking with a friend who was home from China, where he moved as an adult having no grasp of the language. He was stunned by Nick's language use and asked me if we were "teaching" him a foreign language. After all, he clearly had a good grasp of English already. Duh! Why hadn't I thought of that?

I spent years studying how easily children acquire language (and years struggling to learn a second language as an adult), but hadn't even thought of the possibility. But where could he learn a second language? My grasp of Spanish is tenuous at best, and an 18-month old can't go to school (where they don't teach foreign languages anyway—but that is a different story). Just so happens we had an 18-month pediatrician visit the next week. I asked the pediatrician about foreign languages classes for kids, not really expecting very much of an answer. She referred me to "Language Stars" and that's where our journey began.

Once we got home, I immediately looked at the website: Spanish, German, French, Italian and Mandarin. Hmmm . . . it was expensive. But, it was something neither I nor my husband could teach my son. After all, one has to actually know the language to model it—right? We decided to try Mandarin. I chose this language because it is, in my opinion, the hardest of those offered.

Mandarin has four different tones, which actually change the meaning of the word. For example, "Ma mà ma ma" using the four different tones actually means, "Did mother scold the horse?" I figured, if he could pick up Mandarin, a third language when he was older would be a piece of cake. The next week we tried a "trial" class.We played games, had a snack, and sang songs. I was completely confused and in awe of the other moms who seemed to have an excellent grasp of Mandarin.

I now know that those other moms knew far less Mandarin than their children did. I eventually became one of the moms who "seemed" to have a good grasp of the language. The truth is, however, after three years of "Parent and Tot" classes, I probably have the linguistic ability of the average fourteen-month old Chinese toddler. I'm sure my kids both actually know more Mandarin than I.