Bilingual learners are flexible and may acquire two languages in the time in which monolinguals acquire one. According to a report published in Science Express, July 2009, children acquire their native language according to a well-defined time frame. Surprisingly, although children raised in bilingual environments have to learn roughly twice as much about language as their monolingual peers, the speed of acquisition is comparable in monolinguals and bilinguals. Here, we show that preverbal 12-month-old bilingual infants have become more flexible at learning speech structures than monolinguals. When given the opportunity to simultaneously learn two different regularities, bilingual infants learned both, whereas monolinguals learned only one of them. Hence, bilinguals may acquire two languages in the time in which monolinguals acquire one because they quickly become more flexible learners.

Early foreign language exposure enhances a child’s primary language development, and his or her brain power. Scientists continue to explore how a child acquires a language with speed and ease, but experts already agree to dismiss the idea that bilingualism can be confusing for a young child. “This idea was dramatically reversed in a landmark study by Elizabeth Peal and Wallace Lambert at McGill University in Montreal that showed a general superiority of bilinguals over monolinguals in a wide range of intelligence tests and aspects of school achievement,” said Dr. Ellen Bialystok, Professor of Psychology at York University, Canada.