For children, learning a new language means, first and foremost, discovering new words. They learn how to introduce themselves, ask for things, or talk about their experiences. Over time, individual words turn into sentences — and their first attempts at speaking turn into real conversations.
But learning a language can have a much greater impact.
With every new language, children also encounter different people, cultures, and perspectives. They discover that things can be called by different names, that people communicate with one another in different ways, and that customs, stories and traditions aren’t the same everywhere.
This can be a particularly valuable experience for children: their own way of seeing the world is just one of many.
Language Is More Than Just a School Subject
Anyone who recalls their own foreign language classes might first think of vocabulary lists, grammar rules, and tests. But a language comes to life as soon as we actually use it.
This can be especially important for children.
A French song, a story in English, a game in Italian, or the first little conversation with another child gives a language concrete meaning. Suddenly, it’s no longer about filling in the right answer in a blank. It’s about understanding something and being understood.
This also changes the role of learning. Language shifts from being a subject of study to a tool for communication and discovery.
That’s exactly why children should be given as many opportunities as possible to actively experience a new language: through speaking and listening, in stories, games, encounters, or shared activities
Other Languages – Other Perspectives
Anyone who learns another language quickly realizes that not everything can be translated word for word.
Idioms differ. Humor works differently. People greet each other differently or express politeness in other ways. Sometimes there are several words for a concept in one language and no direct equivalent in another.
For children, such differences are an opportunity to take a closer look.
They begin to realize that language is closely linked to culture and the world around them. This can spark curiosity and encourage them to ask questions: Why do they say it that way? How do children live there? What do they eat? What festivals do they celebrate? What’s the same—and what’s completely different?
Learning a foreign language therefore also means familiarizing oneself with a world outside one’s own.
What Does Research Say?
For many years researchers have been studying the impact that multilingualism can have on a child’s development.
A systematic review published in 2023 evaluated 50 scientific studies on the development of literacy in bilingual children. One area that is repeatedly examined is metalinguistic awareness—put simply, the ability to reflect on language itself and recognize its structures. Research also describes connections with phonological awareness, which plays a role, for example, in learning how to read and write.
Another scientific review on the development of young bilingual children likewise shows that metalinguistic awareness is one of the most intensively studied areas of multilingualism.
However, caution is warranted here: Not every child benefits in the same way, and not every frequently cited “advantage of bilingualism” can be unequivocally proven. Age, learning environment, language combination, intensity, and the actual use of the languages play an important role.
The importance of language learning cannot, therefore, be reduced to a mere potential cognitive advantage.
Mistakes Are Part of Communication
Another important aspect arises when children don’t know a word.
How can I still explain what I mean? Can I use a different word? Point to something? Ask for clarification? Restart the sentence differently?
When using a language, you don’t have to be perfect at everything to communicate successfully.
Positive experiences with such situations, in particular, can show children that mistakes are no reason not to speak. They are part of the learning process.
The goal should therefore not to be able to speak as error-free as possible as early as possible. It is much more important to give children the confidence to use their existing language skills and develop them step by step.
And When Should Children Start?
This question is currently the subject of intense debate in Switzerland.
Under the current language strategy, children learn both a second national language and English during compulsory schooling. Instruction in the first foreign language begins no later than the fifth school year, and the second no later than the 7th school year of the eleven-year compulsory school system. Which language is taught first varies by region.
But the model is changing.
In particular, early French instruction is being called into question in parts of German-speaking Switzerland. Zurich, St. Gallen, and Appenzell Ausserrhoden have already made decisions to move French instruction out of elementary school in 2026. Critics of the current model argue, among other things, that it may place an excessive burden on children. Proponents, on the other hand, emphasize the importance of the second national language for national cohesion.
The Swiss Conference of Cantonal Directors of Education (EDK) is also currently re-examining language instruction in depth and assessing the scope for action within the HarmoS Concordate. At the same time, it remains committed to the goal of nationwide coordination.
The discussion thus raises a fascinating question: Is it just a matter of when children learn a language—or should we focus more on how they learn it?
Switzerland Thrives on Its Languages
This question takes on an additional dimension in Switzerland in particular.
German, French, Italian, and Romansh are not simply different school subjects. They are part of the country’s cultural diversity. The EDK explicitly describes exchange activities as an important contribution to understanding between Switzerland’s various cultural and linguistic regions.
For a child, learning another national language therefore also means getting to know another part of their own country.
Perhaps, then, the current discussion should not focus exclusively on whether French should begin in elementary or secondary school. Equally important is the question of how children can experience languages as something positive, relevant and vibrant.
After all, early language learning does not realize its full potential simply because it begins at an early age.
What matters most is how children learn.
Curiosity Instead of Perfection
Children do not need to master a new language perfectly for it to open up new horizons for them.
Every conversation, every story, and every encounter can show them that there is more than one way to express a thought or view a situation.
When language learning sparks curiosity, facilitates communication, and gives children the courage to actually apply what they’ve learned, something emerges that goes far beyond vocabulary and grammar.
A new language doesn’t just give children new words. It gives them new ways to understand people and the world around them.
Sources:
Bilingualism and Development of Literacy in Children
The Cognitive Development of Young Dual Language Learners
Education system – EDK
Warum die Schweiz seit 200 Jahren über Frühfranzösisch streitet – News – SRF