The most obvious benefit, and one that is confirmed by research, is that exposing infants to a foreign language can help them master that foreign language later on. In well-documented but very accessible book on baby brain development “What’s Going On In There?”, author Lise Eliot explains that babies are born being able to hear sounds of every language in world. However, this ability is subject to “use it or lose it” phenomenon. If baby is not exposed to foreign sounds, she will lose ability to distinguish those sounds. For example, on page 368, she reports:

«Infants’ ability to discriminate foreign speech sounds begins to wane as early as six months of age. By this age, English-learning babies have already lost some of their ability, still present at four months, to discriminate certain German or Swedish vowels. Foreign vowels are first sort of phoneme to go. Then, by ten or twelve months, out goes ability to discriminate foreign consonants, like /r/’s and /l/’s for Japanese babies or Hindi consonants for English-learning infants.»

Another benefit of exposing children to another language that is starting to be recognized, is that of increasing their proficiency in their primary language. It may be that brain exercise of sorting out multiple languages gives that brain a deeper proficiency in language and grammar overall.

So next time your infant has opportunity to be exposed to a foreign language in a suitably fun setting (which is how all activities should be presented to infants, isn’t it?), then jump at chance!