Bilingual Books: How Reading in Two Languages Enriches the Brain

Many children grow up with more than one language at home: the language of the country, the language of a parent, the language of the grandparents. Research shows that reading in two languages is not confusing. It enriches the brain in a meaningful way.

What does the research say?

A study published in the journal Child Development (Grøver et al., 2020) looked at shared reading with bilingual kindergarten children. The findings:

  • Shared reading in kindergarten supported the children's learning of the second language.
  • Reading in the home language was just as effective as reading in the second language.
  • Bilingual children who read in two languages develop advanced phonological awareness.

The cognitive advantage of bilingualism

A systematic review published on PMC (2023) sums up research on bilingualism and literacy:

  • Phonological awareness: bilingual children recognize sounds and language patterns better.
  • Phonemic awareness: the ability to tell small units of sound apart.
  • Metacognitive skills: thinking about thinking, learning how to learn.

Good to know: bilingual children may show a smaller vocabulary in each language on its own compared with monolingual children, but their total vocabulary across both languages is equal to or larger than that of monolingual children.

Quantity and quality both matter

A study on PMC (2016) shows that two factors affect success:

  1. Amount of exposure: how many hours the child hears and uses each language.
  2. Variety of speakers: hearing the language from several different speakers helps more than the same hours from one speaker.

How do personal books help?

At Magical Book, every book is available in nine languages. A child can get the same book in two different languages and read their own story in both versions.

When a child reads the same story in two languages:

  • They learn vocabulary in both languages side by side.
  • The familiar context (they are the hero!) helps them understand new words.
  • They build connections between the languages naturally.

Tips for parents

  • Do not fear mixing: it is a natural, normal stage in bilingual development.
  • Read in the language you are comfortable in: enjoyment matters more than the language.
  • Offer books in both languages and let the child choose.
  • Talk about the differences: "How do you say that in the other language?"

Browse our stories in nine languages

Sources: Grøver et al. (2020), Child Development; PMC10547117 (2023); PMC5021218 (2016).