Music arranged and produced by Mark Shelton Productions
This program of sounds from 6 foreign languages comes together as a 3-cassette
set. Each language — Spanish, French, German, Russian, Hebrew (or English
in Version 2), and Japanese — has its own traditional musical arrangement
and is featured on one side of a cassette for approximately 15 minutes.
Somehow I expected that the vocals would be in the form of singing. Instead,
traditional folk music is played and women speak in their native tongues. Each
script is similar — first the native speaker welcomes the baby and says
things like "today is a beautiful day" and "I love you".
Then the alphabet is recited along with a word that starts with each of the
letters. Next, little rhymes are recited, counting from 1-20, talking about
the parts of the body, and the days of the week. Everything is repeated twice
starting from the alphabet, followed by a variation of "Goodnight, little
one. I love you. Sleep, little one, sleep." The speakers take on motherly
tones and are generally pleasing. The spoken vocabulary is carefully selected
to expose young listeners to a wide range of sounds (including the more difficult
ones) in each language.
The musical selections are pleasant and include traditional music from each
culture — Frere Jacques and Alouette are some of the songs
in the French segment, Las Mananitas is one of the featured songs on
the Spanish portion of the program, etc.
The whole idea behind the program revolves around the fact that babies are
born with huge capabilities for language. Studies have shown that by around
6 months of age babies have already started the process of selection and have
become "specialists" with language. So, long before babies can even
say their first word, they've already decided which sounds they will tune into.
Sound Beginnings was designed with this in mind, and presents a stimulating
program that exposes infants to the many different sounds of 6 foreign languages.
We are slowly recognizing the benefits of early exposure to foreign languages.
This exposure is not meant to teach children to be multilingual, but should
pave the way for easier language learning later on in life. Additionally, studies
have shown that exposure to the sounds of different foreign languages actually
improves a child's language skills in general. Some parents may initially object
to teaching more than one language to a child for fear that it may make learning
his/her first language more confusing. But this idea involves an underestimation
of the human brain. You need only look at children who come from bilingual homes
— most are not slower in languages. In fact, on the contrary, many bilingual
children have greater powers of expression than children learning only one language.
It is suggested that the tapes be played one language at a time during baby's
alert and quiet time. Because babies differ greatly in temperament and tastes,
some will prefer to listen to the tapes when they are going down for a nap or
before bedtime. It is interesting to see that babies seem to favor certain languages
over others, and even get fussy during other language segments. The instructions
explain that it is best to simply turn the tape off if the program is not being
well-received, and try again another day.
Translations are provided so parents can follow along. Some older siblings
may enjoy listening to the tapes as well. One test family parent would have
preferred to hear songs in the foreign language — actual singing to Frere
Jacques for example — to please himself more, but admitted that his
baby didn't seem to mind the speech. Parents from another test family discovered
that their 3 month old was obviously irritated by some languages, but enjoyed
the Spanish and French segments. Both families liked the idea that the tapes
were exposing their babies to languages they themselves would never be able
to provide. Unfortunately, both families also found the sound quality less
than excellent.
Note: The version we reviewed is Version 1. Version 2 is available
and is identical except that English replaces Hebrew as one of the 6 languages.
Since this review was written, Sound Beginnings has been released in
a 2 CD set format.
