For example, you have both parents speaking Polish and English. If a baby was born, what will his or her language be? Does it depend on the location of your birth?
Will the child be bilingual? How does it work?
In: Biology
Babies don’t speak when they are born, they are likely to mimic the language(s) they are most often subjected too. Once at the age of being able to speak, they will likely be able to develop an understanding of and be able to speak the languages that are around them.
The location will not matter directly; however, there may be a correlation with the prevalence of what languages are most spoken in a specific area, which would then increase the likelihood of exposure to those languages.
There is an interesting phenomenon where younger children are basically language sponges, and able to comprehend/speak many, yet they can quickly lose these proficiencies is their frequent exposure to that language ends. This is sometimes witnessed when like a grandparent who speaks primarily in a different tongue dies/stops interacting with a child frequently. Adults have a harder time learning additional languages, but it is not impossible. So theoretically, if you want someone to be proficient in multiple (or many) languages, then an early and constant exposure until around teenage years is a good place to start. Really, a never ending exposure is best, but there are certain age thresholds where a language proficiency seems to remain at a much higher rate than other ages.
I may have gotten some of this wrong, or oversimplified. If so, please correct me so we get good (accurate & detailed) information out there.
I hope this helped.
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