: Are there any studies about whether learning to read in two languages is slower? I don't know the details of any studies, but I think the general consensus these days is that bringing up children multilingual from the start

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Don't know if there are any studies but I have a 5 year old grandniece. She has been brought up to speak two languages (her Father is French, her mother is English). She is now learning to read in both languages. This does not pose her any problems. She can easily switch from one language to another as she has been doing this since birth.

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Here is a link to one study that addresses the outcome of reading development in bilingual children. I've included most of the abstract summary.

An early age of first bilingual language exposure had a positive effect on reading, phonological awareness, and language competence in both languages: early bilinguals (age of first exposure 0–3 years) outperformed other bilingual groups (age of first exposure 3–6 years). Remarkably, schooling in two languages afforded children from monolingual English homes an advantage in phoneme awareness skills. Early bilingual exposure is best for dual language reading development, and it may afford such a powerful positive impact on reading and language development that it may possibly ameliorate the negative effect of low SES on literacy. Further, age of first bilingual exposure provides a new tool for evaluating whether a young bilingual has a reading problem versus whether he or she is a typically-developing dual-language learner.