Thesis from 2021 in the field of Linguistics / Language Research (interdisciplinary), grade: 2.0, Technical University of Dortmund, language: German.

Abstract: This study aims to investigate whether this expectation can correspond to reality. Therefore, using the example of children who grow up bilingually in German-Spanish either successively or simultaneously, it will be explored whether they are capable of acquiring two languages at the same level, which can be qualitatively equated with first language acquisition.

Interculturality has become a central theme worldwide. Germany has also become one of the largest immigration societies in Europe over the past few decades. Consequently, this leads to a mixture of various cultures and languages. Children from families with a migration background thus have the opportunity to grow up at least bilingual or even multilingual, influenced by different cultures. Today, bilingualism or multilingualism is seen as an opportunity. However, this was not always the case. Particularly in the 1950s, authors warned against allowing children to grow up multilingual. At that time, it was said that children with a second mother tongue would be overwhelmed and thus more likely to stutter or be considered less intelligent. These arguments have long been debunked, and now the advantages of multilingualism are at the forefront. Research over the past ten years has intensely focused on children's second language acquisition, particularly the early second language acquisition of German. This has led to the expectation that if children start learning a second language early enough, the early second language acquisition of German can lead to a comparable competence in German as first language acquisition.