I am Greek, my Wife English. We have a girl and a boy 8 years and 3 years old. We have heard many myths about raising a child with more than one language. We have been discouraged from doing so. We were told it can lead to confusion and speech delays, or that they've missed the window of opportunity. Please could you offer your opinion?

Here are the most common myths – and the real story behind raising a child to be bilingual.

Myth 1. Growing up with more than one language confuses children.

This is by far the most prevalent of all the misconceptions. Some parents think that if a child is exposed to two languages at the same time, he might become confused and not be able to differentiate between them.

Experts say that "from just days after birth, all infants can tell the difference between many languages," this is especially true when the languages are quite different from each other – as different, for example, as French and Arabic.

"At that young age, infants generally still have trouble telling two very similar languages apart, like English from Dutch. But by about 6 months of age, they can do that too,"

Myth 2. Raising a child to be bilingual leads to speech delays.

Some children raised bilingual do take a little longer to start talking than those raised in monolingual households. The delay is temporary, however, and according to experts, it's not a general rule.

Unfortunately, parents who raise concerns about the speech development of their bilingual child are often told to stick to one language. This happens because in the past, bilingualism was considered the culprit in problems with language development.

"Research indicates that bilingualism does not cause delays in either speech or language acquisition”.

Even if your child has already been diagnosed with some kind of speech delay, raising him bilingual won't make his speech any more delayed.

"Studies have found that children with language delays who are in dual language environments gain language at the same rate as those in monolingual environments”.

Myth 3. Bilingual children end up mixing the two languages.

Mixing languages is both inevitable and harmless. But to some unfamiliar with bilingualism, it's proof that the child can't really tell the languages apart.

Most children who are raised bilingual do resort to mixing as they sort out both languages. In addition, one of the languages often has a stronger influence on the child than the other. Kids who have a smaller vocabulary in the minority language may draw on words from the majority language as needed.

Experts agree that mixing is temporary. Eventually, it goes away as a child's vocabulary develops in both languages and he has more exposure to each one.

Myth 4. It's too late to raise your child bilingual.

It's never too late, or too early, to introduce your child to a second language.

The optimal time, according to experts, seems to be from birth to 3 years – exactly when a child is learning his first language, and his mind is still open and flexible.

The next best time for learning a second language appears to be when kids are between 4 and 7 years old, because they can still process multiple languages on parallel paths. In other words, they build a second language system alongside the first and learn to speak both languages like a native.

If your child is older than 7 and you've been thinking about raising him bilingual, it's still not too late. The third best time for learning a second language is from about age 8 to puberty. After puberty, studies show, new languages are stored in a separate area of the brain, so children have to translate or go through their native language as a path to the new language.

Myth 5. Children are like sponges, and they'll become bilingual without effort and in no time.

Although it's easier for children to learn a new language the earlier they're exposed to it, even then it doesn't happen by osmosis. It's unrealistic to expect your child to learn English by watching countless episodes of Dora the Explorer on television.

Learning a language doesn't have to be a chore. But introducing a second language to your children does require some kind of structure and, most important, consistency, whether it's through day-to-day conversation or formal instruction. The idea is to expose them to language learning in meaningful and interesting ways that are connected to real life.