Regina Konstantinova — Bella debuted on the show "Impressive People" ("Udivitelnye Lyudi") aired on Russian TV. The sweet little prodigy swept everyone off their feet demonstrating her perfect knowledge of Russian, English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. The original video posted on YouTube gained over two million views in few days.
So how is possible that a child of four can hold a proper conversation with native speakers of seven different languages while most people can't even learn one foreign tongue? In an interview to Sputnik, the little polyglot's mother, Yuliya Devyatkina, shared some of the secrets to Bella's success.
"First of all, Bella does not have language lessons in the traditional sense. In her understanding, the teachers are coming to our house to play with her and have some fun. You don't need to force a child to play — all children do it with pleasure. Bella is doing the same, only in different languages," Yuliya explained.
"To create an even more positive attitude for communicating in different languages, we arrange fun trips out. For example, we go to the oceanarium with the Spanish teacher, to the museum with our Chinese tutor, to the amusement park with the Arabic teacher and so on," she said.
Bella's mom also revealed how she searched for tutors.
"We mainly look at special websites for finding tutors and put up ads in universities, where international students are studying. Sometimes we ask for recommendations from our friends, who also bring up their kids in a multilingual environment."
Bella's parents don't plan to add more languages in their daughter's range. "She is currently studying five languages from different language groups, besides French and Spanish. Plus, it is scientifically proven that with this set of languages, the child's intellect develops massively," the proud mom of the infant prodigy said.
Despite all the lessons that Bella receives, she still gets free time for other activities.
"Bella has plenty of free time, 3-4 hours a day at least. During this time, she usually likes to draw — she is really interested in it. She also watches cartoons and plays with toys all by herself."
Regarding her future choice of school, the question remains open, according to Yuliya Devyatkina: "We would like to go to a school where teaching is conducted in French. But home schooling is an option, too."
The "Impressive People" show is still in full swing and the charming girl has a chance to reach the finale and win the main prize — a million rubles (US $16,130).
"If we are lucky enough to win a prize on the TV show we will invest the entire amount in further interesting activities for my daughter. After all, she is not only learning languages, but also goes in for sport, music and art."
The fame and popularity came to the Devyatkin family out of the blue, but it hasn't gone to their heads.
"Fortunately, Bella does not understand what happened due to her age. And we will protect her in every possible way from the "child prodigy" label. She shouldn't feel like a star, she should remain a child," Bella's mom concluded.
