Parents who are looking to give their children the extra edge in school may want to consider teaching them another language at a young age. A number of studies have been conducted to determine if knowing another language can help students throughout their academic careers, but now new research is suggesting it may make it easier to pick up even a third language.

Researchers from the University of Haifa studied two groups of sixth grade students, one of which knew Russian and Hebrew and another that only knew Hebrew. Both groups of students were being taught to speak English in school.

According to the results, the group that understood Russian not only picked up the English language faster, but also had a better understanding of Hebrew.

"Gaining command of a number of languages improves proficiency in native languages," Professor Salim Abu-Rabia said. "This is because languages reinforce one another, and provide tools to strengthen phonologic, morphologic and syntactic skills. These skills provide the necessary basis for learning to read."