[Sabra]

Hello:

There are some children that are raised to speak more than one language. Experts say the best time to learn how to speak a language is under the age of 3 or near that age as I recall. (If you are a language expert feel free to give specifics. )

I have a friend that taught her son Italian which was my friend's first language. Her son was slower at learning to speak both English and Italian for a few short years. Then he rapidly caught up. His mom and he speak both Italian and English to each other.

We have a bi-lingual education program in our public elementary schools where I live.

Some children that are adopted over the age of 3 may speak the language of the country that they lived in prior to coming to America. Many of the children that I have known in this type of situation have perferred not to speak the language from where they were adopted and a small few have.

What are you experiencing with your children regarding speaking more than one lanuage in the home?

Please share your experiences.

[echaos]

I was raised to be bilingual (French and English) and even though I hated it growing up, I appreciate it now.

My afather spoke English and French and my amother only English. Therefore we only spoke English at home. I started school at 5 years old and went to an all French school (no English allowed, even at recess!) We eventually took English classes, around grade 5. I ended up having poor grammar skills in both languages.

My partner and I have just adopted a little boy, and we are planning to raise him to be bilingual. My partner does not speak French, so it is very much like my situation growing up.

[neen]

I have a two year old adopted from Korea and I am bringing him up bilingual. It is hard as I have been learning Korean all the way along - its not a native tongue for me. I try and speak - mother child banter in Korean and have other native speakers around him - hes doing amazingly well. As I said it is hard to study and mother - but I feel with foreign languages you so need to use it and I am really just keeping the linguistic wheel turning by keeping his Korean there. He arrived at 5 months and some of his first korean words were from that 0-5 month period - not from me - so that really showed me that it was truly his native language and that I must let him keep it. I read his stories in Korean ( thankfully its repetitive! )and then I carefully plan how I immerse him in his language otherwise.

i would love to hear of other examples...or ideas - from sydney australia.

[lucyjoy]

I have two sons from Romania and the oldest(11) was 6 when he left Romania(he didn't come to me until last June). He has forgotten how to speak his language, but recognize some words.
We are currantly all learning conversational Romanian as part of our home school. It's challenging, but the boys like it. The oldest feels like he's getting something back that he lost.

[clara]

Sabra,

Of our three daughters, the eldest began with two languages at the time she began to learn to speak (English and Swiss-German a dialect): exposure at kindergarten to German led her within a year to be able to freely translate when singing songs from one language to the next and back again. English was spoken at home.
Within several years she felt more at ease expressing herself generally in Swiss-german, although she has always spoken to me in English.
My husband is Italian and is fluent in three other languages as I am in two others. The middle child, now at three speaks Italian as we live in Italy : My husband spoke Italian to her in Switzerland as there she was exposed to Swiss-German. Now that she has Italian everyday at kindergarten and within the broader family, he speaks Swiss-German to the two small ones so that they do not lose passive knowledge and Italian to the eldest- she now goes to an Italian school and has been exposed to it on a daily basis since last August. (She does have private tuition support for her homework and revison of the year's cariculum. ) I continue to speak English and all three, including the youngest of 20months has no problem understanding what is said or asked of her in any of the three languages. She has begun to say words and small combinations in each of them: They all have intermitent inter-languages which is absolutely normal and indicates an active absorption of what they are learning.
(I am also a qualified language teacher and have had experience in this area)

The basic principle in multi-lingual education for children is that the source of the language module(parent/teacher) remains consistent: whoever speaks a certain language should stick to it and not constantly be skipping from one to the next in the middle of conversations. Children absorb from each person they develop a realtionship with as an entire unit and that includes language: while my husband swapped languages on moving countries he is consistent as to when he speaks which. The children have recognised this and respond accordingly.

I never pressured the eldest to be fluent in any one of them: her active and spontanous ability to translate from one language to another was a strong nough indication that she was coping well with communicating bi-lingually. Our three year old regularly tranlates words or short phrases to me from her Italian (which at three is still not always clear) to Englsih, done with ease and a charming, knowing little smile. When family call on the phone from Switzerland and speak in german, she has no problem chatting to them and understands easily what they say. Visits there has her chatting in German within a day or two.

I believe the key to successful, stress free multi-languse learning in the home is for it to be a natural process of how you normally communicatewith one another and never to place any pressure on the children to perform or display any level of fluency. It will come and any grammar they might not know or lack of vocabulary can be redressed by repetitive reading, telling of stories, singing rhymes and advanced language structures can be learnt with peers at school - and that does not place them so far ahead of the others as to render them "above" classmates or have them equally bored to death because they know it all. The challange of learning a languge with the class even though they may have grown up with it is still there.

My eldest once, at a lunch, was chatting to a German lady. My daughter was 7 at the time and was speaking in swiss dialect telling a story about one of her cats: seeing that the woman did not understand a word, my daughter was quick to apologise and retold the whole story again in German - not entirely free of mistakes, but that was not the point. She had the confidence to change language mid-stream and did so graciously.

Give children the responsibility and respect of believing they can and they will amaze you with just how much they are capable of, even when they are very young.

[kris shannon]

We just brought our new little girl from El Salvador. She just turned six and already doesn't want to speak Spanish. My four year old loves to though and my older boys (8 and 10) are learning it as well. I homeschool and am beginning a spanish program right now (Learning Spanish with Grace). Wish me luck. My 8 year old is also adopted from S. America and wants to return there some day. He is motivated to learn the language so maybe that will help with our 6 year-old.

[clara]

Hi Kris,

The fact that your six year old does not want to speak it very likely has to do with a mix of reasons: from wanting to be a part of the family, from not wanting to engage in something that is such a direct connection to what ever situation she has come out of: it could be emotionally loaded for her. It is enough that Spanish is used, and being studied: give her the freedom to explore another language than her own. By all means keep Spanish present, but she should not be forced into maintaining it. The knowldege she has of it will not disappear overnight and this is an opportunity for the whole family to engage in language learning games which bridge whatever gaps there might be.
As a language teacher, with experience teaching children, allow her to play with sounds, letters and words. Your attitude to the natural bi-linguilism, not an approach set on language as relative to the adoption context, is critical to the attitude she will develop towards both:What ever the underlying reasons for her resistance, do not focus on the resistance or those reasons - those cannot be changed: let them be: open a new play filled world of English, Spanish and what ever other languages are spoken in the larger family group. Her reaction strikes me as pretty normal.

good luck
Renée

[Shoshana]

I'm adopting a baby from Guatemala. I'm a "unilingual" person (unfortunately), tho' I am teaching myself Spanish - am still in the initial stages, tho' I've picked up a fair amount of vocabulary through my Spanish-speaking friends. Do you think it is possible for me to raise my daughter to be bilingual? Any suggestions as to how?

Thanks!

[clara]

Hi Shoshana,

Children are fantastic linguists. My children are exposed to three and have no problem understanding or making themselves understood in one way or another. Even with unilingual learning, children develop a series of what are called ''interlanguages'': esp evident among toddlers who have not yet developed the full capacity of speech. Children are extremely inventive and free of all those adult hangups and insecurities about grammar correctness and pronunciation. My four year old occasionally even takes to translating from one language to another to get me to fully understand what she wants to tell me LOL

Very basically, allow your daughter to grow up among in a bi-lingual environment: you have Spanish speaking friends. When she is older allow her to go to a Spanish or bi-lingual creche, playschool or kindergarten: Allow her to listen to stories in both languages and learn children's songs in both. If you can get her into a Spanish preschool enviroment( the age where there lingsuitic skills develop most fully, maintain English at home with her: let her choose her language of preference. never force a child to speak one or the other: they will go through natural developmental pahases of choosing one above the other/much as they do developmentally on one parent then the other as infants and tinytots: it is how their learning mechanisms economise and concentrate on the intense mimicry required to learn the necessary skills.
Language is as natural a means of communicating as hugs and cuddles: play is the greatest way kids can effectively learn most anything when they are little. Just because a child is not actively angaging in a language for a length of time does not mean it is being ignored or has gone lost. Both my little ones are surrounded by Italian: the four year old could not be anything else LOL and evry now again she teases me with surprise comments in English. Even the two year old has begun practising words and phrases.
the grammar does not need to be perfect from the go in either language: enjoyment to express themselves in either or both and to feel a natural enjoyment in exploring sound is a solid enough foundation for the brain to muscle in and do the work and it does.
My eldest (now 13) who learnt Eng and Swiss German (dialect)along with German was singing songs in all three when she was four, translating lines back and forth in the same song: that was enough proof to me that enough mental work was being done.
She has excelled herself during the past year and a half: having begun with no Italian, to now conversing, studing and writing in italian as well.
Songs, rhymes, stories: indulge your Spanish friends with the joy of singing lullbyes to your little one, chatting to her in Spanish when they visit. SHE will be bi-lingual if you make it part of her natural environment and not a learning necessity.

Good luck and congrats...
Renée

[Sheena22]

I am teaching both my children to speak french and english.

[redhedded]

My husband speaks Thai and Spanish; I speak a bit of French. Our dd is enrolled in a tri-lingual immersion program, which will begin in the fall. She is currently speaking French, Spanish and English and can greet others in simple Thai. Between ages 3-6 is the optimum time for language expansion and comprehension; further, small children have no apprehension about formation and pronounciation that is different from their native language. The petite section French teacher is currently teaching her own dd French, (first language), Spanish, Mayan and English.

We feel that such exposure can only benefit.

[Big Dreamer]

Hi,

My 22-month-old daughter speaks English most of the time however she can say several words in Spanish and can answer several questions in Spanish. I speak both Spanish and English to her.

I also started teaching her sign language at 8 months so she also knows several sign language commands. She often signs and says the words at the same time. It is my understanding that through signing she is using both sides of her brain, which really helps her development.

I have her in a Daycare two days a week to help develop her social skills since she is an only child. Her teachers often comment on how bright she is. She interacts with two and three year olds and is more verbal then most of them.

Maria

[lee_arlva]

My son, adopted from Guatemala, goes to a daycare where they only speak Spanish to the kids, except at certain points during the day where they teach colors, body parts etc in English.

At 20 months, he definitely understands both languages and, although he seems to have far more English vocabulary than Spanish right now, does say a few things in Spanish too.

The younger you start exposing kids to another language, the better it is for them.

Lee

[redhedded]

Lee, I think that is awesome that you found such a program and are giving your son the opportunity to continue learning (and using) his birth language. Like most bilingual children, he obviously associates Spanish with school and English with home; most children associate a language with inside the home and outside the home or one language with one parent and another language with another parent. In an immersion program, the immersion language is used at all times and in every environment, whereas the second or third (English) language is used only in designated rooms with designated teachers. The children are never confused by this. Only adults perceive confusion with our adult minds.

I would be willing to bet that your son knows a lot of Spanish; he just does not use it at home, because he thinks it is not the right place. Take care!

[lee_arlva]

Thanks so much for your reply Redhedded. I think you're right actually. Kids definitely do associate languages with certain contexts. Although I speak almost exclusively English at home, I give him some Spanish there too through music and books (I usually read him 2-3 books in English and one in Spanish before bed). I've been doing this to give him a sense that I value Spanish and his birthculture and also, from reading about raising kids bilingually, I've learned that it can be difficult to get kids to actively use the minority language.

The area where I live has a dual immersion program and I hope that he'll be able to get in there when it comes time for school; the challenge will be developing his Spanish until then!

Lee