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Message edited 1/8/2008 11:22:43 AM.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

My parents speak to DD in Greek a lot and she understands what they are saying. I think that's great that you are doing it - now is the perfect time! Sorry, no tips on how to go about it!

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

No tips either, but DS will be learning spanish. DH's family is from Argentina, and his parents speak to DS primarily in spanish

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

We speak to our DS in english and polish.

Me and my siblings were spoken to both languages while growing up, more so polish, and we can speak polish pretty well.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

The key to avoid the confusion is for DC to hear the parents speak the same language all the time.

I started teaching French to DS. DH only speaks English. In the best case scenario, DS should be only hearing me in French and DH in English. The reason is that if I speak both, DS won't know which one is which. At least in the beginning. Eventually they can all sort it out later anyway. It just creates some confusion at the beginning.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

My parents take care of Ds and they speak spanish to him all day while at home we speak english to Ds.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

I've been trying to incorporate some german and spanish into her vocabulary but it's sort of challenging. She seems to be taking an interest in Italian though (there is a Blue's Clue's episode that highlights Italian).

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

We are teaching my ds italian my parents speak to him only in italian. My husband and I speak to him in engkish but when I am at my parents I speak to him in Italian... I hope I am not confusing him, he seems to understand Italian much better than english.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

We are hoping that all of our (and our family's) attempts with Italian will help him learn a second language. My ILs speak to him in Italian for the most part, which I appreciate since DH and I slack...we just tend to sing songs to him in Italian - all playtime stuff (like Head, Shoulders...and playful conversations in Italian).

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

We are teaching our son Russian and right now he ONLY speaks Russian because we only speak Russian to him.

That's the best way to learn--he will pick up English in a few years whether he wants to or not because we live in an English speaking country (well, for the most part and he will be attending an American school. Russian on the other hand is something he needs to pick up know or never.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

The fact that he's being exposed to a language other than english is going to make it easier for him to learn another language really well even when he's older. I teach FL to high school students and notice that even if the student is not fluent, if he/she has been exposed, they pick it up so much better than those who've only been exposed to English. It's even like they accept the different languages more because they don't see it as "strange".

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Posted by WhatNow

We are teaching our son Russian and right now he ONLY speaks Russian because we only speak Russian to him.

That's the best way to learn--he will pick up English in a few years whether he wants to or not because we live in an English speaking country (well, for the most part and he will be attending an American school. Russian on the other hand is something he needs to pick up know or never.

Message edited 9/18/2007 2:29:49 PM.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

My family speaks to DS is spanish only; DH's family speaks to him primarily in Greek and DH and I speak English (sometimes I will speak Spanish to him too). He understands all three and speaks in all three (not a huge amount of words, he's only 22 mos). I don't have any advice, just that you continue exposing him to Spanish.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Alex is going to learn Hebrew - at 3 years old we're going to enroll her in the Hebrew immersion program at her daycare - they remove the kids and put them in a hebrew speaking only class for four hours of the day.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Andrew will learn Italian. I have no tips. I haven't started the process yet.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Muliani (sp?) - My DH is Indian - Muliani is an Indian dialect. I don't speak it, but my DH and his parents will talk to the girls, or sings songs to them. I think it's great - and never to early to learn.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Message edited 9/18/2007 2:42:56 PM.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

My mom and dad speak to my son in italian. Since my mom watches DS while I am at work, she will speak Italian to him to him more often than I do. Our families also speak it, so he is constantly surrounded by it. At home, I will sing playful italian songs and he responds to them.
As soon as I start singing, he smiles and when I sing a certain song in Italian he starts to rock front to back(which is part of the song) so cute!!!

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

My nephews were taught Spanish at an early age and my sister was told to not confuse them by speaking Spanish one minute and English the next. That it is harder for them to understand and they will not comprehend either launguage that way.

I think you should do a little bit of research on the right way to do it, so that the developmental skills are there to learn two launguages, Its amazing though to see kids learn it at such a young age!
Good luck to you!

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

I speak to DD almost exclusively in Spanish when we are alone. I also sing and read to her in Spanish.

I know a lot of bilingual families (when I lived in Spain) - American mothers and Spanish fathers - and the kids all understand and speak English, but prefer Spanish as they don't want to be "different". Most of them will only use English when they absolutely must - like when grandparents are visiting or they would visit the US. I am speakung of course about adolescents at this point.

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

Re: Any one teaching their kids a second language??

We only speak Croatian to DD (10 months) as we did to DS(10 yrs old) I think its a great benefit to know 2 or more languages.
Everyone is always amazed when they hear my son speak- no accent what-so-ever and in perfect dialect. It was very important to me since we would go there on vacation every summer and I didn't want my son to be an outcast amongst the local kids and also so that he can communicate with grandparents/cousins/relatives,etc without saying "mom,what did so and so say?".
I'm hoping for the same outcome for DD.

Message edited 9/18/2007 11:09:54 PM.