Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I plan on speaking English and French with my children. What have been your experiences with raising children around 2 languages?

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I would love to (DH speaks Spanish)..but he works so much, I want to find seaseme st and things like that in spanish.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I was planning on it but it requires that DH actually start speaking hebrew to her like he promised In a few months my daughter will be placed into the hebrew immersion program at daycare where they speak only hebrew for 4 hours of the day. I have no idea what to expect, so any BTDT advice/perspectives would be great!

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

DH is from Poland and would like to teach the baby Polish but I am not sure if he will keep up with it. His brother and parents all moved back to Poland and without the exposure to them, I am not sure he will be motivated.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I haven't spoken Spanish since high school, but I'm trying to teach DS some Spanish words. (Spanish is not a native language, just what I learned in school) We bought him a learning Spanish book, and we watch Dora and Diego a lot. He knows a few dozen Spanish words (mainly numbers, colors, and a few actions). He has no problem switching back and forth. I'll ask him what color something is, then after he tells me, I'll ask him what it is in Spanish. If he wants something open, I'll say "The door speaks Spanish" (from Dora), and he'll say "abre"... We're far from bi-lingual, but I do want him exposed to another language.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

DH wants me to speak Croatian to DS alot durning the day but what DH doesnt realize is that my grammer isnt really correct. My parents are from 2 different regions with different dialects and I mixed them together growing up. I try to talk to him hear and their but not like I should. When he is 4 their is a program I can put him in through the Croatian church in Astoria and I was actually thinking of taking it with him. My godmother only spoke Croatian to all her children (3 kids). Her first speaks and reads it fluently and is currently looking for a job there to live their permently, the #2 understands it like me completely and speaks it but not as well as her brother and the last had some delays, but that also had to with hearing problems but I dont think the croatian/english home helped him and I have never heard him speak it at all and now they only speak english to him (he is 10 now).

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

we are trying. I think he understands alot more Spanish than he speaks, although he does know many words. BUt he always answers in English.

ETA: Except when he is calling someone Tonto (the spanish word for silly I am told- I could swear it meant stupid). This word he seems to have mastered

ETA: I just google translated it and it translates to idiot. Grrrr at DH!!!!!!!

Message edited 2/1/2007 8:14:59 AM.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I speak to my boys in Italian as much as I can. It's one of those "Easier said than done" things, which I would have never beleived it until now..
but they love to repeat phrases, and talk back to me in Italian. My goal is for them to be fluent. They completely understand it (my parents ONLY speak to them in Italian). I speak it on a daily basis, but not all day.

I speak to so many adults who are sad that they never learned another language from their parents.

Im also fluent in spanish, so if we can tackle Italian, SPanish will be simple!
and since theyre so young, they repeat the words and phrases so easily.

xxxxxxx

Message edited 2/10/2007 4:44:19 PM.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I plan to speak to my baby in Spanish. When I lived in Spain (13 years) all of my American & British friends spoke English to their children. However, as they (the kids) got older they would only reply in Spanish. I think it has to do with feeling "tonto" (silliy in Spain, Pauline! ) in front of others. They don't realize what a gift it is to be bilingual.

On the other hand, my SIL is from Taiwan and speaks ONLY in Chinese with my nephew. He pseaks to her in Chinese all the time, also he went to Chinese school every Saturday for most of the day. In that case, I feel like he isn't getting any of his father's background just because my SIL has him very immersed...and my brother doesn't make any effort to teach him about his Irish roots at all.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I'm raising a trilingual child. English, Spanish and Greek. So far it's been going great. My family speaks Spanish, DH's speaks Greek. He is 14 mos old and he knows where his nose, ears and mouth are in English, Greek and Spanish. He understands most commands in all three languages too. Such as bring me the ball, go put on your shoes, go get your socks, where is your juice, pacifier, etc.

ETA:
My grandparents and mother speaks to my son only in Spanish.
I speak to him in mostly Spanish but do speak to him in English too.
Dh's parents speak to him in mostly Greek.

Message edited 2/1/2007 9:20:42 AM.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

yes my grandmother and mother (who take care of him) speak to him in greek during the day and at home

I speak to him 1/2 english and 1/2 greek..

My husband speaks to him English and eventually after Kindergarten my husband will speak to him in Spanish.

Ideally one person should speak each language.

I am going to put him in Greek school to learn the language (written) because it is a different alphabet.

Bi-lingual babies tend to mix the two and sometimes take longer to speak more words.

Let's see how it turns out

I went to school only speaking Greek and learned English in school.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Posted by anna

Posted by pnm1654

I'm raising a trilingual child. English, Spanish and Greek. So far it's been going great. My family speaks Spanish, DH's speaks Greek. He is 14 mos old and he knows where his nose, ears and mouth are in English, Greek and Spanish. He understands most commands in all three languages too. Such as bring me the ball, go put on your shoes, go get your socks, where is your juice, pacifier, etc.

thats aawesome marcela!
I find that the understanding goes well, but it's making them speak it thats more challenging.

thats great.
and once you know one foreign language, i find its so easy to learn others. I learned so much greek from just hanging out with my neighbors growing up! (astoria aka little athens )

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Posted by aja

yes my grandmother and mother (who take care of him) speak to him in greek during the day and at home

I speak to him 1/2 english and 1/2 greek..

My husband speaks to him English and eventually after Kindergarten my husband will speak to him in Spanish.

Ideally one person should speak each language.

I am going to put him in Greek school to learn the language (written) because it is a different alphabet.

Bi-lingual babies tend to mix the two and sometimes take longer to speak more words.

Let's see how it turns out

I went to school only speaking Greek and learned English in school.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

My husband is Greek, and my in-laws are off the boat, so they talk to my kids in Greek as much as possible. I try to learn as much I can too , so that way one day we can all speak it. Next year my oldest will be going to Greek school and learning more anyway. and we spend time in Greece every other summer, so I'm sure me and my kids will learn to speak it fluently soon

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

i plan on raising my dc bilingual (spanish/english). my nephew was raised bilingual and so were my cousins children and they all did and are doing great.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Yes! Well we are working on it. I have to remind DH to speak to her in Hebrew. My mom also speaks to her in Hebrew. In the city, most of the kids I meet are bilingual- so its not too bad. My plan is to speak to DD only in English adn for DH to speak to her only in Hebrew. Its gotten off to a rocky start since DH is used to speaking English at home with me. But we got her some Hebrew dolls, and are getting some Hebrew books and DH is starting to get used to it.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

I'm trying to have Jake learn Spanish as well as English. He's been doing great so far since he was hearing it all day at the sitter, but he just started daycare where they will only be speaking English.

So now I have to make more of an effort to speak Spanish to him at home.

He understand alot of Spanish right now and can say about half a dozen words in Spanish. He has more words in English though.

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

We plan to, and DH & I have actually signed up for classes in high Italian to teach to our child, rather than the dialect & slang we are used to. I personally hate that we stopped speaking Italian in our house when my nonna died, & DHs family never spoke it when they came to the US. What he knows is from his distant relatives & friends (which is why it is a loose version of Italian).

Re: Is anyone on here raising a bi-lingual child?

Yes, DH and MIL only speak to Alex in Spainish. I speak only English. It is going well so far. He understands both completely. He combines both languages now but I think that is fairly normal at this point.