Message Board

Language delay at 12 month?

Miguel — Thur, 29 Oct 2009 14:08:29 GMT

Hello multicultural friend,
We are a bi-cultural couple. I'm from South America and my wife is from the USA (Midwest). We live in the US so we speak English most of the time, but my wife speaks Spanish with almost no accent and we try to speak it, about 20% of the time.
We just had our first son, and we have the "first time parent jitters".

My son just turn one year old and we are kind of worried because of his delay in the area of communication. Basically, we were looking at some child development charts, , and he is right on target on all areas (motor-skills, problem solving, mobility, social, etc) except on Language and Communication.
He only says one word -"dada" -to either of us, where she should already say at least three... he doesn't clap, he doesn't wave bye-bye, and when ask to play peak-a-booh, he is clueless....

I guess I should mention that she is a Pediatriacian so we are overloaded with information and studies and stuff but it's difficult not to think the worst. She thinks that he has a mild delay of about 2 months...

I know that bilingual kids are slower to learn how to talk, but that early? I don't
want to stop our special spanish bonding time and all the spanish baby-talk and my wife singing Spanish nursery rhymes... and we are lucky that our Pediatrician support us in our efforts since she also comes from a bilingual family and is raising bilingual kids (vietnamesse-american), but how much should we worry?

Any experiences would be useful.

Looking for symphaty in KC,

Miguel

Forum: Your Questions -- General

How can mother do smart separartion between mL@H and outside language?

Anna — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:04:30 GMT

Probably, I have a very typical situation, but I could not find answers for all my questions. Could you, please, help me organize my ideas for introducing several languages in my head?
Let's me explain what I did so far. I am living in USA, but me and my husband (and all other relatives) speak Russian. My baby is 1.5 years old. Most of my friends and all relatives speaks Russian. I asked everyone to speak to the baby only in Russian (without mixing languages). However, when we go to a play ground or to a store, I need to speak English. Also, on TV we have English news. I started to teach my baby to read on Russian from 8 months (I am using Doman system). I already see results. He speaks only 15-20 short words for right now. Couple months ago I started to have micro sections of English with my baby. I bought English books which I read only on English (I don't allow any relative to touch them and translate them on Russian to my baby). Also, I show him sometimes educational videos on English as well, so he can listen correct pronunciation. Most of my relatives want me stop to my mini English sections with my baby because they afraid that he will lose Russian at school. Also I want to teach my baby other languages in a year as well, but I afraid that he will mix all of them.
Questions:
1) What should I do at play ground or store? I don't know enough English to speak with my baby only on English; however, I need to answer to someone questions.
2) How can I separate my English sections from Russian sections during my time with baby? Right now I let my baby to decide. If he brings English book or cards from our "English shelf" then I read and speak on English. All other time I speak on Russian. Is a better for me to have a specific corner in the room for English?
3) When should I start teach my baby to read on English? He already pay attention to all written words, but in outside world everything is written on English. So I read them on English. From one side, he wants to polish his reading skills. From another side, he does not so familiar with English and English characters. Again, I am afraid to mix two languages. I started for a week and then I stopped teach him how to read on English.
4) I want to teach my baby briefly few more languages, so he can have better start later. But my doctor recommended me to wait with next languages until 2-3 years. So what is the best time? Should I wait when my baby will be fluent in English before I introduce next languages? Or should I start as soon as possible?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

learns words in only one language

Jessica — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:40:02 GMT

My daughter is 14 months old. My husband speaks to her exclusively in Russian and I speak to her exclusively in English. Her comprehension of both languages is about equal; any command or instructions spoken in either language are understood.

However, when it comes to speaking, she will only use one language or the other for whatever word we want her to say. For example, she will ONLY say "kitty" in English and ONLY "goat" in Russian, ONLY "eat" in English and ONLY "more" in Russian, etc., no matter in which language it is asked of her. The language she first learned the word in is the only language she will use for that item. She knows over 20 words in English and about 8 or so in Russian (I speak to her more often).

Is it just a matter of time before she can say both the Russian and English word for things?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Single Trilingual, baby on the way!

Jennifer — Thur, 22 Oct 2009 19:18:48 GMT

MY STATS:
1. Living in the USA
2. English speaking community and extended family
3. Baby girl coming in February
4. Language system: Trying to figure that one out

Hi,
I speak native English, and non-native Spanish and Portuguese. My baby's father lives in Brazil and I'm unsure right now how often we will be able to visit him and his extended family in Brazil in the future. I would say that now that I'm no longer living in Brazil, I am more comfortable in Spanish than Portuguese. I would like my daughter to speak all three languages, however. I believe that English and Spanish are very important languages in the US and that Portuguese would be important for heritage/paternal family relations. However, since I'm single I'm not sure about the best way to pull this off. I live with my grandmother who is an English speaker. I was thinking of the plan below:

Plan A (Birth to 4 years old):

Spanish with babysitter Weekdays 7:30 am 3:30 pm

English w/ Grandma Evenings/Weekends

English w/ Me Spontaneously

Spanish w/Me Spontaneously

Portuguese w/ Me Evenings/Weekends

The only problem is that Im not that comfortable in Portuguese right now. Spanish would be much more natural for me, especially since I am surrounded with it more here. However, I don't know how else to get the Portuguese exposure. I'm dedicated to doing what's best, however.

Please let me know if you all think this is a good plan or if you have some different ideas.

Thanks!!!

Forum: Non-native Speakers

Any experiences of exposing two languages through splitting them by time?

Asu — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:43:50 GMT

Hi Everyone,

Me and my husband are Turkish and live in Turkey. We both speak English and German very fluently. We have a daugther, Mira. Mira is 2,5 months old and the question is how to teach her three languages; Turkish, German and English.

I've been reading similar threads and trying to figure out the method which would suit us best. However, I have little accent in English and German while my husband has a strong accent in both of them. That's why we agreed that I should focus on English and German, and my husband should focus on Turkish.

In this forum --thanks to which my ideas got shaped about multilingual children-- I found some threads where one parent thinks about exposing two different languages by splitting time (certain days of the week certain languages) but I could not find any stories where the method was really applied.

Currently, I am talking to Mira two days only in German and the other two days only in English. Then two days only in German and English again... I am also supporting these languages with music and stories read by native speakers on DVDs.

I would appreciate any experiences with 'time split' approach?

Or maybe we should support 'my time split approach' with speaking German or English with my husband as the family language?

My fear is to cause Mira to mix up everything.

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Asu

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Monolingual Parents

Kelly — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:05:00 GMT

We are monolingual parents interested in teaching our 11 month daughter German or French. My goal is to start learning these languages and begin communicating with her in these languages. I plan to purchase some of the language DVDs and toys for infants/toddlers. We have two French immersion preschools in my area that begin at age 3. Unfortunately there are no German immersion preschools in my area. Am I doing the right thing?

Forum: Non-native Speakers

How to start with a 3rd language?

Nadia — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:41:09 GMT

1. Country you live in Norway
2. Languages the family speaks Mum - Russian, Dad- Norwegian, 2 norwegian grandparents - Norwegian, Grandmom i Russia - Russian
3. Ages of the children: 1 daughter - 4 months
4. Language system - OPOL

Well,since my daughter was born I speak Russian (my native lang.) to her and my husband speaks Norwegian (his native lang.). We live in Norway.
My husband understands and can speak Russian as well, so sometimes I speak Russian to him but I speak Norwegian to him most of the time. I would like to teach my daughter English as well. I suggest to my husband speaking English between us but he refuses because it feels very unnatural for both of us. We don't have any English au pair/nanny etc. I plan to send my daughter to an English pre-school from the age of 3.

So, should I wait with English until she is 3 when she starts to attend English pre-school? Or should I start to teach her English already now? In this case how to start and when? Wait until she starts speaking Russian and Norwegian and then start to introduce English lessons to her? Or already now have some English hours/days when I speak English to her/ watch English DVDs/ Listen to English songs, etc. ? I am afraid she'll be confused. I really don't know if I should start or wait with English.

Forum: Your Questions -- General

what language do I speak to the baby? Multilingual Mummy?

marta — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:06:07 GMT

Hi to everyone on this wonderful site,

My husband and I are expecting our first baby in a few weeks time. We live in London. My first language is Italian (I have two Italian parents), but English is now the language I feel most comfortable in. as I grew up and studied here. My husband is from Cameroon, so speaks French and has been learning English in the last two years since living in the UK. We currently speak English together, but I am also fluent in French.

We'd like our baby to grow up with good English and French, and some understanding of Italian.

The plan is for Daddy to speak French to the baby and Mummy & Daddy also to speak French to each other to increase the exposure. Then grandparents can speak Italian to him.
That leaves the issue of what I will speak to the baby.

Following the guidance on the website, I want to be consisitent, in which case I should just speak English.

However, I also have the idea that Mummy could speak different languages depending on the context, which is what I already do myself and seems very natural in our household:

- English if I'm alone with the baby or out and about
- French if we're all at home (to support the father with the French as he's now having trouble switching back as he's been learning English intensively!) - Italian around my own parents.

Will that confuse the baby or will that help him to see how to switch and at the same time add extra exposure to the French and Italian? It sounds complicated, but may well be the more 'natural' solution than insisting that I only speak one language to him and then find I don't know what I should be speaking when we are in family situations.

Thank you very much for your comments,
marta

Forum: Family Language Systems

Dutch and finnish in Finland

Fien — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:15:44 GMT

Hi,

My husband and i are living in Finland. My husband is finnish, i am belgian. Our common language is english.

We are soon to be parents and i we will talk our own language to the child. So i will be talking flemish (more naturally would be my west-flemish dialect, but don't know if thats good or not) and my husband finnsh. I am learning finnish since 3 weeks now in an intensive, daily course. Is it a problem that i'm not really gonna speaking finnish well? And my husband no flemish either?

Greetings

Fien

Forum: Your Questions -- General

second language or relationship with grandfather?

reuben moses — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:57:11 GMT

We live in Israel. My two and a half year old grandson and I have had quite a close and warm relationship until fairly recently, when he began to feel that I was using a different language (English) to that used by all the others around him (Hebrew). He has begun to appreciate that Grandad uses different words for things, and gets status in the kindergarten because he teaches his friends to count in English - but with that he also began to distance himself from me. I can speak in Hebrew to him, but want him to acquire at least a background sense of English.
My questions are whether being the sole English speaker in his environment is enough for him to get that feel for the language, and whether it is worth putting the relationship with him at risk over this.
Does anybody have some experience that can shed light on my dilemmas?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Toddler mixing Minority Majority languages

Susannah — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:09:55 GMT

Hello
We live in France, my husband is French and I am English.
My son is 2 years and four months old and is very articulate in both English and French.
I am a stay at home mum and have only ever spoken English to him since the day he was born.

He currently understands very well the concept of mummy having one word for thigns and daddy having another, and will tell us 'what daddy/mummy calls that. In addition, he understands why we separate mummy and daddy books.

When he first started speaking, his English words outnumbered his French words by far and he did not speak any French to me. However, since his vocabulary in both languages has increased and crucially, since he started spending a lot more time (about one day a week) with his French paternal grandparents, two things have happened - firstly, his French has improved dramaticallysuch that it is as strong as his English and secondly he has started mixing French and English with me a great deal, which I am finding increasingly frustrating.

I calmly repeat every french utterance back to him in English but this is becoming cumbersome as some days he will speak 50 per cent French and 50 percent English to me. I wouldn't mind it being cumbersome if I felt confident that he would eventually be able to organise the two languages in his head such that he will be able to choose to speak to me in English, but I am very worried that this may not happen.

I see many examples of passive bilingualism here in France, of older children understanding their mother's English perfectly but replying in French and never speaking English. These cases are often mothers who have not chosen to stay at home and who have hired French nannies etc and/or mothers who do not mind passive bilingualism at all - neither of these are true for me and I am worried that my efforts may come to nothing, which would upset me greatly as I feel a very emotional connection to my hopes for a mother son relationship in which we speak to each other in my mother tongue.

It is worth noting that my son seems to use as much English with his father and grandparents as he does French with me, the mixing is indiscriminate. However, as I am the person that spends the most time with him and invests the most in inculcating my minority language, I am discouraged at the almost complete 50/50 mixing habit.

I would be extremely grateful for any reassurance that children are capable of distinguishing one parent one language as they grow older, in addition to any tips that could help me, as I am feeling that the reformulating seems a rather feeble tool in the face of so much dogged and constant mixing.

I admit I have shown exasperation at times recently and said things such as 'let's use mummy's words! that's a daddy word ! how does mummy say that?' I imagine this is not advisable but seem to be feeling rather panicky, as if I am failing somehow.

For info, we are part of an anglo saxon expat mums group of ten to fifteen mums and are extremely active every weekday seeing the same group of English speaking children and doing music, swimming, football etc all English so I am not his sole source of English. Despite this, since the mixing started with me, he does also tend to use French words with the English mummies too, as well as wen he is playing and talking to himself.

I do not reformulate for him when he is talking to himself !

Since his birth, his father and I have always spoken French together in front of him, even tho we ony speak our own languages when we address him. However, since the mixing started a few months ago I have switched to forcing myself to speak English to his dad (who replies to me in French) in front of him, in an effort o anglicise his enivronment.

I am kicking myself for not having adopted this approach from his birth as it now seems it's 'too late' in that he knows I understand and sepak French which is perhaps at the root of all this mixing. That said, even if I had always spoken English to his dad in front of him, he still would have heard me speaking French when we are out and about in town, to his grandparents, to French friends etc.

I suspect the 'answer' might be, 'it;s his age, mixing is normal, it will get better, continue to reformulate and/or speak English to his Dad in front of him if you like' but I am deep down rather scared that it perhaps isn't a good sign and could be a precursor of his becoming passively bilingual, especially as e can't afford a bilingual school so he will be in the French system as of the age of 3 years and 3 months.

Am very lost, please help!

Very gratefully,

Susannah
Mum to 2 year old boy
Living in France, married to French husband
Speaking minority language English using OPOL.

Forum: Family Language Systems

Can i still teach my baby a 3rd language?

Marina — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:11:09 GMT

Hi Everybody!

I live in Germany and I have a 2 months old baby girl. Since she was born my husband speaks to her in German and I in English but, I'm Hispanic and I would also like her to learn Spanish. Can I start speaking to her in Spanish now? or will that be more confusing for her in the long run?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Speak minority language only an hour a day

Viviana — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:46:41 GMT

I know that time its very important when learning a second language, but when youre a single working mom, time its quite difficult to find, you DO have time but you have so much to do that time flies away...

I read that for a child become an active bilingual he/she has to listen to the language at least 30% of the time he/she is awake, for my 5 years old that would be 4.2 hours daily.

My problem is: I spend only 5 hours a day with my girl, yes that more than I need to teach her English but you have to consider that I also have to give her school support (in Spanish) so that takes an hour from us, then is time to clean the house a little, etc, etc, etc I do speak English when I can but when youre trying to make your 5 years old pick her toys up or stop cutting her dolls hair speaking a language she doesnt understand its quite fun for her (because she doesnt have a clue what youre saying), so I was wondering if would be easier for me and more valuable for her if I only speak English to her during an hour, this will be the hour before she gets to bed when I finish doing all I have to do and Im free to give her all the attention she wants, to do so I though that maybe I should follow a book, start teaching numbers, colors, then family membersetc, that way I can keep track of what shes learning, of course it would be while we are playing, or watching a movie.

What do you think?

Forum: Family Language Systems

How to include Portuguese on this melting pot?

SandySkolny — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 11:26:43 GMT

I am a Brazilian national living in the USA. Hubby is American.

We are adopting 2 girls from the Ukraine (ages 10 and 13) who speak fluent Russian, Ukrainian, and basic English.

We are also expecting a baby due February.

My family ONLY speaks Portuguese. We talk on webcam once or twice a week, and spend a month out of the year in Brazil.

About the older girls: It is important that they keep their Russian. We are going to get them once a week tutor so they keep speaking Russian (Russian is the main language in the area they live in Ukraine). It is also very very important they learn English because we live in here and they are already VERY behind in their education. I got them a Portuguese Rosetta Stone, and we will visit Brasil next year (in April), so perhaps they can learn slowly... I don't know when it is fit to start teaching them Portuguese.

BUT I really want baby to speak Portuguese now.... Want to speak with baby in Portuguese only, so baby can learn on the easy way... But don't want to leave girls left out...

Thought of suggesting that girls speak with baby in Russian (without forcing it, of course).

What do you think?????

Thanks!

Forum: Your Questions -- General

his doctor says no more spanish due to speech delay!

elizabeth — Thur, 24 Sep 2009 15:22:19 GMT

Hi,

My son has just turned two years old and he has a speech delay. Currently he says about 15-20 English words and two Spanish words with varying degrees of accuracy but he understands a lot. I saw his pediatrician today for his two year old checkup and he wants me to stop speaking Spanish to him which I started speaking to him just six weeks ago, along with exposing him to Spanish books, videos, and friends. English is our native language. I am not a native Spanish speaker but want him to be bilingual and from age 0-3 years old is the time when babies soak up language the most easily. In the six weeks I have been speaking to him (almost completely in Spanish) he has learned, in terms of his understanding, so much Spanish. It's pretty amamzing to me. My husband speaks to him only in English and he is at a fulltime english speaking daycare so he gets a lot of English. He was speech delayed before I began speaking Spanish to him of course, so that is not the reason for the delay but my doctor feels he will have a very hard time with two languages.

The problem is I really want to keep speaking to him in Spanish. I have lots of friends whose sons were delayed in speech at two years of age and they are all doing totally fine now with very little or no intervention, however, it is true they were not bilingual kids. I don't want to lose this window of opportunity for him to really learn another language and he is so receptive to it now. I am a teacher and I kmow there is just not a school language program that can compare with what I am offering him. I do plan to have have him formally evaluated very soon (am calling to make the appointment tomorrow) but what do others think about the additional language? If I were a native Spanish speaker I don't think my doctor would so easily have leapt to me not speaking the language to him, biligual kids must have this situation a lot. What should I do? Should I stop and take the risk that by the time he is caught up in English he is still receptive to the immersion technique for Spanish in spite of the temptation of speaking only the majority language and peer pressure to do so or should I get him evaluated and speech therapy but keep on with the Spanish and hhave faith that he will catch up eventually as I initially thought?

Hope to hear from you all,
elizabeth in Baltimore

Forum: Your Questions -- General