Message Board

starting 2nd language on my 15m daughter

Katherine Valossi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:59:37 GMT

I live in Greece but was born and raised in the US until I was nine by my Greek family, so I am bilingual my self. Having lived in Greece now for so long I am not used to speaking English on a daily basis or in my everyday life, so I never spoke much English to my now 15m old daughter. She seems to understand everything we say in Greek and is starting to say her first words, so I'm thinking is this a good time to start speaking to her in English? I'm afraid I might end up confusing her. I do sing songs, read English books and tell her that I love her in English but say everything else in Greek.
Do you think this would be a good time to begin? Or should I wait?
Thank you so much for your help. This web page has been helpful already.

Forum: Your Questions -- General

18 months daughter has no reason to speak my native language. What should I do

Tanya — Thur, 02 Jul 2009 15:03:51 GMT

Hello,

I speak to my daughter in Russian 100% and my husband speaks to her in English. We use OPOL method. We live in US and my daughter goes to English day care.

She is starting to say words, mostly in English and some in Russian, very few. I realized she has no reason to speak Russian because I can understand what she is saying in English. Do I pretend I don't understand her? She is so excited to be able to communicate that I'm afraid I'll upset her more by "not understanding" what she is saying. What is your experience at this age?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Dora in spanish and Kai Lan in mandarin?

Trisha — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:23:52 GMT

Does anyone know where to buy children's dvd's in spanish and/or mandarin?

Specifically I would like to be able to buy Dora in spanish and Kai Lan in mandarin. I know that Dora is shown in many countries in other languages, but I have never been able to find a place to buy them in another language.

What they show here in the U.S. with both shows mostly in English with only a little bit of spanish or mandarin isn't enough.

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Problem with minority language

Francesca — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:45:36 GMT

Hi there.

I'm mom to V, 2 years old in a couple weeks.
I'm Italian and my husband is a Chinese naturalized American. V was born in the UK and we have been living there up to 3 months ago, now we are living in Italy.

I speak Italian to V and my husband Mandarin and we speak English between each other. V can speak Italian in full sentences, very good vocabulary. But we are having issues with the minority language (Mandarin). We left out English for now as we thought would very easy to learn in the future as very likely we might move back to the US.
I already have checked the link to suggestions to encourage the minority language acceptance but I think that the situation is getting rather complicated.
DH was very busy with work and thought he had time for starting talking to him whenever the wanted...big mistake.
Now that we live in Italy and V's language picked up so quickly, my husband felt he was very behind. V keep refusing not just Chinese but also his father and although my husband can speak Italian doesn't have the same command of the language as in Chinese or English.

When V was 1 year old I bought for him Muzzy which he really liked. Now he is loosing interest. My PIL live in the US so I cannot have their help. The Chinese source right now can come just from my husband.
To me it's not just a matter of learning another language, it's a matter of communication between father and son.
What to do? Any hint would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Francesca

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Monoligual family

Emmanuelle — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:53:48 GMT

Hello,

i would like to know if anyone has succeded in getting his child at least fluent? Even though the parents aren't bilingual.
I don't expect my child to speak the language chosen ( ESL) but at least have him aknowledge that English is nice to hear and maybe talk.
From his birth to 7 months old i was home and talked to him a lot in English.
Then i went back to work...
Now he is 13 months. I play dvds in English, he has an English leappad. I will meet next week an English mom with twin babies and hopefully if we click we could meet up regularly.
I would like to have someone advise me which book is best in my case ( monolingual family) cause i don't have the same isues as multilingual families.
Thanks...

Forum: Non-native Speakers

Important tool for monolingual parents wanting to raise bilingual children

momtomany — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 04:24:10 GMT

I read lots of questions and doubts from monolingual parents or parents with a weak grasp of the target language they want to teach their kids, and it reminded me of some advice I gave to a couple once. It was at a homeschool conference and they were considering to homeschool their children, but they didn't speak English very strongly and would be homeschooling in English (we live in Canada)... they were concerned that they would pass on all their poor grammar to their children and missing the exposure to native English speakers was the one thing holding them back from deciding to homeschool. So I told them to read, read, read... read aloud to them, encourage their kids to read lots of books (maybe a little reward program)... with lots of exposure to good literature they will just intuit the correct grammar (and spelling also!), and the parents would have the opportunity to improve their English as well. Reading books is a great tool for language learning.

Forum: Non-native Speakers

Trilingual with only 1 parent?

Helen San — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:22:06 GMT

I am trilingual (native English, non-native Spanish, native Chinese limited). My husband is also trilingual (native English, non-native French, non-native Swahili). All the stories of trilingualism I know have either OPOL or mL@H or 3rd language at school as the language system. My situation doesn't fit any of that.

We live in the USA and are homeschooling. We agreed to teach our children English, Spanish, and Chinese. My children are already bilingual in English and Spanish by having lived in South America for the last 3 years. But now I want to teach Chinese while maintaining their Spanish and homeschooling in English.

I cannot do OPOL as neither my Spanish nor Chinese is good enough to use for homeschooling. I want to do mL@H, but I have to do both minority languages by myself, since my husband cannot help with either Spanish or Chinese.

I am thinking of giving Chinese lessons first, then dedicating 1 day a week to speaking to them in Chinese. As they get better, I can spend half the week in Chinese and half the week in Spanish, whenever they are not in "homeschool." Or one week for each minority language, alternating back and forth. I have no idea how this would work. Any thoughts? Any experience with trilingualism with only one parent shouldering all the minority language responsibilities and without the benefit of a foreign community language would be appreciated. Thank you.

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Introducing reading and writing

Christina — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 14:56:20 GMT

Hello! I have a three year old daughter with whom I speak Spanish in the U.S. She speaks fairly well, though she mixes some of the grammar rules between English in Spanish (i.e. 'No quiero lo.' instead of saying 'No lo quiero.') This also happens in English, though not as often since she hears English from so many other people.

My question is in reference to teaching her how to read and write. My husband and I have decided that we will continue the OPOL method for now both in the speaking and reading/writing form. (He'll teach her English reading and I will teach her Spanish reading, etc.) I'm curious if any of you found it confusing for your child when it came time to read and write both languages concurrently. I'd appreciate any input that you might have. Thanks.

Christina

Forum: Non-native Speakers

Trilingual 4yo son struggling with phonics

Virginie — Thur, 11 Jun 2009 12:30:43 GMT

Hello,
This is my first post.
My trilingual son (speaks French with Mom, German with Dad, English with brother and friends) just turned 4. He has been taught phonics in the conventional way at school, in English, since September, but just does not get the point. The other day, he said "k, k, k, as in balloon"! If he sees a picture of, say, a dog, this will be "chien", "dog" or "Hund" depending of who he is speaking with, so there is no way a picture or object will be associated with a single word, let alone sounds. I wonder whether you have similar experiences with your child(ren), and, if so, what alternative reading/writing teaching methods you have used.
Many thanks.
Virginie, from London

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Unsure about teaching a fourth language.

Esther Rybakov — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 19:39:23 GMT

My husband and I are expecting our first child by the end of this year.
We have at least three languages we want to teach our child.
We live in Norway but I'm Dutch and my husband was born in Russia but grew up in Norway.
So I will speak Dutch to the child and my husband will use Russian. There will also be enough opportunities for the child to pick up Norwegian because the community language is Norwegian and all do speak it (including my husband's family), although it's not my native language.
The problem is that even though I do speak Norwegian, my husband and I are used to speaking English together and we usually speak English with his family as well.
I'm not sure if wel have to speak English to the child as well or if we should stop using English and switch to Norwegian.
I'm worried that if we use English, Norwegian would get behind even though our child would pick up on Norwegian in daycare and such.

English is not really important to us but speaking in English has just become the habit since we met but I don't want to put the other languages at risk.

Forum: Family Language Systems

Penta Lingual Anyone?

Srinivas — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:39:18 GMT

Have a strange situation at home. My little boy is 9 months old. He is exposed to five languages. Have no idea how he will learn. Anyone with similar experience?
a) His mom speaks Gujarati
b) His dad speaks Kannada
c) Both mom and dad speak English and Hindi but sparingly
d) HIs Nanny speaks Hindi
e) The maidservant and other folks speak Tamil
f) The Granparents on Moms side spoke Gujarati for past 5 months or so
g) Next month Granparents on Dads side are visiting and they will speak Kannada

in all a very confusing world for him. Folks say that keep talking what you talk he will learn. Any advise?

Forum: Your Questions -- General

How to? MUST speak 4 languages (Japanese, Thai, English, Spanish ) 2 weak ones now.

itzco — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:21:58 GMT

Hi,

My baby is 8 months old, here the languages and current situation:

- Living in Thailand (Community language: Thai but very little interaction so far)
- Mother (Japanese): Speak Japanese to him (She speaks: Japanese, Thai, English)
- Father (Mexican): Until now speak English to him, but considering changing to spanish? (speaks: Spanish -Native-, English, French, German)
-Family language: English
- 3 days per week his grandparents take care of baby (10:00-19:00), they speak only Spanish and are very active in talking to him

He will attend Japanese school later on (as is the harder to read/write), so he needs to have native proficiency to get in, the community will speak thai to him and the expat community English (He will be exposed I believe equality to both communities thai/expat). Finally family members will keep talking Spanish to him.

So I have some burning questions..

1) Father, Shall speak Spanish to him because is the native language, or English so he get a good understanding
2) If father speak English and family too, it's not a high risk he doesn't speak Japanese? and worse: be left with non-native English?
3) Thai has very complex tones and pronunciation issues, until when it's fine to fully introduce him to the language (Mother speaks but we believe she should focus on Japanese)

Any advice? Please..?

Thanks!

Forum: Family Language Systems

Accent

Marilena — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 03:39:09 GMT

I am italian and I live in the US. My 9 year old speaks fluently italian even thogh she preferes to speak english. When she speaks italian she has a very strong American accent. Would that ever go away? She finally learned how to roll her "r" but still the accent is pretty bad. Any way to make it better?
Thank you
Marilena

Forum: Your Questions -- General

Rasing a Bilingual child English-Russian IL, USA

Liliya — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:54:38 GMT

I'm a mom of a Bilingual child with all of the fears, concerns, questions and joy. Yes, joy.

First, I want to tell you why I decided to teach my child 2 languages. I have never thought that I'll leave my country,nor that I'll deal with teaching her 2 languages. However, life brings us surprises. Here I'm trying to deal with mine.
I decided to teach my child 2 languages before she was even born. To my surprise, it was a simple decision. I was raised in a Bilingual family myself, so I guess it helped. However, nobody ever taught me another language and I only understand parts and pieces. I think that it was a big reason why I decided to give to my child 2 languages, not just one.

Another big reason why two languages not one, was that English is not my first language. I can try very hard and learn as much as I can, BUT it will never be the language of my childhood and my past. I can't give to my child all of the song, jokes, stories because they are not a part of my culture. I was not born with them and they were not a part of my life. Therefore, I can't give to my child 100% of English. Plus, if I don't give her my own culture, I'll steal from my child twice. First, by giving her "unfinished" English and second, by not giving her what I know the best.

This is all about my reasons. You find yours.

Now about "how." I've never spoken to my daughter English for about first 2-2.5 years of her life. Not even in public when other people could hear me. Why? Because a child understands very quickly that one language is a "main" language and the other is not. Well, if it is not a "main" language and mom and dad don't use it all the time then why should I? Simple, right? I've seen children 2.5-3 years old who don't want to speak any other language, but English because another language was always "suppressed" and used when a parent thought is a good time to do so.

Don't be lazy and shy about your native language. It's your life and your child, so don't listen when people are making comments if they do. In 3 years I remember any. Baby does not know what a "native",or "foreign" language is. His brain has nothing to compare with, so whatever you do is "normal" for a baby. Therefore, start talking your language as soon as you can. The best would be even before your child is born.

TV. This days it's so easy to get a channel on your own language. Plus, I think that every country has a channel for children. DVDs, Cd's, books they all help. The best if you have a small community of people where you child can practice, but if not, keep it going yourself. My daughter loved Baby Einstein DVDs. You can point at objects while watching them and name them on your own language. Just say it laud and clear. Books and other materials on numbers you can buy at any book store because letters are universal. Blocks are great for learning letters. Also, get a good book on letters and practice them every day. Numbers and colors are the same, so you don't have to buy them on your own language. The same is about picture books. Name objects on your own language. You can even cover English words under them with small pieces of paper.

Another great thing that really works is Your Baby Can read DVDs. I think that they great for an older child, after 2. What they do they help you child to get comfortable with English and do what you're not suppose to do teach your child English. Correct your child if he speaks English to you. Every time you let your child to get to one language you lose the other.

Therefore, here is what we have: talk to your child on your own language, get a TV channel, buy books, DVDs, Cd's.

As a conclusion, what do I have done in 3 years? I have a 3 year old daughter (she just turned 3) who knows 2 alphabets, can count up to 20+ in 2 languages, knows her colors and shapes and we're a few months from reading. She already recognizes letters, but can't put them into words yet. Do I have my moments of doubts and fears that I'm not doing enough, or doing it wrong, but I think that I give my daughter something that will open new doors in her life. I don't know if I do it right, or if we can keep doing it, but I'm doing my best.

What is our other language? Russian. It's not the easiest language to learn, but I think that we're doing great. I'll be happy to help anybody who is trying to teach a child another language, Russian, or not. It's imposable to tell everything in just one article. I'll be glad to read and know your stories. It's not a lot of information on raising a Bilingual, so one way to do it is to share what others do.

P.S. My special "thank you!" to my husband who keeps learning Russian with my daughter. :)

Forum: Your Stories

Trilingual with a special family

pamela — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:09:12 GMT

Hi,
why a special family? Because we are both Italian but we would like to raise our child bi-trilingual.
Our daughter has been having, since she was 10 months old, English speaking nannies (the first Australian, the current American) and she already understands everything and can speak a little bit of English (she is 22 months now).
In September she will start an English kindergarten and i think it is the right time to start teaching her German, language that i speak fluently almost as a mother language. A German nanny would come and help me teaching her the language with songs, games etc. We have an apartment in Berlin where we go often so my daughter has the opportunity to stay in contact with the language spoken often, even in summer when we go in German speaking hotels and countries.
My husband is however scared it could be too much for her and he would prefer me to give up on this topic. I think it would be a pity for her to loose such an opportunity, even because nowadays with nannies, games, DVD etc it shall be quite easy and fun to start with a third language.

What is your opinion? What shall i do?

Forum: Your Questions -- General