Bilingual Families
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Aug 2005
My two-year-old daughter currently spends three days/week being
cared for by a bilingual babysitter who speaks Spanish to the
kids. My husband and I are both native English speakers, and I
speak fairly decent Spanish (and he speaks a little). My
daughter is somewhat bilingual, though her English is miles ahead
of her Spanish. This fall she's starting preschool and will no
longer have any regular exposure to Spanish. I try to speak
Spanish to her some, but truth be told it's not that much (and
she'll only speak English back to me). I strongly value
multilingualism and would really like to encourage and develop
her Spanish. I'm trying to figure out what I can do that will
keep her from forgetting everything before she starts
kindergarten. It's easy to get her videos and books in Spanish,
I can try to speak it with her some, but I doubt that's enough.
I know that she needs to spend time around monolingual Spanish
speakers, but how? Unfortunately I work very long hours (medical
resident) so I can't just hang out at a park in Fruitvale until I
start meeting the moms. Anyone out there have any success
maintaining a language learned from a caregiver after the kid
left that person's care? My husband feels much less strongly
about this than I do so I don't think he'd go for a bilingual
school or preschool. Specific places and times of
toddler/preschool activities in Spanish would be particularly
welcome.
Muchas gracias!
Kate
There is a new pre-K through grade 8 bilingual Spanish/English
private school that is currently being organized in the East Bay.
They plan to open in fall 2006, and I believe they are looking
for a site in the Berkeley/Albany/Oakland area. I personally do
not know a lot about it, but you can check out their website:
http://www.ebinternacional.org/
Burr
With all due respect, but what is your goal? If you want your
child to be truly bilingual, then it takes a commitment- it
takes classes, friends, schooling, time.
From your posting, it sounds like this ''My child has been
playing the piano for the last two years, but now we've gotten
rid of the piano. I don't have time to take her to piano
lessons and my husband doesn't really support piano playing.
Given all these obstacles, what have others done to make sure
that your child learns to play the piano?'' If this is truly
your situation, then wait until your child is a little older and
enroll her in a private school or excellent public school which
has Spanish classes. Kindergarten is not too old to start
learning a language and there are many good immersion programs
around the Bay Area. You can do what you can with books until
then, but don't worry about what she loses, she can get it back.
If, instead, your goal is to really work more toward
bilingualism now, then I have lots of suggestions, but I don't
know where you live (and given your tight schedule and the
distance this network covers, knowing that would be helpful).
Most important to her language development, however, is your
language development. So, attending activities is so less
important than your interaction with her. You should do your
best to speak and read Spanish to her and to improve your
skills. Practice on the job with other native speakers and
you'll feel more confident to bring that home. Bring out those
old dictionaries, conjungation sheets and high school workbooks
and build her vocabulary through your re-learning.
Just trying to be realistic not negative- smile.
Diane
Aug 2005
I am native Italian, and my children (4 and 6) barely understand it and don't
speak it at all.
Now they seem interested in learning and I am looking for some help.
Other then speaking Italian to them, what should I do?
I know it is not too late, and this time I really would like to be rigorous!
Do I need books, videos, classes (if any available), etc... Thanks.
I am italian and I have a 6 y.o. practically bilingual
daughter. Please contact me directly, if you wish, for
tips/books/videos.
Grazie, Silvia
I am completely bilingual, and so far I have managed to keep my kids bilingual,
though they both lean heavily towards English. When I was growning up, my
parents spoke ONLY Japanese in the house. It was a strictly observed rule. I speak
only Japanese to my kids, and they are supposed to speak only Japanese to each
other. They have both attended and one still attends a native Japanese school every
Saturday. My older child started off speaking only Japanese, but now her Japanese
is starting to get iffy. I've known many kids who have two Native Japanese parents
that end up not speaking Japanese. Playmates that speak the language help a lot,
but most often when they start school, the kids start playing in English.
What I'm trying to say is, it takes real dedication, dicipline and conviction to keep
this language thing going. Keeping a language in a society with a different
language takes lots of work, though I wouldn't have it any other way. To me it's
worth it, but it only gets harder as the kids get older!
Also remember that once a child reaches 5 or 6, the language is never lost. Even if
the child stops speaking Spanish, when he/she decides to learn it again, what he
picked up earier will come back.
Good luck!
Bilingual mom
(to the native Italian parent) I am also native Italian,
with an American wife. She speaks Italian pretty well but
understandably prefers to speak English to the children.
My children are 3 and 9. Other than speaking to them
in Italian, I buy pretty much all of our videos from
www.dvd.it, and they are allowed to watch them with the
Italian soundtrack only. Books also work well until
about 6 years old, when they no longer need an adult
to enjoy a book. (I read a couple of Harry Potter books
in Italian to my elder daughter). Check out www.ibs.it.
Before 9/11 we had au pairs from Italy with 6-month
tourist visas. Now they don't give out 6-month visas
any longer and 3 months is a bit too short. But of
course the most useful experience of all is to visit
relatives in Italy---that's when they hear a lot of
Italian and switch to it pretty quickly. Each time I
noticed a large change after about 2 weeks.
Luigi
I have a close friend who is a linguist specialized in language
aquisition and many friends and family members who speak to
their children in a language which is not the dominant language
where they live. My friend has told me that the key to
bilinguilism in these situations is for the mother (or father --
but because mothers usually spend more time with their children
it works better with them) to be consistent in using this second
language every time she addresses her child. It does not matter
that the child speak back only in English (in the US), because
the child is assimilating even without speaking. Consistency is
key. For some linguists, language aquisition takes place even
much after the age of four, so in their view older children can
become bilingual if exposed to another language later in
childhood. Another very helpful strategy according to my
linguist friend is to expose the child to videos and TV in the
other language daily or as much as possible. It is more
effective if the child is watching new programs or films as
opposed to the same 6 videos all the time. I have seen the
effectiveness of this strategy as well.
The best success stories of friends and family around me are of
mothers who are consistent in speaking the other language with
their children. They do this even when there are other people
around who may find it rude or weird, explaining their reasons.
One of my friends is American and learned Spanish as an adult
and has spoken Spanish consistently with her daughter since she
was born. Her 12 year old daughter speaks Spanish fluently.
I know Berkeley has at least 2 bilingual public schools (one is
Cragmont). On the other hand, children in my family who have
not had consistent exposure from parents do speak and understand
the second language, but with greater limitations in terms of
vocabulary, grammar and fluency.
Finally, since I am bilingual, I would just like to add that
acquiring a second language with no effort as I did with
exposure from an early age is priceless. It has opened doors and
affected my life in so many respects, it would be impossible to
list all of them (professionally, travel, friendships etc). If
anyone can give this gift to your child, by all means make the
effort to do it and you will not regret it.
I am a native Italian mum with two mainly English-speaking kids (well, the second
one does not really speak yet - but i know he'll speak English first...). Here's my
advice, for the Spanish speaking mom as well: I have found that the most important
thing is one's own commitment to speaking (and reading, and watching movies
etc..) the foreign(native) language. I ALWAYS speak Italian to my daughter. She
almost never replies to me in Italian, and I never push her to do so. She is exposed
to way too much English to ask her to do such an effort. But she does understand
Italian perfectly, and will in fact look at me amazed if I talk to her in English. I have
come to accept the fact that maintaining her ability to understand Italian is the most
important thing I can do for her, without forcing her active involvement. And from
time to time she surprises me by trying to answer in Italian, or by quoting by heart
the Italian books I read to her. When my mother comes visit, my daughter realizes
that my mom does not understand English, and makes a big effort to speak Italian
to her, and actually manages to communicate. I am sure that when she will be old
enough (she is 3 1/2) to spend some time in Italy with the ''nonni'' and her cousins
she will end up speaking fluent Italian. To the Spanish-speaking mother I
recommend trying to keep a level of consistency in her speaking Spanish to her
child, as well as of course finding other Spanish-speaking activities (I am sure you'll
get a lot of answers about that).
As for products, groups etc. in Italian, there are groups of Italian parents meeting
regularly at Royal Caffe, in Rockridge, and there is a Friday morning child-care
program for Italian children starting this fall.
As for products: I have lots of Italian DVDs and books, you can easily find a DVD
player that reads European DVDs as well, or use a european computer. She does not
watch a lot of movies anyway, but it's a start. We also (my boyfriend is trying to
improve his Italian too) read them books in Italian, play Italian kids' songs, etc.
I know of a company called ''Professor Toto''' that has very good educational DVDs in
Spanish, French and English, and will soon have an Italian version.
You can email me if you would like to have more info on that. Good luck to both of
you!
svalisa
October 2003
My husband and I are expecting our first child (a girl)! I'm
wondering if anyone out there has advice about how to raise a
child to speak two languages. We speak English in our home,
although my husband is fluent in Spanish. (I understand a lot of
Spanish, though am not always comfortable speaking it.) His
parents speak only Spanish. Mine only English. We feel it's
important that our daughter be able to communicate in Spanish
with her grandparents, and to be fluent in Spanish. But I also
worry that trying to teach her two languages at once may be
confusing for her and delay speech, and since she'll have to be
in day care before age two, I worry about her not being able to
communicate. Does anyone have any experience with this
firsthand, or recommend any research or books on speech
development in bilingual children?
kck
Your daughter is very lucky to have a chance to become
bilingual. I'm a mother of four bilingual (English/Finnish)
children. I strongly feel that the best gift I've been able to give
my children is their bilingualism/biculturalism. Kids are
amazing....they are not limited to learning one language. In
most of the world, children grow up with more than one
language. And your second one being Spanish....what
better combinaton in California!
Children may mix-up languages at the beginning...but figure
the separate systems out quickly. The mixing is the result of
using everything they have in their possession to
communicate; and lucky them...they have two languages to
use. Your job is to provide your daughter with enough input
in each language. Luckily, with Spanish that is easy. Make
sure your husband will start speaking Spanish from the
moment your daughter is born....or even before (songs,
books). According to some research, the auditory maps of
babies are completed by the time they're 6 months old, so
you want to make sure all the sounds necessary for the two
langauges are included for her. You will also benefit from a
Spanish-speaking daycare, play groups, etc. Excellent
books, a newsletter, etc. are available from Multilingual
Matters. I have been writing an ongoing 'process'-article
based on my experiences for years; I can send it to you if
you're interested. Feel free to get in touch!
Good luck! Buen suerte! Sirpa
PS. A bonus: most bilingual children become multilingual
adults, due to their interest and ease of adding other
languages.
For the mom who comments ''But I also worry that trying to teach
her two languages at once may be confusing for her and delay
speech'', I would like to say that, outside the US, all over the
world, people routinely learn at least 2-3 languages as children
with no ill effects whatsoever. Though I was born here I was
lucky (or curious) enough to have learned 4-plus, and although
this flabbergasts many folks here it is quite routine elsewhere.
I can't express what a joy it has been to speak other languages
well. It has made my life far more interesting. Probably the
best method is for each parent to speak his/her native tongue,
and encourage the child to learn a third in school, such as
French. I discovered that once I got Spanish and French under
control by studying (and only a little of this was in school),
it was not much more work to understand Portuguese and Italian,
Catalan, and Provencal, and even a bit of Romanian. The thrill
of being able to understand so many people is absolutely
indescribable, ecstatic. The history of the world is embedded in
language in ways you could never guess. Good luck and keep your
kid going with languages without fear!
berkeleynurse at earthlink
Christine V
I am now working on raising my third trilingual child. My oldest is 13 and is
quadrilingual. She speaks Spanish at home, French at school, German with one
grandma and English with everyone else. She is at the top of her class and has
never been confused. My other children are not confused either and none were
delayed in speaking. In fact, they are incredibly verbal. I know plenty of
monolingual kids who have delayed speach. But really what does that matter if
in the end they are bilingual.
My daughter started pre-school speaking very little English but was managing
English quite well after a couple of weeks. She was 4 years old when she
learned English and just scored in the 99th percentile on her verbal English
score for sixth grade.
The benefits of being bilingual are numerous and yet many people seem to be
afraid that allowing their children to learn more than one language might have
some ill effect on them. Not only will your children not get confused or speak
late because of bilingualism, their verbal ablilty will quite likely surpass
that of their monolingual peers.
Your husband should definitely speak in Spanish to your child. You can also
participate by reading books to your child and learning Spanish children's
songs. I participate in a Spanish-language play-group which you could also
look for when your child is one or two.
One thing to note is that it is very hard to keep children speaking a language
that is not English. Even children who come from pure Spanish-speaking
homes tend to speak more English than Spanish as the result of the
overwhelming influence of our mass media and surroundings. Learning English
will definetly not be a problem, maintaining Spanish could be.
Speaking Spanish will give your child pride in their heritage and connect them
with their grandparents who could have a profound relationship with them.
Spanish will open doors to relationships that would otherwise be closed and
vastly improve their prospects of getting a job in the future. I hope my
perspective helps you and good luck with your new baby
Liza
I had the same questions as you regarding a bilingual
child/household. My husband and I are both Latino, but neither
of us was raised in Spanish-speaking families. My husband
learned Spanish in college and through extended work experience
in Latin America; I still struggle with decent comprehension, but
no confidence in speaking. We are raising our 1-yr. old with
100% Spanish from ''papm'' and 90% Eng./10% Span. from ''mommy.''
I worried that we were confusing our son when mommy says ''ball''
and papm says ''pelota.'' How would he know which was ''right'' when
learning to speak? All I can tell you is that our son's verbal
aquisition has been lighting fast. He clearly understands both
simple commands in English and Spanish. It's been truly amazing.
He has many words and very good comprehension for his age. I'm
just not worrying about confusing him anymore, and I would
encourage you to proceed with sharing both languages with your
child if that is truly important to you.
Another Mommy/Mamm
Please speak both languages to your child from day one! There is
absolutely NO evidence whatsoever that being raised bilingually is
confusing (in fact, this is a very monolingual belief; children
all over the world are raised bilingually, and in many cases,
trilingually). Brain scans of bilingual children show that they
have activated more of their brain than monolingual children.
There is a slight delay in speech production of bilingual
children, as they are working with two separate linguistic
systems; there is NO delay in language comprehension! Not only
are you passing on a language, but you are passing on a set of
beliefs, a culture, an identity, and much more. Finally, language
classes at UC Berkeley are filled with students whose parents
chose to speak only English with them, and now as young adults,
they are enrolled in Chinese 1, Spanish 1, French 1, and so on,
trying to reclaim a language that was never taught to them. Do
your child a favor, and speak in both languages. It is a plus for
everyone (including society as a whole).
Ph.D. in Linguistics and Pro Bilingual!
My husband was raised in a tri-lingual environment (English,
German and Spanish) and we are raising our children in English
and German. It's the best possible gift you can give them and
it does nothing but good for the child's development, not to
mention language skills.
I'm in the same situation as you. My husband is from El Salvador,
and his parents speak only Spanish. I think it's crucial that our
son speak Spanish well, but I am not comfortable enough in
Spanish to have it be the main language of the household.
Research on raising children bilingual shows that children
benefit from learning more languages at an early age in terms of
the neurological connections they make. They also begin with
muscles in their mouths that allow them to pronounce any
language, and the unused muscles disappear when they get older.
So the earlier, the better. One of the key findings is that
children learn the languages they NEED to learn. So many children
begin bilingual and then allow their non-dominant (not English)
language to become passive when they figure out that they can
answer back in English, even if they continue to understand the
non-dominant language. Plenty of exposure to the grandparents who
don't speak English will help with this, as will being in places
where Spanish is the dominant language. Some children speak a
little later when they are processing two languages, but then
manage them both well.
I've witnessed several approaches that seem to work. In one
family I grew up with, the father spoke to the children only in
French, and the mother only in English. They also took regular
trips to France. The children, now in college, speak both
languages well. One of my nieces speaks Spanish very well because
her mother insisted that she answer back in Spanish always, and
that is the dominant language of the household. My other nephews
and nieces don't do so well, as their parents, who both speak
Spanish, allow them to respond in English. Once there is more
than one child, it's also harder, because they bring English into
the house from school.
Our approach is to have my husband speak as much Spanish to our
son as possible, and for me to speak English. We also try to see
the Spanish speaking grandparents regularly, play Spanish music,
and are looking into Spanish speaking preschools for when the
time comes. I would encourage you to try to raise your child
bilingual as much as possible; the early years are not the really
tough ones, it's the later maintenance of the language that can
be challenging.
ryquill
July 2003
I am struggling as a Tamil-American parent to pass on the Tamil
language to our children. I am married to a Scandanavian-American
and we speak English at home. They know few words here and
there, but I would love to be able to immerse them somehow in
Tamil a few hours a day, but how? Any suggestions? Most Tamils
live in the South BAy, so, it would be difficult to go so far!
thanks for any suggestions!
Nagarajan
My son who is seven now speaks very well in Hindi. But I have to
tell you that it has been a long hard road to get here. Specially
because everyone around him has been talking in English. I am not
sure how old your children are but between the ages of four and
seven is the best time to learn your native language. Later than
seven it is really hard to pick up tones. When my son was three
and someone told me this, I really got nervous and started right
away. The first rule is you always talk to them in Tamil, there
will be months when they keep replying back in English and you
will keep talking in Tamil and that is frustrating but slowly that
will begin to change. Children learn really fast and will be
really proud of themselves once they have learnt a bit. Listening
to songs and watching movies in the native language has helped us.
If you visit India often, that will make a huge difference. My
son just progressed by leaps and bounds once we started making the
effort to go to India often. Keep talking to them in Tamil and
they will thank you forever for it.
Bipasha
April 2002
My one-year old is exposed to 2 different languages. My husband and I
have spoken and read to our baby in 2 different languages from birth.
Additionally, we are planning on adding American Sign Language (as a
third language?) to give him another tool/means to communicate with
us. So far, he has been able to say only a couple of words. I am a
bit concerned that all this exposure may delay the development of his
verbal skills (due to confusion). Can this be too much for an
one-year old? Any suggestions or books/research on this matter?
Thanks.
Monica
First things first: congratulations on teaching your child
to be bilingual! I did some research in this area a while
ago, and now I find I've forgotten most of what I read.
However, I do remember reading that one way to help your
child become bilingual is to have one parent speak one
language to the child exclusively, while the other parent
speaks the alternate language. I think some theories
position that children are 'hardwired' to develop grammar,
and mixing up two languages can confuse their natural
grammar abilities a little (they hear two unique grammars,
and have a hard time understanding the rules of each as a
result.) Even if you don't feel like doing this, I would
think that the ultimate benefits of bilinguality (more
creativity, understanding of different cultures, not to
mention just knowing two languages) would outweigh any
possible delays. I am interested to see other posts about
this to know if I am correct.
As for teaching sign language as well, I'm not sure how
this would affect those grammar abilities. Signing is
unique in that you can speak english or another language
while you sign, so the languages are more simultaneous,
although usually it is impossible to maintain both ASL
grammar and another spoken language grammar at the same
time for long. I don't know how fluent you are, and if you
planned on using ASL grammar and not speaking while you
sign. As you probably know, signing with children is very
beneficial, and they can usually produce many signs before
they can say words. I will look into this more for you
(and for my own curiosity) but it may take some time, so
please email me and I'll let you know what I learn.
Kelly
i think the more exposure to different languages now, the
better in the long run. boys tend to develop language
skills more slowly than girls anyways, so i wouldn't worry
about that yet. my son didn't utter his first word until
he was 18 months, whereas my daughter spoke before age 1.
both of them were exposed to 2 or 3 languages in infancy.
my son heard english and spanish and then mandarin. my
daughter hears english and mandarin.
suzie
Our family only has one language, however, I have
heard from bilingual families that it does take kids
exposed to multiple languages longer to start talking--
they understand both, but the talking part takes longer.
Once it clicks, however, they just take off verbally.
As for sign language, we taught our son some ASL
signs, and it was great fun. I used a book called
Signing For Kids, by Mickey Floodin. It's a beginner's
book, but has most of the signs you'd want for a toddler
and good, clear diagrams about how to make the
signs.
When we started, someone told me to start with just
three signs, use them over and over whenever I used
the word--you might want to the same sign with both
languages--and wait until my son was able to use
those three before adding more. To be honest, I didn't
want to wait. But it was good advice. Once he got the
three, it was clear he understood what sign language
was, and I was able to show him a new sign just a few
times before he learned it.
One more note, don't be concerned about your son
saying only a few words at one year old. That's normal
with only one language in the family and gives no
indication about his ultimate verbal abilities. So try to
relax and enjoy the next year as language comes
pouring out of you son!
Carolyn
The book _Bilingual Families_ gives good information on
language acquisition in bilingual and multilingual
households. It's clearly written, not preachy, and (I
believe) relatively easy to find.
It's pretty normal for monolingual children to speak only a
few words at one year, so I think it's too early to worry.
My older daughter wasn't saying anything at a year either,
and but these days (at 3.5) she can outtalk most of her
friends in English. For various reasons, her French
proficiency is about a year behind that.
Jennifer
Feb 2002
I wonder if anyone has heard that California law requires a school district
to conduct mandatory English Language Proficiency Testing for children
who come from homes where a language other than English is spoken (as
determined by the language used by parents), a test that does not require
prior parental consultation.
We are a professional couple and recently moved into the Lamordina
area. Within 2 weeks after school started, our daughter was pulled out
from her classroom by the ESL teacher to undergo an English proficiency
test. Our daughter passed the test with no problem -- she was born and
raised here and English is really her first language. When we queried the
school district, we were told that our daughter had to take the test
because we had indicated on the school enrollment forms that the parents
speak a language other than English at home. (By the way, we
deliberatly do that in order to train our children to be bilingual.) And, we
were told that prior parental consultation is not mandated by this law.
As far as I know, some school districts do not have this kind of mandatory
English proficiency tests. If this is the law, why is it not enforced in every
school? Did any other bilingual families out there have a similar
experience? Can someone enlighten me on this issue? Thanks.
a Bilingual Parent
Hi, I had a terrible experience with this mandatory ESL testing. We
speak spanish at home and I innocently indicated this on the form. Not
only was my son tested for English proficiency, he failed and was
being pulled out of class for ESL classes without my knowledge. I
found out after a while totally by acccident. My son spoke perfect
English as I'd had him in an English speaking pre-school for a year
and a half before he started kindergarden! When I demanded that the
ESL pullout stop, I was told I was not allowed to make that
desicion. When I talked to the ESL teacher who tested my son, he told
me he had talked to my son in English and my son had not answered any
questions. (My son was painfully shy at the time). When I asked him if
he had asked my son any questions in Spanish (which my son would not
have answered either) all I got was some stammered non-explanation and
a firm ''you are not allowed to pull your son out of ESL''. I was
ready to sue the school district! Fortunately, the teacher is allowed
to determine that a child does not need ESL (and my son's teacher
thought the whole thing was as outraegeous as I did) and had it
stopped! I learned my lesson though! I will never put anything but
''English'' as the language spoken at home on any form ever again and
I recommend anyone who does not want to lose control over what goes on
with their child at school do the same.
This was at a Berkeley elementary school.
Anonymous
I am a new teacher, but not an ESL teacher. I am friends with several of the
ESL teachers at our school and have a little information on the topic. The
head teacher at our school told me that she recommends to her friends who
have bilingual children that they not put that information on the forms.
This avoids the child being called out of class for testing. Our district
automatically tests all kids whose families list any language other than
English as primary language, or language spoken at home on the enrollment
forms. The reason they do this is because they are required by Federal law
to provide English language development classes to the children. Districts
are audited and can be fined if they do not comply with the law. By
automatically testing kids, they are making sure that kids don't ''fall
through the cracks.'' Obviously, there are going to be differences between
districts based on their interpretation of the law, and also based on their
previous interactions with the Feds.
anonymous
We had the same thing happening to us when we arrived in Moraga : I speak
French to the kids at home, since birth, and their father English. I was
eager to have the kids tested. I thought that if any of their skills was not
up to the local standards, this was the perfect time to address it, and have
the school district pay for it. It turned out that the kids did not need
any extra tutoring. Then in september an other French/American family
arrived from France where the kids had been raised. Their second grader who
spoke English beautifully, did not read or write it. Within 6 months, and
with the support of the ESL teacher, she's catched up brillantly. THe same
thing happened with a young Corean girl entering 3rd grade. I have been
pleasantly surprised by the interest the other kids have of their classmates
different language and culture, and I'm allways happy to get free support
for my kids.
mother of 3 bi-lingual kids
We live in the Walnut Creek School District, where our daughter is in
Kindergarten.
Both my daughter and my neighbor's were given the ESL test last fall because
we both indicated during registration that another language, along with
English, was spoken at home.
My neighbor had a similar reaction to yours, calling to inquire why this was
done, and feeling a bit offended by it.
I assume that the district is checking to see if the child needs special
help because his/her English skills might not be as strong. As you know,
there can be large differences in the fluency levels. Do the parents speak
to the child in another language all the time, or do they speak English all
the time? Does one parent speak one language, and the other parent another?
I'm not familiar with the actual law, but
I assume they are looking out for my child's best interests in this case,
and this is one of many tests they conduct, along with vision, hearing, etc.
Suzanne
I believe the testing is done for the benefit of the child. Some school
districts are more pro-bilingual education than others. By testing her, they
know she does not need to be in a bilingual class.
When you indicated you speak a different language at home, a lot of times
this means the child does not speak very good English and they need to know
how best to help the child. Some parents do not teach English as well as the
native language.
This was explained to be my my childs principal. I am not bilingual, but I
was curious about your question. Her school is a pro-bilingual school so
they make sure everyone who needs to be in a bilingual class is in one,
hence the testing. Just one way to ensure every child's needs are met.
marianne
Sept 1998
I would like to hear about your experiences with children that grew up
with two or more languages. We have a 2 1/2 month old son and since
we cherish our mother tongues we would like him to master German and
French just like any native speaker. I try to talk to my son as much
as I can in German. However, when Daddy is close by, I often switch to
French which is our common language of communication. During the day,
my son is essentially exposed to English due to daycare now.
I am afraid that French might become the predominant and preferred
language of my son. This is of course not a problem, but I still would
like him to be able to talk in an accent-free German. I am wondering
which is the age when the kids are most open to learn a language
perfectly. Is there something like a preferred language? Might he
refuse to talk to me in German later if the family language is rather
French? Will his German be so so, spoken with a French accent if I
talked in French to him quite a bit? How important is bilingual
education at school and the environment in all this? Is it possible at
all that one can learn two or three true mother languages equally
well?
At his baby age will our son be very confused to have to learn three
different words for everything? Could it be easier for him if he
associated the German word with me, the French words only with daddy,
the English ones with his nanny? Is it likely that he will talk rather
late due to such a complex situation?
I would very much appreciate peoples' comments and observations on
these questions.
Petra
My son just turned three and he speaks two languages fluently. I started
speaking Dutch to him right from the start, and his father speaks English
to him. I never intermingled the two languages. I only speak Dutch to
him, even when we are in a large group of just English speakers. When he
just started saying some words, I would say at about 18 months, he would
mix them up. When he was about 2 1/2, he really knew the difference. He
would speak Dutch with me and English with everyone else. Now, he even
translates to me when someone tells him something in English. It is a lot
of work to teach your child another language when everything surrounding
him is in English, but it can work. The one thing is consistency. You
have to keep the languages separate and only speak one language. Once you
start mixim them together, your child will get confused. Also, keep
repeating everything your child says but then with the correct
pronunciation, instead of "correcting." When they hear it the right way
often enough, they take it over. My son is in day-care full-time now, so
it is more challenging than ever to keep up the Dutch, especially since
he comes home everyday with many new English words that he has not yet
heard in Dutch. But I always tell him, "this is the English word, and
this is the Dutch word for it." He does remember to say the word in Dutch
the next time. Once in a while when he wants to be silly, he talks to me
in English. It sounds harsh, but I ignore him until he talks to me in
Dutch. I know he understands. Once, I was not paying attention and he
asked me a question in Dutch, which I answered with "sure honey, just a
minute," when he told me (in Dutch) "mom, you speak Dutch with me." I
hope that he will always speak Dutch, but there might be a time that he
will refuse. But as long as I speak it, he will at least understand it.
It will be interesting to see the long-term results.
Jannette
There is a very good book on the subject that might help -- it's full of case
studies of situations not unlike yours! The title is "The Bilingual Family:
A Handbook for Parents" by Edith Harding and Philip Riley, published by
Cambridge University Press. I ordered mine, but I think I saw it at Barnes
and Noble -- you might give them a call.
Maria
Hi! What I've heard is that when the two parents each speak a different language,
it's best to have each parent focus on their
own language with the child (whatever language is most comfortable to you). As for
learning without an accent, the accent usually comes in as a result of
learning the language after the critical period for language has passed
(ie around 10-12 years). Presumably, if your child hears your native
French and your spouse's native German (and everyone elses native
English), he will learn the languages without accents. A lot of it has to
do with hearing- a young infant makes all sounds possible to human
languages. By about 6 months, s/he starts making only the sounds that
s/he has been hearing ("cooing" vs. "babbling" I believe). This is why
it's so hard to learn accent-free language later in life- we have simply
lost the ability to make some of the appropriate sounds for the "new"
language.
I think as long as the languages are natural to your speech with the
child (and not a drill to try to instill early learning), he will have no
problem learning to speak each. However, it is known to take a little
while longer! My partner is German and I am American- he speaks to our
son primarily (but not exclusively) in German, I speak primarily in
English, as do most other people he knows (I am learning German, so I
practice talking to my son in German, and I also know some French, so I
read him children's stories once in a while that are in French). Now that
Zak is 22 months (and we have both heard his father's German speech for
about the same time), Zak clearly understands much more of it than do I.
He is starting to talk, a little bit slower than some of his age-mates but
still within normal ranges, and uses both German and English words,
although at this point he has many more English words. I don't think
he'll necessarily pick up the French (especially since I'm not a native
speaker), but maybe it'll be easier for him to learn later if he chooses
to do so.
Good luck! In any event, it is definite that learning earlier is much
easier than learning later, so it's not going to hurt your son to hear
several languages, even if he chooses to express himself in just one of
them (he'll probably understand the others, if nothing else!).
Naomi
Re: bilingual kids:Our son, now almost 3, has grown up speaking two
languages: Hebrew at home and with our family and English at daycare
and "around town". He speaks both languages well now, although he did
start to speak a bit late. Amazingly, he knows what language is the
"right" one for each situation and always answers a question in the
language asked. He does not mix languages often, even when he can't
find the right word. He usually resorts to a literal description
("that blue thing") as opposed to inserting a word in the opposite
language.
My feeling is that he has picked up these two languages well because
they were being spoken to him constantly. He also hears songs in both
languages, and watches videos, and has books read to him, so that the
language goes beyond conversation. We have also begun showing him the
Hebrew letters as he is already mastering the English alphabet at
daycare.
Sometimes I have the feeling that if someone spoke another language
with him, he'd pick that up too! It seems that kids at this age are
just sponges, soaking anything and everything up! Good luck! - Hagit
Hagit
Nov 1998
Does anyone living in a bilingual household where one partner speaks two
languages and the other only speaks English have any thoughts that they
could share with me about their experiences?
My brother is expecting a new baby. His wife is bilingual and he is not.
Several questions have arisen for him:
--what does hearing two languages from birth do for language and cognative
development? Can it delay learning english or does it enhance language
capability?
--how does the situation in which one parent and child speak a language
fluently affect the parent who does not have the same command of the second
language? What happens in the social dynamics of a family in this
situation? Is there the potential for exclusion and if so how can one best
prevent this?
( Obviously, the ideal situation would be for english-only parent to learn
the second language as well, but this is easier said then done, especially
when one is working full time and does not have extreme facility with
foreign languages.)
Any advice, personal experience or suggested reading that members of the
list could offer on the topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Jenny
My 19 months old daughter is growing up with German and English. My husband speaks English only, and I speak German with her and only English if someone else in the room needs to understand what I'm saying to her. She understands instruction in both languages and forms two to three word sentences in both languages. I have not read one book about how to do it right and I probably won't, because I don't have specific expectations about her mastery of German, as long as she can communicate her needs. Everything above is a bonus. So far, it has been a lot of fun, she seems to know that there are two words for everything. Often she will pick whichever word is easier to pronounce and sometimes she will say both words in both languages. "Two cars" she will tell me and when I say "Ja, zwei Autos" she will repeat "zwei Autos" with a big smile while pointing at the cars. I am not concerned about leaving my husband out, because I won't. He learns a little bit along the way, because he wants to understand every word she says.
As her communication gets more complex, I will simply translate whenever appropriate. However, I think it is important to keep in mind in which country the child is going to grow up and accept/ understand that the child naturally will and should give priority to the language spoken there.
Heike
Dec 1998
Hi, I haven't been following the digest very closely lately
so I might have missed others' replies, but there was a discussion
recently on the child language acquisition mailing list*
on a similar question about bilingual households.
--what does hearing two languages from birth do for language and cognative
development? Can it delay learning english or does it enhance language
capability?
Joyce
Yes and yes. It does temporarily delay learning English, BUT
in the long term (by school age) English is fine AND future language
learning capability, and other cognitive abilities, are enhanced.
You have to keep each language separate though, and the recommended
way is to have each parent speak exclusively one language in the presence
of the child. The point is to not model mixing languages up with one another.
There is a good and practical book but I don't remember
who wrote it, whose main idea is "one parent - one language".
There is also a book edited by Ellen Bialystok that might be useful.
I know less about the social aspects, but there is research on that too.
One of the world's experts on bilingualism (especially the social aspects)
is Susan Ervin-Tripp, a professor in UCB's psych dept, but I don't know if
she is retired now or not.
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