Sarah is a freelance writer and one of Australia's best known parenting bloggers: http://www.ahth...
Baby Care
Baby Care Blog
Sarah
9
Mar
Are you raising your bub to be bilingual?
This was an issue that came up for us long before we even thought of starting a family. My husband is Polish, and as a result we had talked about whether or not we would raise our children to be bilingual. Frankly, from my efforts at learning other languages at school I wasn’t sure it was something I could do. I had enough trouble with my mother tongue let alone any others!
We did some research into it at the time. There are two main ways to do it. The first was that my husband would only speak to the baby/toddler/child in Polish while I would speak to them in English. The other way was to have family speak to them only in Polish while they learned English outside the home. That was the way my sister in law learned it, as have many of my friend’s children.
Obviously there are pros and cons. Firstly, bub learns two languages which is fantastic, but their speech may be delayed. This is understandable really. They are learning two languages at the same time!
One of my girlfriends who was married to a Greek man found it hilarious that her toddler would chat away happily with her in English, but when he got angry or threw a tantrum he would shout away in Greek! Equally, another friend struggled when she would speak English to her little one but they would only answer her in French. She learned the basics very quickly as a result!
In the end, my kids are not bilingual much to the disappointment of their Babcia. My husband kept forgetting to talk to them in Polish and I kept forgetting to remind him. Sleep deprivation does that to you. Babcia makes up for it though by speaking to them only in Polish when they see her and they’ve picked up a fair bit in the process. It is a great deal of work and requires much commitment.
While I feel a bit guilty my kids don’t speak two languages, I figure they’ll forgive me eventually.
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11 Member comments Post a reply
Don't give up Mel_Shaw82. My baby girl has cleft lip and some hearing loss too. I still sing her Chinese, French and Japanese nursery rhymes everyday. She actually enjoys seeing my facial expressions and I believe this will motivate her to learn.
Posted 17 April 2012 - 04:21 PM
I grew up speaking in Russian at home, so it's been easy for me to remember to speak to my little one in Russian while my husband (who doesn't speak Russian) speaks to him in English. He's actually picked up on some Russian himself, this way. Our 16 month old doesnt say any words yet except 'mama' while my niece who is 14 months old can already say a few words (I suppose it's a little easier for her as both her parents speak Russian with her), but then, every child develops their speech at their own pace as well!
Posted 12 December 2011 - 05:17 PM
My 2 yr old son has very good english vocab for his age. I try and put in some of my native language (Maori) in his vocab so he is familiar with the sounds. My husband speaks fluent Fijian. Sometimes I catch my son imitating the Fijian lingo when my hubby is on the phone. Looks like he might end up being Tri-lingual.....LOL
Posted 26 June 2011 - 08:05 PM
My daughter is 22 months old and understands and speaks 3 languages . Her speech wasnt delayed . She is actually saying more words then other kids in her age group , i guess it's differnt for every child though .)
Posted 11 April 2011 - 10:02 PM
well were trying to its a little hard when every 1 around us speek mainly english though.
Posted 10 April 2011 - 03:20 PM
We have three kids - and I do have to admit that raising them bilingual is much easier if both parents speak the "foreign" language - but I have seen pretty impressive results in one parent one language families.
I coordinate German Classes for Kids in Sydney because I am very passionate about bilingualism. It's one of the greatest gifts you can give your kids. They grow up to really understand two (or more) cultures.
Every child takes it differently. Whereas my oldest son reads and writes perfectly in both languages, the middle one refuses to read German.
On top of that we have the apparently rare but added bonus, that our kids speak German to each other. This gives me hope for the teenage years and beyond.
Posted 28 March 2011 - 02:53 PM
http://forumau.huggies.com.au/public/style_images/huggies/share_post/blog-baby-care.png
Raising bub to be bilingual can be a challenge. Sarah shares her story.
Read the full blog post: Are you raising your bub to be bilingual?
Posted 28 March 2011 - 02:46 PM
I hope to teach all of my children Sign, we have a Baby with a cleft lip and Palate and it has Affected his hearing, and even though it is not permanent we know of others who are deaf and i think it would be the best second language we can offer our children because with sign comes an understanding of other people that they would otherwise never get to truly interact with.
As well as sign i am encouraging my children to choose other langauges to lear fluently as when they are older this can help with career paths and even travel which i hope all my children do.
Posted 16 March 2011 - 11:23 AM
Double!!!
Posted 13 March 2011 - 11:59 PM
We made a decision long before we had kids that they would learn english first and once they had a good grasp of that then we would look at them learning korean.
I know people say the younger they are the easier it is but we think that htey have enough to deal with at this stage in their lives!
My inlaws have basic english skills and the only person who doesn't speak english who my children ever see is my DF's grandmother and that is only twice a year if that!
If my children never learn korean I have no problem with that and all DF wants is for them to maybe go to after school korean classes and if they don't like it then they don't have to continue it.
Both DF and his brother were born in Korea and spoke korean fluently as their first language but now both choose to speak english as you have to speak the language you are surrounded by.
Even when alone, they speak english to each other.
P.S. I don't know how people can live in a country for 25 years and not speak the common language of that country. I would go insane!
Posted 13 March 2011 - 11:59 PM
I will teach DS signed english, we do not have any deaf people in either family, but I have deaf friends. I was going to teach him in conjunction with english at the start, but he became unwell (not seriously) but I wasn't coping, so I stopped signing to him. I will start with bub from birth, and hope DS catches on a bit
Posted 09 March 2011 - 05:57 PM
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