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My family is bilingual. My husband is from Mexico and I met him while living there (to learn Spanish) after college. Our kids are being raised biligual and I think it's a great benefit to them. Do you think it's better to wait until they're writing in one language or have both languages from the start?
Not me, but my ex sister-in-law. She is teaching my niece Hungarian. She (sil) speaks nothing but Hungarian to my niece, and has done this since the day she was born. Her family is still overseas so she is the only one who speaks this to/with my niece. The rest of us speak English. My niece is 3 now and she is doing very well. I don't hear her speak Hungarian too much~she may do it more when the rest of us aren't around, but she understands every word her mother says to her. She speaks very well, and I haven't noticed any issues with her learning English.
we didnt speak english to the kids till later. we started with the "other" language from the start because we wanted the kids to have a grasp of the words, their sound and pronunciation. we wanted to provide that solid foundation first. its worked out. we also figured that once the kids were in school they would pick up english, which they did (very fast) even before starting school.
it has not been a problem. the kids understand us. they go back and forth, and the 8 y/o can read the other language. i didnt even have to test him. one day(when he was 5 i think) he read something from a large print book. i was amazed. and pleased. now the 8 yo has a stronger handle on english and sometimes cant find the words in the other language, but thats what the adults are for.
we will introduce a 3rd language very soon.
good luck. make sure to stay involved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cabolissa
My family is bilingual. My husband is from Mexico and I met him while living there (to learn Spanish) after college. Our kids are being raised biligual and I think it's a great benefit to them. Do you think it's better to wait until they're writing in one language or have both languages from the start?
Since neither DH nor myself are bilingual it wasn't really a choice. Both kids have taken foreign language in HS...they are certainy not fluent but can get by if they were to travel....
My family is bilingual. My husband is from Mexico and I met him while living there (to learn Spanish) after college. Our kids are being raised biligual and I think it's a great benefit to them. Do you think it's better to wait until they're writing in one language or have both languages from the start?
Whatever works for your family. But I think it is not fair to your child if you do not encourage BOTH languages. Our neighbors have not yet taught their 4yr old how to speak in English. They have very strong feelings about it. Yet, they are sending him to public kindergarten next fall. And he will need a ESL aide...that is paid for through the state...and how is he going to communicate with the other children? It doesn't seem fair to him.
I think our children MUST know languages but at the same time be able to comprehend & speak in the language that is spoken in their school.
My sister married someone from Mexico. Her son (from a previous relationship) was 4 when they got together. He has been spoken to in English and Spanish constantly for 9 years. He is fluent in both. They have a 4 year old daughter who has been spoken to, since birth, in nothing but Spanish by her father, and both English and Spanish by her mother and brother (mostly English by them).
She has always understood both, and has been talking using both since she was about 1 1/2. When she was very small, she would use both spanish words and english words sometimes in one sentence, but she always knew what she was saying, and so did everybody else. She doesn't do that anymore, she can keep both languages seperate, saying something to her father in Spanish, turn around and say something else to her mother or brother in English, without missing a beat.
I would start both languages at birth if that was an option for our family. As it is, DH and I only speak English... I wish I could have exposed them each to a foreign language from infancy. DD's best friend's family is bilingual (Spanish and English), and she is completely fluent in both. We have introduced some German to our kids (we had a German exchange student), but they were too old to pick up on it easily, without formal lessons. I have heard that some kids talk later if they're spoken to in two languages, and that they mix up the languages for a short time, but it resolves itself well before school age. I know that the friend I mentioned spoke mostly Spanish when she was two, but before she turned three she spoke mostly English with some Spanish mixed in... now she speaks only English with those who speak English (and at home), and only Spanish when speaking to her extended family members who don't speak English. What a gift her parents have given her!
Whatever works for your family. But I think it is not fair to your child if you do not encourage BOTH languages. Our neighbors have not yet taught their 4yr old how to speak in English. They have very strong feelings about it. Yet, they are sending him to public kindergarten next fall. And he will need a ESL aide...that is paid for through the state...and how is he going to communicate with the other children? It doesn't seem fair to him.
I think our children MUST know languages but at the same time be able to comprehend & speak in the language that is spoken in their school.
Uh, I think I said that we're using BOTH languages. Geez! This is a language thread not a political thread!
now she speaks only English with those who speak English (and at home), and only Spanish when speaking to her extended family members who don't speak English. What a gift her parents have given her!
Same here! If our kids didn't speak English, my family couldn't communicate with them. If no Spanish, my husbands family couldn't. Of course, that's not the only reason we're doing it, just an important one.
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