Bilingual babies - When will you start?

daenikoffre · February 2011

When will you start speaking to LO in a second language?

I'm wondering if I should start now, or later? My parents started speaking to me in English only, once I started school, so I'm not fluent in Spanish anymore, but I'd like to teach LO what I do know.

WWYD?

HappyAardvark · February 2011

I plan on doing it right away. They are cognitively aware as soon as they are born, their brains are absorbing every little bit of sensory information like sponges. Why wait? They will innately be able to differentiate between the two languages, so I wouldn't worry too much about language confusion, even though it is normal for the child, once they start speaking, to seem like he or she prefers one language over the other.

Annyong · February 2011

My friends did it from the very beginning. Each parent spoke to the LO in their language exclusively. I also read a few books that support that. For me, I learned two languages just from being exposed to them on daily basis. My parents didn't even try. So I'm hoping with a little effort and much determination, we can start with the exclusive language training then move to using both freely and that LO will catch them both. Hope that made sense.

FemmeNat01 · February 2011

I did it from the beginning. We're raising our kids to be triliingual (English, French, and Spanish) and we started speaking to them in all 3 from the beginning. Right now, with the twins, my H and his family speaks French, my mom speaks Spanish, and my other relatives speak English. We have started speaking to A in French and English, mostly. She's too young to, obviously, understand but I like to do it from the beginning.

Nurse122705 · February 2011

We speak both now, more English since I am not 100% fluent in DHs language.

I also speak Spanish but DH does not, I have never spoken Spanish to DS although I feel it would be hugely beneficial for him to learn.

kacelle · February 2011

I was shocked to learn that the formative period for learning the sounds of another language is the first 6-9 months. During that time, the baby's brain can recognize tonal differences that older children and adults don't easily hear in another language. I watched a video in my Child Development class last week about this, and they registered babies' brain waves as they listened to spoken Chinese. It was so interesting! If you can speak the second language, I'd recommend starting to speak it at least some to your child now so their brain develops the connections early.

RedZee · February 2011

This is what my research is in! (I just finished my PhD.)

Start speaking to your LO in as many languages as you like immediately. Babies are learning some things about language in utero. By 2 days old, they can distinguish between different types of languages! They can pick up as many languages as you speak, provided you speak enough. So, if grandpa speaks to LO in Swahili for an hour every other week, LO probably won't pick it up. Some parents divide the house into different language areas. Others speak different languages at different times of day. Others have one parent speak one language and another parent speak the other language.

Bilingual babies often start speaking a little bit later. Do not stop speaking both languages and don't let your pediatrician convince you otherwise! If your child has no words at all by 14 months, see a speech pathologist. Also, they will usually have words in only one language. So if they say "agua" it will be a little while before they start using "water". But they will get there eventually. They will also more than likely "code switch". They'll use Spanish words when speaking English and vice versa. This is totally fine (and kind of cool).

Finally, if you decide to split languages by parent, there are cases where kids decide they want mom instead of dad and so only speak in mom's language. I've heard stories where dad speaks mom's language and switches to that language when the kid won't cooperate and it totally freaks out the kid. I'm not entirely sure how people eventually tell their kids that they speak both languages.

Good luck! If you have questions about language development, please ask.

liannemarie82 · February 2011

RedZee:
This is what my research is in! (I just finished my PhD.)
Start speaking to your LO in as many languages as you like immediately. Babies are learning some things about language in utero. By 2 days old, they can distinguish between different types of languages! They can pick up as many languages as you speak, provided you speak enough. So, if grandpa speaks to LO in Swahili for an hour every other week, LO probably won't pick it up. Some parents divide the house into different language areas. Others speak different languages at different times of day. Others have one parent speak one language and another parent speak the other language.
Bilingual babies often start speaking a little bit later. Do not stop speaking both languages and don't let your pediatrician convince you otherwise! If your child has no words at all by 14 months, see a speech pathologist. Also, they will usually have words in only one language. So if they say "agua" it will be a little while before they start using "water". But they will get there eventually. They will also more than likely "code switch". They'll use Spanish words when speaking English and vice versa. This is totally fine (and kind of cool).
Finally, if you decide to split languages by parent, there are cases where kids decide they want mom instead of dad and so only speak in mom's language. I've heard stories where dad speaks mom's language and switches to that language when the kid won't cooperate and it totally freaks out the kid. I'm not entirely sure how people eventually tell their kids that they speak both languages.
Good luck! If you have questions about language development, please ask.

My almost 3 year old has a big issue with this. He speaks some words in English and others in Greek. both DH and I have a hard time even figuring it out what he is saying. In all it is hard for everyone else even other Greek/English speakers to follow. Some even think he has a speech impairment that don' realize that he is speaking both languages.

NelyBelly · February 2011

With DS started from day one. He now understands everything I tell him in Spanish. DH speaks to him about 80% english and some spanish. DS speaks mostly in English though because in daycare that's what's spoken, but I don't doubt he'll speak more spanish in the future.

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