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September 2013 Moms
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Those with bilingual relatives

stephl3055stephl3055 member
in September 2013 Moms

Does anyone have relatives that speak to LO in a language other than English?  If so, are you and/or SO fluent in that language? 

MIL/FIL were born and raised in Vietnam have been in the US about 35 years.  They both speak English, but they have been speaking to LO mostly in Vietnamese.  My H is not really fluent in Vietnamese and can only understand basic things.  He can't really speak, read, or write Vietnamese and if his parents ask him something in Vietnamese he always answers in English.  ILs only see LO a few times a month and for a short amount of time, so I'm wondering if LO will ever understand what they are saying?

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LO then (2 days) and now (1 year) Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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Re: Those with bilingual relatives

  • llybeckllybeck member
    Do they mostly speak Vietnamese or is it primarily just to LO? I don't have bilingual family members but good friends of ours do. Her mother speaks Korean to her LO and now that she can talk, she switches between English and Korean in the same sentence even. I had a job in college and one of our regular customers had a son who did the same thing with Spanish and English. Both of them were around 3 when this started so I really think they pick it up early without a ton of effort. They both saw their bilingual relatives on a very frequent basis but I think even a few times a month would have them still picking it up. I think that's pretty awesome that LO will get the chance to know another language though!
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  • stephl3055stephl3055 member

    MIL and FIL speak Vietnamese 100% of the time when they talk to each other.  They speak Vietnamese probably about 75% of the time when they talk to H or his siblings, but since I don't speak it I think they try to use English so I know what they are talking about. 

    I was mostly curious if it was even possible for her to pick any of it up if FIL/MIL will be the only people who ever speak it to her.  H grew up with it being spoken in the home and he is fairly limited in what he knows, so I can't imagine LO would be able to retain much if she will be getting even less exposure. 

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    LO then (2 days) and now (1 year)     Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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  • AppleMuffinsAppleMuffins member
    I was imagine your dh knew more Vietnamese when he was younger but probably began losing it as he got older, particularly when he started school, because he probably didn't use it much. My dh is from hong Kong and his parents don't really speak English. Dh wasn't fluent in English until middle school (he moved to the US when he was 6) but even so, he doesn't consider himself fluent in Chinese any more. It really makes it hard to fully communicate with his mom sometimes.
    One DD born 9/23/13.
    We're one and done!
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  • AlejandraN2AlejandraN2 member
    I'm bilingual (Greek/English) and although my parents speak English well they speak to each other and me and my little one in Greek (unless my hubby's around in which case they try to speak in English). I'd like Zoe to be fluent in Greek so that my mom feels like it's her grandkid and doesn't feel any sort of distance because of language (since they already live thousands of miles away). Even though it's easier for me to communicate in English, I really want to make an effort of it to teach Zoe so I got toys that are in Greek and books as well. If you want your LO to speak Vietnamese maybe get a few books that your husband can read to your little one. Once the baby gets older, maybe add some Vietnamese classes that can teach her more than your husband can. I think it's important for grandparents to communicate in their native language to grandkids but that's just my opinion. 
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  • AshleyPTAshleyPT member
    My in-laws are Greek and my husband speaks and understands Greek, but was born in America so prefers English. They speak Greek to each other at home and to most of their friends. They speak English to their children (my husband and his sister) unless they want to talk about people in public. 

    We asked them to only speak Greek to our kids in order to help them learn the language. Zoe understood basic things in Greek pretty early like words for clap, look, come here, water around 1 year with no exposure to Greek other than one set of grandparents seen 1x a week.

    She has about 10 Greek books that my husband can read to her and we listen to Greek kids music. I know enough that I can sound out words to read. Now my 2 1/2 year old goes to Greek school, but even before that she could follow directions and often answered simple questions.

    I feel like with this little exposure, my goal is for her to be familiar enough with it that it is not intimidating. I don't think she'll be fluent. 

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  • elm005elm005 member
    My MIL speaks Malayalam to our DS all the time and it kind of drives me crazy.  DH speaks a little bit but rarely to DS, just to MIL.  I would like LO to be bilingual but I always feel like she is talking crap about me.  :-/
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  • AshleyPTAshleyPT member
    AlejandraN2 said:
    I'm bilingual (Greek/English) and although my parents speak English well they speak to each other and me and my little one in Greek (unless my hubby's around in which case they try to speak in English). I'd like Zoe to be fluent in Greek so that my mom feels like it's her grandkid and doesn't feel any sort of distance because of language (since they already live thousands of miles away). Even though it's easier for me to communicate in English, I really want to make an effort of it to teach Zoe so I got toys that are in Greek and books as well. If you want your LO to speak Vietnamese maybe get a few books that your husband can read to your little one. Once the baby gets older, maybe add some Vietnamese classes that can teach her more than your husband can. I think it's important for grandparents to communicate in their native language to grandkids but that's just my opinion. 
    Hooray Greeks!

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  • Mags128Mags128 member
    DH speaks Portuguese and MIL really only speaks Portuguese. DH has been speaking Portuguese to DD because I would love for dd to be fluent. Also at daycare they are speaking Spanish so we are thinking she will end up multi-lingual.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker}
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  • thedashthedash member
    My DH and most of my IL's speak Spanish as their first language. They all often speak it to my kids. DS is 2.5 and completely bilingual. His English and Spanish are about equally strong right now. His Spanish was much better because that's what his babysitter speaks but now that he's in P/T preschool his English is improving rapidly.

    To answer your question I think that if your LO is only exposed to the language for short visits every few weeks he will grow up understanding some but not really speaking it. If you want him to be bilingual you need to make a big effort at that over the next few years.
    DS: 2/17/11          DD: 9/4/13
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