Bilingual
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=30824
Printed Date: 29 August 2025 at 8:20pm
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Topic: Bilingual
Posted By: isabel
Subject: Bilingual
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 5:06pm
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Hey,just wondering if there is any parents that have experience off raising bilingual kids?planning on doing it for our baby but not sure how to go about it.
thanks! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 6:06pm
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No experience as a parent as DH and I only speak english, but as a nanny and a teacher I have worked with lots of bilingual kids and their families.
The most common way seems to be each parent speaking their "mother tongue" to their children ALL the time but speaking their common language together. Eg in our friends' situation the father speaks english to the kids, mum speaks spanish. But mum and dad still speak english amongst themselves or when addressing each other when the kids are around (if that makes sense). The kids are more vocal in spanish at the moment, mostly because their mum is a SAHM. IME the bilingual kids I've taught or nannied have tended to talk a little later but they catch up pretty quickly. It is a huge advantage to hear two languages at home vs trying to pick up the second one later (even if that's only at kindy age). ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: Mamma2N
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 6:12pm
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Hi Isabel,
We have a wee girl (9mths) and my DH is Italian. He tries as much as possible to only speak Italian to her and I speak English. We are also moving back to Italy this year so Italian will be her first language. (I will only speak English to her) From everything that I have read and all opinions, the general concensus is for each parent to speak their native tongue to the child/ren. They will go through a phase where they mix up the two languages when talking but that sorts itself out very quickly. Many of DHs friends have foreign partners and they have approached ,anguage in this manner and by 5 those children are fluent in each language. These early years are the best time to learn languages - they seem to soak it up! I've just had the thought that perhaps you (you and your partner) both speak 2 or more languages. In that case I would probably suggest you both speak each language at different times. ie - English outside the home and whatever language in. HTH |
Posted By: kandk
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 9:13pm
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Haven't done this myself, but I met a not quite 2 year old the other week who is likely to end up tri lingual! His mother speaks Japanese with him, his father speaks German, but as the parents communicate with each other in English he gets that too! ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: M2K
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 10:24pm
hehehe, I also wondered if they would get confused with another lang & english... Mine will hopefully speak Dutch as well, but unfortunately Im not fluent in Spanish otherwise she would be tri lingual.. her father still confuses Dutch & english sometimes  ------------- 
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Posted By: High9
Date Posted: 07 January 2010 at 11:09pm
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Jolene they don't get confused, the best time to learn another language is when you are young and before your brain fully develops!
Talking lots is how they'll learn it at first but have you thought about getting stuff like activity books, etc in the languages you want it to speak? And also music and songs are a good way to learn as well... ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: isabel
Date Posted: 08 January 2010 at 9:15am
Thanks guys!yeah the plan is that i will speak my natvie language, swedish and DP english. I was wondering about what we speak when me and DP speaks, so that was great that you explained that one to me!! yeah i got books in swedish and planning on getting tapes and more activity books later. Would be so nice if the kids can talk with their uncles, aunties and grandparents in swedish!
 ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: kandk
Date Posted: 08 January 2010 at 9:57am
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Something to think about Isabel, is that children also learn language by hearing others use it, so sometimes they need to hear conversation in Swedish so they can copy the rhythms and grammar of real conversational language. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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