Bilingual or more lingual LOL parents......How to??

[liya]

Is there any books that any of you would recomend. I would love for my son to know english, spanish and french(not fluently of course because im NOT fluent...LOL). Obviously my basics would be spanish and english...When is the right age to acutally beging to teach them another language?? We speak in spanish at home and when im speaking in english to someone else(practically most of my family....LOL) he looks at me like Im speaking sometype of ALIEN language..Most importantly family memebers go up to him and begin speaking to him in english...Im concerned at how this might affect his language skills...We would obviously want him to learn his native language(spanish) first and then branch off from there but when is the right time to introduce another language into the equation???

[suribear]

The answer is, as soon as possible! Kids somehow figure it out and he will know what language to speak to which person. I knew 3 languages by the time I was 3!

Kris

[newbelly2002]

The earlier the better! Kids are really resilient and have amazing capabilities to sort things out. My cousins grew up in America with a Portuguese father. They were taken care of while Mom worked primarily by their paternal grandmother who spoke only Portuguese. They are now fluent in both without any formal "training." They just learned that Mom spoke English, Nana spoke Portuguese, Dad spoke English...so on and so forth. We're struggling with this right now but only because German is neither or our native languages. What I have read is that it is best, where possible, for each person to be consistent with h/her primary language when speaking with the baby.

Just do what comes natural.

Paula
Mama to Dante, 8/1/02

[cuca_]

As everyone has said, from what I have read, the earlier the better. I would not worry too much though, since you probably will have the advantage of bilingual schools. (You are in PR right?). In our case though I have spoken to dd in Spanish since birth. (I am from PR). I can't talk about results though, as she is only 5 mos. DH (who is from NY) talks to her in both although he jokes that she will soon figure out that he has an accent in spanish. But hey I have an accent in English, so this babe will be confused. Anyhow I think kids take to languages very easily. The only benefit that I have read about earlier learning is that supposedly they will no develop an accent. I personally learnt English in school, for the most part, and I think in English when speaking it and dream in English when appropiate (meaning when the people in my dreams speak English). I think bilingualism (sp?) is one of the best gifts you can give your child. Sorry to ramble, but hope this helps. Oh about French, you might want to check with La Alianza Francesa in PR, I believe they are in Condado, they might offer some sort of class for pre-schoolers. I would love for DD to learn French too, I speak a little. But then DH is fluent in German too, and it might all get a tad complicated, so for now we'll stick to spanish. Sorry it's so long -- can you tell I love languages?

[cchavez]

I agree the earlier the better. Check out www.bilingualtherapies.com The articles by Dr. Hortencia Kayser might be of some help to you.

Also, there is a good book called, "One Child, Two Languages" written for preschool teachers. I can't recall the publisher or authors but it might have some helpful information.

I am a bilingual speech-language pathologist but Spanish is not my first language so trying to speak both to DS has been difficult. I think you have an advantage in that you are truly fluent in both English and Spanish. I personally, would not worry about the French right now.

hth

[liya]

Yup thats where i studied in La Alianza Francesa.....So you to are PRcan.....Hummm SO MANY coming out now!!!...LOL i felt so alone here(well yk guys alone in the sense that i couldnt believe i was the only one...LOL)...BTW cuca...My sister has the same nickname...;)

Yup i know about the bilingual schools but i think we are soon going to move to the mainland and acutally live htere from now on. So the spanish side will be gone and i can never allow for my heritage to crumble...So i was actually thinking of teaching him both at the same time...My husband speaks spanish and im the one with the 3 languages...LOL So im going to have to work at it a little....


Thanks for the advice everyone...

[cuca_]

Yep, born and raised in PR. My whole family is still there. I'm sorry you felt so alone here! I thought I had mentined it in my earlier posts. I went to college and law school in the states. Went back to PR, worked there for 7 years and just moved to NY a year ago. I am also an alianza francesa alumn. I took a summer class there once. Since you want tostart now, get some board books in English, and take advantage of cable tv. An there is always pollito chicken... If you remember that song!:D

[cinrein]

Linda,
Sorry I came upon your post late, but I wanted to share my experience. My parents came to the US from Argentina when my Mom was 3 mos pregnant with me. Mom was a SAHM and didn't learn English, so I learned Spanish first. Could understand a little bit of English when I started school at age 4. (What English I knew I picked up from TV.) Anyway, I had no trouble at all learning English in school. Kids learn fast!

Do I know Spanish now? Sadly, no. My parents made the effort to speak only English at home so that my Mom would learn English. I can understand Spanish pretty well, but am no where near fluent. I did take Spanish in high school and college for an easy A. :)

I think if you make the effort to continue speaking Spanish at home, Ari will do fine. He will figure out the English.

Cindy and Anna 2/11/03