Bilingual Parents | Imamother

amother

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 8:41 am

DH and I speak two different languages natively, although we're both fairly comfortable in the other's language as well.

For those of you who speak 2 or more languages at home, how do you teach children to understand both? What age do you start?

If the home language is different than the language at school, how do you make sure they can understand it by the time they're old enough?

Do you use the "one parent one language" method?

amother

Azalea

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 8:52 am

That’s a good question.

I grew up with three different languages. My mother is English speaking, father Hebrew speaking, community is Yiddish speaking.
It was really confusing. I’m not completely fluent in any language.

I think there must be one dominant language.

amother

PlumPink

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:13 am

My husband speaks Spanish and hebrew. I speak English and Hebrew. The language at home is Hebrew and my husband teaches them words in Spanish or some basic sentences and I help them with English when needed.

amother

Emerald

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:14 am

I am a SLP and the research shows that bilingualism or teaching a child 2 or more languages does not cause confusion or language delays.

We speak to DC in French at home and they hear English from my parents and school. Our son understands French fluently but most of his verbal output is in English for now. He tends to code switch and will mix French and English at home with us but I see he is more dominant in English. I just keep speaking to him in French and iyH his repertoire will grow.

amother

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:19 am

amother Emerald wrote:

Thanks.
I grew up in a bilingual home where my parents spoke their language to me and I spoke English at school. At some point, I refused to speak their language (kids, ugh) and now I really regret that, although I have started speaking it over the years.

I really want my kids to have as much knowledge as possible, so don't want to separate languages into "home" and "school".

Really, my question is, do I need to start integrating it from when they're babies?

amother

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:20 am

amother PlumPink wrote:

Are you strict about them only speaking Hebrew at home? I.e. in normal conversation?

amother

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:22 am

amother Azalea wrote:

Was it clear to you which language was supposed to be spoken when? Meaning, did you speak to your mother in English, father in Hebrew, and Yiddish outside?

amother

Emerald

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:30 am

amother OP wrote:

The field of brain plasticity and language learning/acquisition has been widely studied and is quite fascinating.
Neuroplasticity is high when we are younger. I integrate both languages from day 1

behappy2

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:30 am

When babies are very little, before the age of 10-12 months they learn every sound/phoneme. So if you want your baby to be able to hear it well and pronounce it well then start both languages at birth

amother

Carnation

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:55 am

One parent one language is the gold standard. They do end up a little bit slower to talk in the beginning and mix and match a bit, which causes some parents to panic and feel like they messed up and confused the child, but this is not true. Stay the course and they sort themselves out by 3 or 4 and are fluent in both.

amother

Emerald

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 9:58 am

amother Carnation wrote:

There is no supported research that states children who learn 2 languages have language delays. Code switching is normal and adults often do it as well

amother

White

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 10:05 am

I'm chassidish, and our whole community is bilingual (Yiddish and English). My parents spoke Yiddish to me, and I learned English in school. By middle school, English was my more dominant language.
At this point, I'm fluent in both languages though I'm more comfortable reading and writing English. I actually translate Yiddish to English for pay, but though I've done it, translating English to Yiddish is very, very hard for me.
I do speak Yiddish to my kids as well, and they learned English in school just like me.

I think I speak for most, if not all, of my community.

My father is Israeli, but he never spoke Hebrew to us. I wish he did. It would have been nice to know another language.

amother

Carnation

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 10:11 am

amother Emerald wrote:

There is no supported research that states children who learn 2 languages have language delays. Code switching is normal and adults often do it as well

That's...literally what I said? It is true and common for those things to happen, but parents raising bilingual kids should be aware that while their kids may appear "confused" or "delayed" at times, this is NOT the case and they should not panic, but rather stay the course and keep speaking two languages at home. It is a common problem that parents assume there is a delay because it looks like that and they mistakenly switch to one language only. It's important to acknowledge that code switching can look like a delay so that people don't panic when it happens.

It is also common to start talking a little later because the child sometimes needs to figure out which language to use when. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just a common thing that happens that parents should be aware of, again, so as not to panic about it.

amother

PlumPink

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 10:35 am

amother OP wrote:

Are you strict about them only speaking Hebrew at home? I.e. in normal conversation?

Yes my kids only answer in Hebrew. Sometimes the younger ones mix up but I correct them and sometimes they repeat after me.

amother

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 11:16 am

amother Carnation wrote:

At least it helps that I'm aware of this and won't panic in case it happens.

amother

Alyssum

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 11:20 am

I recently thought about it too. I’ll need to send to playgroup where they speak a different language than I speak at home. Anyone done it? Will the child be using the new language they learned or continue speaking the language at home?

amother

Hibiscus

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 11:20 am

My sister brought up her first 2 kids bilingual. Her 3rd child struggled and they had to switch to 1 language.
There's no 1 rule fits all, you need to do what works best for your children.

WitchKitty

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 12:44 pm

I speak English and Hebrew, DH speaks Yiddish and Hebrew. We speak only Hebrew at home.
DS is starting school in Yiddish soon. My siblings all spoke only English until they started school in Hebrew, so I've seen it's not a problem.

alibaba1

Thu, Jul 13 2023, 12:53 pm

One parent one language! Stick to it even if the child starts to talk abit later.
I send to gan in English, which is a third language at the age of 2 and ai can say that after 6 weeks they were all fluent in it.
Hebrew in kita alef and they also caught on really quickly bh. Each person should stick to their own language is the motto!