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Family Forum / Parenting / Parenting / September 2005Bilingual babies (XPOSTED)
I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched area and I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous babies about books, reading and libraries. It's a terrible job but someone has to do it ;-) From time to time I get asked about babies growing up in families with more than one language. Who has experience with this? Did you do anything to encourage the two languages alongside each other? Or did you just concentrate on the one over the other? eg English over Greek Did you notice any drawbacks in your child acquiring the two languages? Also does anyone happen to have any good online references about bilingual language acquisition in young children? Liz > From time to time I get asked about babies growing up in families with more > than one language. Who has experience with this? > Did you do anything to encourage the two languages alongside each other? Or > did you just concentrate on the one over the other? eg English over Greek > Did you notice any drawbacks in your child acquiring the two languages? I live in Finland and the situation you described is not uncommon in Finnish families. Finland has a minority of Swedish-speaking people and the official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. There are thousands of families where one of the parents speaks Finnish and another speaks Swedish. (You may think that thousands of families is not much, but you must take into account that the whole population of Finland is about 5 million people.) All experts here say that in those families each parent should speak systematically his/her own mother tongue to the child. In that way, the child learns the both languages and do not mix them. It is important that the parents start using their own language just after the birth and do not wait until the baby starts to speak. I know some families using this system and it works fine. The children really learn perfectly the both languages. During the age of 1-2 years, the progress in learning to speak may be little slower than among onelingual children, but this is only temporary and the bilingual children catch up the others soon. (Sorry about my language mistakes - English is not my mother tongue) Kerttu > I live in Finland and the situation you described is not uncommon in > Finnish families. Finland has a minority of Swedish-speaking people and [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > Kerttu Thanks Kerttu! That is what I have been recommending but I thought I should have some real life experiences as an example. Your English is excellent! Liz > (Sorry about my language mistakes - English is not my > mother tongue) um, the only mistake was onelingual instead of monolingual. your written English is better than mine & i'm a native English speaker :) lee  Signaturewar is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength 1984-George Orwell >From time to time I get asked about babies growing up in families with more >than one language. Who has experience with this? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Also does anyone happen to have any good online references about bilingual >language acquisition in young children? http://www.nethelp.no/cindy/biling-fam.html is the website for the bilingual families mailing list. You could join the list and ask there, or the website has quite a bit of information too. FWIW I'm British and DH is Finnish and we live in the UK. DH has always spoken Finnish to the kids and DD (4) understands Finnish but doesn't speak much. This method is usually referred to as One Parent One Language. My personal opinion is that this doesn't work too well when the minority language parent is the one who spends less time with the kids as there isn't enough minority language input, but this is just from my own personal experience. We're trying to switch to some kind of Minority Language at Home system instead as we though it might encourage DD (and 1 year-old DS once he starts talking) to speak Finnish to Daddy if I spoke Finnish to him too, but we're finding it quite hard going as we've spoken English to each other for 10 years and it's quite hard to switch and while I can manage the couple of hours between him getting home and them going to bed, I can't keep it up over a whole weekend! Hope this helps SignatureKate > FWIW I'm British and DH is Finnish and we live in the UK. DH has > always spoken Finnish to the kids and DD (4) understands Finnish but [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > the kids as there isn't enough minority language input, but this is > just from my own personal experience. Actually, I have also heard of this problem in the case the child does not meet regularly any other person speaking the language except her/his parent. In Finland, most bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) families send their children to a Swedish-speaking daycare and school so that the children have enough practise of the minority language. However, if this is not possible and it seems that the child understands but not speaks the other language, the situation may be better than you think. I know a Finnish-American family living in Finland. The American mother speaks systematically English to her twin daughters. The twins understood it, but usually answered to their mother in Finnish and did not speak much English. When the twins were 4 years old, the family moved to USA for one year. In a couple of days the twins realised that no one understood them if they spoke Finnish. They started to speak English and did it from the beginning almost without any difficulties. Kerttu >Actually, I have also heard of this problem in the case the child does >not meet regularly any other person speaking the language except her/his >parent. In Finland, most bilingual (Finnish-Swedish) families send their >children to a Swedish-speaking daycare and school so that the children >have enough practise of the minority language. We are lucky in that there seems to have been an explosion in the number of Finnish-English families with small children here in Bristol and the Finnish Saturday School where I used to go for adult classes now offers a children's group. It's only a couple of hours every other weekend in term time but there are about 10 kids aged from 0 to about 8 and that's been fantastic for DD. I think before that she thought speaking Finnish was just something weird that Daddy did. >However, if this is not possible and it seems that the child understands >but not speaks the other language, the situation may be better than [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >to speak English and did it from the beginning almost without any >difficulties. DD does speak more when we go to Finland, but we're slightly hampered by well-meaning relatives who want to speak English to her. Even if they try hard not to, they can't help understanding her and have often automatically passed her the ketchup, say, when she's asked in English without thinking about it. I guess that's a problem going that way round, that most people in Finland will understand English. When we were there in the summer we did think about moving to Finland for a year maybe when the children are a bit older. As you say, it would probably work wonders. SignatureKate > I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally > enriched area and I regularly go out to talk to new mums > with their gorgeous babies about books, reading and > libraries. It's a terrible job but someone has to do it ;-) oh, you poor thing! ;) > From time to time I get asked about babies growing up in > families with more than one language. Who has experience [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > notice any drawbacks in your child acquiring the two > languages? oh, by all means use both if possible! children in bilingual households sometimes speak later than kids in homes where one language is used. we aren't bilingual really, although Tom & i both know German, but we do have a friend that speaks to Boo in Icelandic. it's really important to hear the phonemes of a language while they are young. it makes learning the language easier later (different languages use different phonemes). i had a horrible time with French, despite attending a school where French was taught starting in Kindergarten. OTOH, i found German very easy, even though i took it in High School, because my grandparents had spoken to me in that language (or Swedish) & i understood the phonemes. lee Signaturewar is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength 1984-George Orwell Hi -- It's easy enough to teach babies two or more languages. It's harder, however, to get them to retain the extra (non-majority) language(s) once the kids start school. Many kids refuse to speak the language of home (although they'll listen to it if their parents refuse to speak the majority language) and eventually may lose the second language(s) altogether. If, however, you send the kids to school -- whether a regular school or an afterschool program -- for kids who speak the second language, then they are more likely to retain it. Also, if they get a formal education in the language, then their use of the language will develop beyond that of a small child. In the US you hear many teens whose first language is Spanish speaking together in Spanish, since that's their language of play, but if you listen closely you'll realize that the sentence structure, etc. is that of a young child, and that they frequently intersperse English words into the conversation. This is because the teens have never had any formal education in Spanish, only in English, so they just haven't been exposed to more sophisticated usages in the language, nor the wide vocabulary that they'd have heard had they grown up in a Spanish speaking country. So tell your parents that speaking isn't enough! They must READ to the kids in their other language and provide a formal education (reading, writing, grammar, films) so that their kids don't get stuck at a kindergarten level! The education can be done at home, although it works better if other kids are learning the same thing. I hope this helps, --Beth Kevles bethkevles@aol.com http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner. NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would like me to reply. Thanks everyone for this and all the other responses. Some very informative answers mean I am now well armed to handle discussions about bi-lingual babies! Liz > It's easy enough to teach babies two or more languages. > It's harder, however, to get them to retain the extra [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > majority language) and eventually may lose the second > language(s) altogether. there were twins in my 10th grade German class that thought it would be a snooze because thier parents spoke German at home... it was quite a hard course for them because they not only had refused to speak German at home, but the German they had been hearing was colloquial German & school taught high German. > Also, if they get a formal education in the language, then > their use of the language will develop beyond that of a [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > vocabulary that they'd have heard had they grown up in a > Spanish speaking country. isn't that Spanglish? lee >> It's easy enough to teach babies two or more languages. >> It's harder, however, to get them to retain the extra [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >had been hearing was colloquial German & school taught high >German. My dad got into a LOT of trouble in college in a similar way. His parents spoke German at home. My grandmother immigrated when she was 14, and her parents lived with them. So my dad spoke quite good German. But when he went into the German class in college, the teacher told him in German to put his gum in the trash, and he did. She knew she had not taught them the word for gum, so she never gave him any more than a C because she said that he didn't have to expend any effort. Later in the advanced German class, there were only 6 students including one Japanese. Daddy earned money tutoring the students - they would get together in his room and he would read the passage that they were supposed to translate to them in English. Again the teacher only gave him a C (while the other students got As and Bs) because he didn't know where the passage that was supposed to be translated stopped but would keep on going. Then when he had to pass two languages translation tests for his PhD, he passed the French (which my mom tutored him in), but flunk the German because the passage that he was asked to translate was some kind of old German footnote. He had to retake that part of the test. >> Also, if they get a formal education in the language, then >> their use of the language will develop beyond that of a [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > isn't that Spanglish? grandma Rosalie <snip> "Staycalm" >I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched area >and I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous babies about [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Liz Having grown up in a country where there was a lot of bi-lingual language development, the basic guideline was learning to speak two languages was good. As Kerttu said it slows them a bit in the beginning but they soon catch up. The only other thing was that written language should only be in one language until about the age of 10. Normally the language they would mainly be educated in first, then the other tongue second. Also, learning to speak it needs a lot of exposure. It not really any good only speaking it with the grand parents once a week or month. My two learn Mandarin at school, and once a week is not enough to give the impetus to give them confidence in talking in the language, or the vocabulary that everyday conversation would give them. Marc > I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched area and > I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous babies about [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Liz They talked about this in my early education class a few years ago. There are some excellent books... possibly talk to a teacher? I had a great text book but I let it go. As Lee said children in bilinguel homes speak later. They said this is the best time for a child to learn two languages because the brain is primed for learning and then some. Here it is Spanish and English. Anni > I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched > area and I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Also does anyone happen to have any good online references about > bilingual language acquisition in young children? > Liz Hi, Liz -- An American friend married to a Frenchman and living in Versailles has two bi-lingual kiddoes. Anne speaks English to the children and Bernard speaks French. The children are about 12 and 9 now and seem to be fine, normal, etc. :-0) If you want, I can see about hooking you up with her. Signature-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> Updated 9-26-05. >I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched area >and I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous babies about [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > Also does anyone happen to have any good online references about bilingual > language acquisition in young children? I speak Welsh (first language at home) and English. I've never noticed a problem in either. Lots of British people speak both French and English, and it's perfectly normal in Europe for people to speak both their native language and one other (English, French and German being the most usual) from a very young age. I think this is a new experience for people living in a monoglot culture like the US or Australia, but it will become more common with time. HTH :o) R One consistently recurring theme in a lot of bilingual households, or even monolingual households where the parents speak a minority language, is that the children grow up understanding but not speaking the minority language. I have no personal experience with this, but the most commonly suggested remedy is to insist that the child speak back to the minority-language parent(s) in the minority language. If anything I think it's worth emphasizing minority language development over dominant language development. Kids will get the dominant language almost no matter what the parents do, but can easily get by without acquiring the minority language. The Bug is somewhat bilingual from spending a year with a Spanish-speaking babysitter. Unfortunately the only Spanish she's likely to get for the next few years is what I speak to her, and given my skill level in the language and energy level to use it (ie, I'm not ready or able to speak it to her 100%) I worry that she won't hold on to any of it. :-( When I was doing a little research on this I found a Google search on "raising bilingual children" seemed to turn up some good links. Kate, ignorant foot soldier of the medical cartel and the Bug, 2 and 1/4 years > I work as a children's librarian in a very multiculturally enriched area and > I regularly go out to talk to new mums with their gorgeous babies about [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Liz We speak English and Dutch... DS1 is 5 and has never had any problems with it. He knows exactly what is what and can switch over just like that... which still amazes me! DS2 will turn 3 this weekend and doesn't really understand the concept of words belonging to 2 different languages yet. Anyway, we've done nothing much to encourage DS1... we've just been explaining to him what the English equivalent of certain words would be.... or vice versa. All in a playful way, whenever we felt like it or whenever we thought it would be interesting for him to know. We've been very lucky, I think, that he picks it up so naturally. I have a feeling DS2 is a little less perceptive ;) Peter |
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