Hola! I need help! I'm trying to bring my ten month son up to be bilingual in english and in spanish. My husband only speaks english. He understands some spanish, but not enough to help me teach our son. I feel so frustrated because, I know my son hears mostly english because I have to communicate with my husband in english. I speak to my son in Spanish as much as I possibly can. What can I do to ensure that he is getting both languages simultaneously and equally? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
English is going to be the dominant language in your home because that is what you and your DH use to communicate, and that is the only language he uses with your child. It seems normal to me that your baby's first word would be English. But keep up with speaking Spanish. If that is the only language you use to communicate with your baby, he WILL learn it, and he'll learn it fluently. You can also try to find some other Spanish-speaking mommies around and see if you can get some play time together with them and their kids. Good luck! I'm sure he'll be babbling in Spanish with you before you know it!!!
~yakamoz
"'Do you think you could do something like that....Are you capable of murder or rape or any of the stuff that is taking place [in the Congo]?'...If I answered his question by saying yes, I could commit those atrocities, that would make me evil, but if I answered no, it would suggest I believed I am better evolved than some of the men in the Congo. And then I would have some explaining to do."
--excerpt from Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
I'm fighting this battle too. French is the dominant language while English is the minority (mine). I also speak the dominant language with my husband, but always to speak to my girls in English. It would have worked out ok if I had not been lazy. Although I speak to my girls in English, I've always let them respond in French.
My nearly-4-year-old can't really speak English, but she does try every once in a while and she does ok. We went to the U.S. over Christmas and I was hoping that would give her the boost she needs, but no go - she was trying to teach everyone French. It probably doesn't help that she was precocious in language acquisition and she quickly learned to speak exceptionally well - in French. I'm trying to hang out more with American women here, but it's hard to find school-age children who only speak English. I still think she has a good shot of making it into the bilingual primary school here, so I hope that will work out for her.
I thought with my 2nd child, who is now 2, I would work more on the English, but I have more to work against since my older girl always speaks to her in French.
I have always read books to them in English and sung songs to them in English and I always buy English-language DVDs. It's just hard to swim against this enormous current (basically everything around us including daycare/school).
So I suggest that you insist from the beginning that your child speak with you in Spanish. It can be hard, but you have to do it - it's not enough for them to understand it spoken.
Good Luck.
Thank you so much. Your replies have all been very helpful and encouraging! I will stick with it and really buckle down. The good news is that he is only ten months, so I really can backtrack and start all over again. I need to be really strict with myself! Thanks again for your suggestions!
by the way, what was your son's first word?
Both of my daughters said "cat" as their first words and both said it at 9 months exactly. They both would start out speaking English words, but with daycare, they would quickly adopt the equivalent French words.
They both also went through a mixed-language phase between 1 and 2 years old where they would mix up the 2 languages in the same sentence. My youngest still does that. My oldest only does it when she doesn't know the French word for something, so she still uses the French sentence structure, but just substitutes in the English noun or verb.
He said, "again". Really, it sounded like, "gn", but I knew what he meant. I guess that word is a lot easier than saying "otra vez" in spanish. We were playing and he wanted me to tickle him again. Since my post, I've really been trying to go out of my way to talk to him in spanish, and, I'm really going to stick with it! Its definitely worth the hard work!
I don't think they choose one language over another because it's easier. I think the English word "more" is a lot easier than saying "encore", but both of my girls used "encore" very early and have never used the word "more". They also love to drag out the French 'r', so "encorrrrrre".
I'm glad we've been able to help you. It really will be worth it and it will amaze all of his friends :)
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Romanian/Americans
- Romansmami0412
on Feb. 21, 2009 at 9:05 PM