Q. for all parents about raising bilingual kid

Dear Amicable,

I am writing here my own upbringing and what my mother told about me hoping it might help u in some way atleast.
When i was born due to some difficult situation my mother had to leave me with a friend of hers during the day time so that she could go to office.I was 3 months old then.The friend who was looking after me they were a couple with 2 kids about 7 and 5 yrs elder to me.These people used to speak Malayalam.In my house my parents speak Kannada.So what my mother tells me is that when i was around 1 yr old i had easily picked up 2 letter words in both the languages and i had absolutely no problem in communicating either or understanding.By the age of 2 she tells me i could speak small sentences in both the languages.
Till we were in that city i could speak and understand both the languages comfortably (3yr old).Later we shifted to bangalore and gradually i forgot malayalam as i did not have anybody to speak to me in that language.
So my mother tells other younger moms of our generation abt this whenever they feel apprehensive abt their babies learning different languages.Now a days it is v common to see different languages speaking people getting married.
My parents used to tease me that my first language was malayalam and were always feeling that i might get married to a malayalee guy but that was not to happen (thats another story though):biggrin2:

Take care,
suji

 

My pediatrician (and the many books that I have consulted) tells me that the more languages a child learns in the beginning, the more of a linguist he/she will be later on. The child might learn to speak properly a little later than others who are exposed to only 1 language, because they are absorbing 2 languages. But the benefits are many.

It is much easier for a child to learn new languages at a young age as the brain nuerons are developing and growing at a much faster pace than they will when the child is older.

My kid is 20 months old and we speak Hindi and English at home. Right now she is able to understand both languages and speaks words from both languages. Her baby sitter speaks Portuguese and we encourage her to do so in our child's presence so that she can pick a little bit of that too...

We do have some friends who speak only English at home (because they fear that their kid would not be able to communicate at the daycare or outside)...but it hasn't happened to our baby so far. She is able to communicate in her daycare just fine...

Hope this info helps..

love,
Aarushi

 

In our home,we usually speak Tamil and mostly English between me and hubby.With my 5 1/2 yr old son,we used to speak in Tamil and Malayalam till about 1 1/2 yrs back and he used to respond to in the same languages.At that time,he did not know English at all.But within 2 mnths of school,he picked up English so much that now he does not talk in Tamil and Malayalam at all!Drowning. So don't worry about kids not understanding English,they will pick up very fast.

 

Hi amicable,

both sujimallige and Aarushi have covered most of it - here's from my experience. With our first born, we only spoke native tongue. I am a stay at home mom and didn't even speak in English once in a while. Once he was 2 1/2 he started day care and seemed quite alright communicating his wants and needs. He also must have picked up English from the books we read. Now he is 5 and speaks kannada/English fluently - infact prefers to speak in mother tongue so far and I hope he will continue. I am also doing the same thing with the second one also. Now to answer your questions....

1. I cannot imagine NOT speaking to my children in my own native language.
Yes, every language is beautiful and you must speak in your language.

2. Is learning two languages simultaneously difficult or "confusing" for children?
As Aarushi, pointed out, children can process more than one language - they are much smarter than what they appear with their sweet little smiles.

3. Shall we teach them our native language later or begin early when they are toddler or wait untill they learn proper english and then introduce our language slowly n slowly.
It should be the other way round - teach your tongue first, English is an eventuality anyways and exposing to both the languages is not a bad idea.

4. The problems processing the language, a delay in expressing speech.
No, they pretty much learn to express once they are comfortable in their surroundings.

5. How difficult would it be like to raise them to learn or speak Hindi in a English speaking environment?
Not at all, when they are young it is fairly easy since they follow everything we do. It is in later years that you face this challenge.

6. Would peers see them as “different” and tease them? And would they perhaps refuse to speak hindi to me when they were older in an effort to conform with peers?
We anyways come across different and when they are younger, no body teases. It is only once they are in hgher grades they might not want to speak in mother tongue. As far as teasing is concerned as long as we reinforce the idea that each one is different and it is ok to be yourself, they will know how to deal with it. Teasing will not be limited to only language anyways.

Hope this helps.

 

My daughter speaks Tamil and English.
I introduced both the language at same time and started talking to my daughter in both the langauage.I would say earlier the better.
Thanks
Mangai

 

Hi

I have a daughter of 2 andhalf years. I am a tamilian and my husband is a north indian. We stay in Bangalore.

Right now, my daughter speaks tamil, english and hindi.
I dont think we shud worry much abt children picking up or not picking up any language.
If you think your native language is something you would like your child to cultivate, then, by all means, start talking in that language. A child can learn 5 languages at a time is what i read somehwere!!!!

When my folks call, my daughter talks to them in tamil. When my husband's folks call, she switches to hindi. She talks to us in a mix of tamil and english.

So, dont worry. Just speak in whichever language you want your child to learn and he/she will pick it up.

Take care,
JJ

 

Hi,

Our boy is 3 yrs old and I'll just tell you what we do at home. Me and my husband speak Tamil (our mother tongue) and english mixed when we converse. We live in Germany so he goes to a german nursery. We had the same question in mind when we became parents. What we did was to continue speaking the normal way.... we were very clear that our boy should call us amma, appa so we don't respond to him if he calls us in German. I find that visual teaching helps a lot. Like for example i show him a banana and say banana and the next time tell that in our mother tongue. Now he himself says this is so so in tamil, so so in english and so so in German.

You should also remember that the child will pick up more a particular language that he hears outside. In our case he says more german words and he's more comfortable forming sentences too. But we continue speaking only in english and tamil at home and outside with him so now he knows very clearly the differences.

It is very important that you also speak in your mother tongue with the child. Other languages they learn quickly from outside.

Latha

 

My neighbour's kid is another example. She was barely 2 years old when they moved next door. She spoke only malayalam at that time. When we spoke with her, we did so in tamil and she would reply in malayalam. She gradually learnt tamil from us and now can converse well in tamil, even better than her parents. They put her in Kendriya Vidyalaya when she was 3 and she learnt to speak good English and Hindi from there. Now there is another Telugu family residing next to them and she now speaks Telugu too. So by the age of 5 years, she knows 5 languages now!

Kids of such tender age have a special ability to learn multiple languages. This skill is lost overtime as they grow. Hence the earlier you start, the better it is.

Radhee.

 

I hope I am not too late coming to this thread. Have you looked at one parent one language way of raising bilingual kids. We have friends who are Irish and Kannadiga. The wife spoke consistently in English and the husband Kannada and Tamil. At 2 years, the girl could speak all three languages! Just a thought