Polyglot kids?

Anybody here who has an inter-racial or inter-state marriage? If yes, how are you planning on teaching both the parents' languages to the kids? I am a south indian, born and brought up in Delhi, so I speak both tamil and hindi fluently. DH is an american (caucasian) who speaks English and understands some hindi and some tamil and he would like to learn more. We want Riya to learn all three languages, and after having Riya I found out that when I speak to her, tamil comes naturally to me, instead of hindi!! Anyway, DH wants me to speak in hindi or tamil in front of him, too, so he learns in the process. I don't know if you have tried speaking three languages at the same time switching back and forth, but I find it tiring at times.


Anybody has any suggestions or experience?

Yes,I too speak three languages-Malayalam(my mother tongue),Tamil(my hubby's) and English(because I am used to speaking in that with my hubby since ours is a love marriage and we met at work).For me too,malayalam comes naturally when I am trying to console/pacify my kids.With all these languages,my eldest(5 yrs old) now speaks only in English eventhough he understands both tamil and malayalam.

Hi,

We are Malyalalees, but brought up in Karnataka and bihar. So at home its a mixture of Malayalam, Hindi and English betw. hubby and me! Our son understands mal. and hindi, and speaks a wee bit, but its english that he hangs onto for dear life! Try talking in Mal. or hindi, something that he should'nt understand, and he understands and translates it word-by-word!

I guess then Riya will learn hindi and tamil if I keep talking to her. We webcam with my parents back in Delhi and my sister in law is a north indian (yes, my family's motto is vasudhaiva kutumbakam. LOL) and we speak both hindi and tamil at the same time, so I guess I don't have to worry if Riya will learn hindi and tamil. I am sure she will.

Riya's mommy,
Kids really learn very fast, but dont force her with all the three languages all at one time. You will find her amazing when she starts speaking. But still make sure you stick to one language either Tamil or Hindi till she starts speaking properly .

Originally Posted by rajmiarun

Riya's mommy,
Kids really learn very fast, but dont force her with all the three languages all at one time. You will find her amazing when she starts speaking. But still make sure you stick to one language either Tamil or Hindi till she starts speaking properly .

Yep, right now I am sticking to tamil but also expose her to hindi by reading hindi books or singing to her in hindi (don't know any tamil songs). I read recently on the American Pediatrics Asscn. that it's good to expose infants to as many languages as we can. It helps develop sharpening their language learning skills later in life.

Hi Raj,

Im priya here. First of all lemme say hello to you.
Im a hindi girl married to a mallu guy.We both speak hindi,english and i speak hindi with my kids and he manages in his MT and kids have now bcome smart enough to switch to either of the languages. What we do is i say some sentence in my lang and ask it to convey it to dad in his lang so that kids understand the meaning of a particular sentence in both languages. This way my kids manage to speak mallu with my in-laws and my lang with my parents. So everyone is happy!!!!!!
Anyhow, both my kids intereact in my MT which sometimes disturbs my hubby as well as his folks.....but cant help it!!! People call it "mother tongue" not "father tongue" right??

priya