strategies for bilingual kids?

[kcl]

Does anyone have experience with raising bilingual kids? We speak mostly English together, unfortunately, so I’m not sure what strategy might work out best. Any advice from families with this experience?

Thanks!

[jen]

We are raising our child bilingual. the best advice we were ever given was simply to speak to your child in your own language.I only ever speak to her in English and my husband only speaks to her in Hungarian. she is 2 and a half now and her speach and understanding in both languages is pretty good for her age. we both make sure we spend a lot of time talking and reading to her. like you we talk together mostly in english so her english is stronger than her hungarian but as long as her hungarian is developing we are not pushing it.

[Richard]

You don't say, but I'm assuming one of you is a native English speaker and one a native Finnish speaker.

As I've understood it, it is important until the child is old enough to fully grasp they have two langauges that aren't mix-and-match, that each parent should use only their own language when talking directly to the child.

[Jukka Suomi]

We have 2 boys, we speak english together me and my wife, and I speak Icelandic to my boys and she speaks Finnish to them and it goes quite well.
The BEST advice is to speak to your child in your own language.

[karen]

We use the OPOL (one person one language) method here. Because English is the minority language, I've really pushed it with books, videos, TV and lots of talking. Although English is his stronger language, his Finnish is fluent and he will go to a Finnish school when it's time. He knows that he speaks English with me and Finnish with just about everyone else. I try not to speak Finnish with him because I don't want him to laugh at my pronunciation , but I don't mind saying a few words when I translate something for him or he asks me what some Finnish text is.

[Amandine.K]

You should only use your native language when speaking to your child. If the child talks to you in the other language you shouldn't show you understand but ask her to say it again in your language.

My daughters now speak Finnish and French. We speak English at home with my husband, they are starting to show interest and seem to understand some of it but we never talk to them in English.

The key point here is to be consistent really.

[jen]

That was the point i was trying to make, Richard, i guess i didnt express it proparly.

[Rosamunda]

Every case is different and every family is different. I don't believe OPOL is always the best solution (though yes, it usually is, unless the "one parent" has more than "one language", which complicates the issue). I certainly would not refuse to understand my child. My husband and I have always used English together but we have never lived in an English speaking country. I always respond to my kids whatever language they use to speak to me as long as I understand what they are saying. To ignore them would, IMO, cause too much confusion and send out some conflicting signals (when grandma speaks to me I understand her but when you speak to me I dont ).

We messed up because my husband never used HIS languages consistently with the kids (Swedish and Finnish) but they speak both of mine (French and English).

There are plenty of websites like Multilingual Matters that deal with these issues and a ton of books in the shops.

BTW, monolingual children are in the MINORITY on this planet!!!

[Jools]

Yes, I've been told the same, ie. about speaking to your child in your native language, or in a language you have decided on from the very beginning.

I was also told it is very important that you stick to the same language from the beginning, ie. not switching between English and Finnish (I'm assuming one of you speaks English and the other Finnish). This is so that the child is not confused.

Don't fret if he or she leans more towards one language, or is mixing words when speaking. In time, your child will know which language is which.

[Richard]

That was the point i was trying to make, Richard, i guess i didnt express it proparly.

My post was only 4 minutes after yours, there was no reply when I started typing mine

[kcl]

interesting, so it seem like the best strategies for kids, will derail my own attempts to learn finnish... oh well...it's not going so well anyway

[Richard]

interesting, so it seem like the best strategies for kids, will derail my own attempts to learn finnish... oh well...it's not going so well anyway

You can still talk Finnish with your wife, just not the kid for now.

[karen]

And listen when they speak Finnish. You'll learn a lot that way.

My kid is sitting on my lap and is directing me to add some emoticons. The following is not necessarily the opinion of the author.

[Hank W.]

Although English is his stronger language, his Finnish is fluent and he will go to a Finnish school when it's time.

Just one thing you guys in this kind of a situation need to remember. "Organize" the English language education with the school somehow, maybe with higher grade students, and check the homework. Buy some materials to home, even if you yourself get the hives when thinking of grammar.

If you land a "fluent" speaker with beginners, it'll end up in boredom, frustration and teasing. Now the danger is the fluent speaker learns to be lazy, at some point the spledding and grammer wil com bite tem up a ase.

I say this out of experience, my Swedish writing is beyond hideous and I speak a very rude dialect, I slept through the first 4 grades and then the 5 declinations came and en-etted me totally. And as his big brothers had beat the Swedish out of my dad in the 30's already, I had nobody to check my homework. Even worse with English - when I landed in high school, I was slightly mobbed for "reading too good and fast", I had a few tiffs arguing grammar points with the teacher, and I just drew cartoons for three years and finally took my examination - top grade but no flying colors. I'd forgotten *everything* about proper grammar (theoretically that is) in the three years.

With other languages it is maybe easier to avoid this kind of a situation, the home language education is more easily arranged, but as English is your 1st foreign language in overwhelming numbers its all too easy for the school to just let go with the flow.

[kcl]

I always respond to my kids whatever language they use to speak to me as long as I understand what they are saying. To ignore them would, IMO, cause too much confusion and send out some conflicting signals (when grandma speaks to me I understand her but when you speak to me I dont?

Thanks, this is very encouraging! I speak Russian and English, so I'm glad to hear that this is working for your family!