Comments on: what are the best methods to teach your children to speak 2 languages?

By: Niki

Niki — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:33:39 +0000

I am in a dilemma and need a professional answer. I speak 3 languages and wish to teach my daughter all 3. My husband speaks only English so it’s a given he speak English to our daughter. However I’m not sure how to teach the other two languages simultaneously. How do I do it with getting the best results and confusing her the least. Both languages are equally important to me so I don’t wish to focus on one only. I was thinking speaking to her in one language when my husband is away and speak the other when he’s here at home. Any other suggestions? Thank you.

By: Kareem

Kareem — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:51:14 +0000

Hi, I am also had the same problem , and we live in Boston ,we are from Sudan, and we speak english with him , but i speak Arabic with my wife, but recently my child started to study arabic online ( in secret) with a good tutor from Syria , and he started to surprise us with some arabic sentences , then he told us the truth..
he studies Arabic language in the weekend , i think that his tutor became famous here ( i mean between arabs), he has italian website http://www.lalinguaarabapertutti.com (which means : the Arabic language for all) , i sow it , there is an english section too.

try to make your child learn now, because usually children are able to learn in this age…

By: Mona

Mona — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:21:20 +0000

Hi I have a question…I’m living in Canada with my family.I have 3 years old chld i came here when he was 10 months and our language is Arabic.So,my son went to daycare when he was almost 13 months and he just picked up little bit English and non of Arabic till now.So, I think he confused because he heard me and his father speak Arabic with each other at home and we speak with him English.So my question is do u recommend me to speak with him just english at first till he pick several words and then switch to our native language or not??? plz help me am sooooo worry about him.

By: Sarah B

Sarah B — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

I took Child Language Acquisition in University, and studies have shown that the best method to teach your child both languages is for each parent to speak their native language with the child. The child gets linguistic input from both parents, and they learn to differentiate between the languages eventually. Kids become completely bilingual earliest with this method. Good luck!

By: Emoja

Emoja — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

I was taught that you teach the child one exclusive language for the first few years, and then introduce the new language. If he gets both at the same time during the early years, he may grow up to speak a ‘pigeon’ mix of English and Danish and have problems learning how to read and write properly in both languages.

By: Betz

Betz — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

I’d get your boyfriend to speak Danish and English to him as a matter of course. I think it’s fantastic to be bi-lingual.

By: x-Sequin-Star-x

x-Sequin-Star-x — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

For a child to be fluent when young, they really need to start to learning it the moment they begin to talk. By three a child will be fluent in their mother tongue.
So I’d advise trying to introduce them to both languages straight away. Kids are like sponges and after a few months, it’s possible to tell where a baby is from based on their babbling.
When they point to something, try and tell them what it is in both languages. Just, whatever way you’d teach them English, do the same with Danish.

By: Pippin

Pippin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

The amazing thing about babies/young children is that they are hard-wired to learn language .. and can easily learn 2 or 3 at once. You don’t have to teach them Danish, any more than you have to teach them English.

You speak to baby in English. He speaks to her in Danish. She will also be exposed to both languages in other settings — tv, radio, people on the street. And she will learn both languages. She will probably start talking a bit later than average, but she’ll understand everything, and when she DOES start to talk, she’ll be able to speak both.

(I used to work at a preschool where most of the kids were bilingual — most spoke Hebrew at home, and English in school. (There was also a Korean child, and a Tibetan child, and one little girl being raised trilingual — she had an Israeli father and a Dutch mother and was growing up in the American heartland!)

By: amber3_6

amber3_6 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

The best way to do it honestly is to start when they are young. teach them both languages at the same time. He will pick up what you are saying in both languages, and will use both fluently at a young age.

By: Pretee G

Pretee G — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:15:27 +0000

Teach the child one language first and then a few years later teach the second language, you can try teaching at the same time but it may be confusing, but as they grow they can distinguish between the two languages…but consider doing this while they are young, because its harder for children or adults to learn a different language when they older