Bilingualism: do your kids speak more than one language?

I was always so incredibly jealous of my mom. She grew up in Canada and learned French starting in third grade. Here, our only choice was Spanish and not until high school - and then only if it fit in our schedules, which for me didn't happen until my senior year. Oh wait - we learned Japanese for 9 weeks in sixth grade, I think we learned how to count to ten - but I couldn't do it now so obviously I retained much of that information! I wish that our school systems provided more opportunities to learn other languages, especially in this day and age.

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Here at home we speak French and Spanish to the children. They do all their english in school. When we visit my husband's parents in Germany, we need to speak German to get around and my husband's mother speaks Dutch to the kids every so often.

They pick it up very quickly and don't seem to be so confused. They watch cartoons in French and German and seem to enjoy them more than the American cartoons you find on Nickelodeon.

Children are sponges, and I think learning even one extra language is beneficial.

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Our youngest is bilingual at 22 months. Her daycare provider is originally from Colombia, South America and started speaking Spanish to her when she was a year. Olivia can communicate with both the daycare provider or her visiting mother (who speaks not a WORD of english) in Spanish. And at home, she speaks english with us.

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My husband is British. Does that count? Sometimes I think his words and pronunciation is going to be more confusing than a whole other language.

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I live in Argentina, so obvoiusly my first language is Spanish. I've always attended the same school, since I was 4, which my mother chose because it was bilingual, they taught us English since kindergarten. I think it is great that a child learns a foreing language at the same time it learns its first language. We took 15 hours of English a week in primary school (which lasts 7 years) and in secondary school we took less because, of course, we all had achieved an excellent level on it, so the subject was divided in 3: 1) Language, where we practised everything we had learned in primary school - nouns, verbs, participles, etc- ; 2) Literature, we read lots of books, mainly classics, and learned how to analyse them and about the authors; and 3) Life and Culture, where we would discuss about many subjects, mainly news of the world, and had the chance to use everything we learned on the other clases.
I think it worked great for me, as after I ended school I never took a class again and still talk, write and listen perfeclty. And I must say that Internet is a great help too, because it keeps me practicing :)
Hope this helped. And tell me, how's my English ;)?

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I grew up bilingual... my parents would only speak Polish at home and when I began preschool, I began my English education. I am better at English now, but then again, I never took advantage of the afterschool Polish schools available to me. However, by sending me often to Poland and my being conditioned to respond to any Polish with Polish and always talk with my family in Polish, I've kept up my Polish education, for the most part.

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Here in Canada every child has the right to a bilingual education, French and English. That's easier said than done if you live in a small town, but in cities, there are generally many schools that offer French Immersion from Kindergarten. My daughter is too young yet, but once she is old enough, she will be enrolled in an immersion program.

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My wife teaches Spanish, but she's only just started exposing our son to the language at three. Kids who are taught more than one language at an early age tend to pick and choose from those languages, and use whichever words are easiest. We wanted him to have a firm grasp of English, first.

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I was always horribly jealous of my cousins, who went to a bilingual public school from kindergarten and were fluent in Spanish by the time they were ten. One of them was so enamored with languages that she went on to become fluent in Chinese as well, and is now also learning Russian.
We never had any immersion/language programs in my schools, so I didn't get any exposure until high school. I've since forgotten most of my French, and you have no idea how I regret that I never got more language training when I was younger and cared. If I ever have kids, they will definitely be getting language training. It is so important nowadays to know at least one other language, and to be able to pick up phrases quickly if you ever plan on traveling.

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Since I am American and my husband is Dutch we are raising our daughter bilingual. I would love to have her start learning Spanish as well when she begins school. It is such a pitty that it is still considered to be unimportant to teach multiple languages to children in the US. My husband speaks 4 languages fluently (Dutch, English, French and German) and also took Latin in school. And he went to public school. He makes me look incredibly stupid. I took 2 years of Spanish and 2 of German in High School, and can not do much more than count to 10 in them now. I started learning Dutch 5 years ago and though I use it daily I don't think it will ever feel natural to me. The adult brain is just not wired to learn languages while a child picks it up very easy. Why the american school system can not figure this out is beyond me...

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I used to speak french; I use a little now and then (what I can remember). I actually use German a bit more , but in both cases it's not like I can actually talk. My wife speaks Spanish; I wish she would to the kids. My sister-in-law, who watches them 3 days a week, speaks tagalog and ilecano; again, I wish she would teach the kids. (She didn't even teach her own kids, though.)

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My son (6) was raised bilingual (english/japanese). I always spoke to him in english and his mother always in japanese. Unfortunately we split shortly after he turned 2 so he didn't see his mother regularly for awhile and then it became every other weekend but now she pared it down to one weekend a month. Up until 18 months ago he was fluent in both languages (reading and some writing) and even went to a japanese preschool where they spoke japanese all day. But now his grasp of it has deteriorated. After much thought I've decided to enroll him into a japanese school on the weekends beginning next fall. Hopefully he can retain his language and heritage. He can still understand his mother to a certain degree but not as good as I'd like. We are also sending him to Japan for 2-3 weeks with his mother to visit relatives. He tends to catch on quick in that environment so hopefully things will get better

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Ok this is weird! Another Laura in the same language situation as me! My husband is Dutch and I'm American and we live in The Netherlands. Our son hears only Dutch from dutch people and only English from my family and friends. It's honestly held him back I think. He's only recently begun to talk and today is his 3rd birthday..but I know it's for a greater good. I'm sure by age 5 he'll be at the level of the other kids in his class except he'll know 2 languages. Most kids here also learn German as we live RIGHT on the border. My husband speaks all 3 languages fluently and can also speak french. I've had to learn Dutch 4 years ago and I don't use it often as everyone here is quick to speak English to me. I do understand everything I hear which is nice when your inlaws want to say something mean! I think it must be hard on bilingual kids to not have 1 language to call their first though. What language do they think in and dream in? I guess I'll never know!

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My children are both bilingual. From infancy they were spoken to in hebrew in the home, and English outside the home. They attended a Hebrew speaking preschool/daycare until they were 5, and then a bilingual Hebrew/English school until they were 8. They also took language lessons for reading and grammar outside of school. With all this language, they have retained their Hebrew even without attending a bilingual school any more.

Both of them also take a 3rd language at school. My son is in his 3rd year of Latin, my daughter in her second year of Spanish.

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To Kobie above: I'm glad your son is retaining his Japanese heritage. However, before you send him to Japan in the company of your ex-wife, I strongly recommend your read the following website:
http://www.crcjapan.com/

Many Japanese ex-spouses have taken their children to visit relatives in Japan, only to never return. Japan does not recognize custodial parents' rights in foreign countries, and every year many parents lose touch with their children because of this. I do not know your situation at all, so please forgive my intrusion, but at least be aware of the issues that exist with this.

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My kids speak Greek and English. I disagree with Jared about the 3 yr start. If you are living in a (say) English speaking country - you should give them as much exposure as possible to the 2nd language before they start and perfect their mother tongue. Their mother tongue will be spoken everywhere from kindergarten onwards - hence good knowledge of 2nd language needed before. (I'm an English teacher)

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