How many languages should your child learn at one time?

Question

Four of my children are currently being homeschooled. Two things we require as parents. They must learn a muscial instrument and a foriegn language. One of my children has picked up on Spanish, French, Latin and Greek, due to their own lessons and the lessons of others in the house. Is there a limit to the number of languages one should learn at a time? BTW- I'm not complaining?

Answer 1

Honestly, if your child is gifted enough to learn all those languages at once...I'd just let them keep on doing it! Spanish & French both have a Latin base and have many similar words in their vocabularies..so they are easy to learn once you've learned the other. Your child may even be able to learn Italian very easy also, due to this fact.The Greek..well, I'm impressed.
A "typical" child can usually only concentrate on learning one other language, than their native tongue, at a time. So, if you wanted to just sit down and do that, that's fine. But your child seems to be very unique and gifted and would not hinder him/her in the ability to do this or their possible love of doing this. Why squelch something so awesome and obviously a gift from God?

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

For schooling purposes, most european HIgh Schools with College Prep have 3 Foreign Languages as part of their currciculum. None of them are started at the same time, but staggered by 2 years. So by the end of High School, they are doing their native language, plus 3 other languages. Language 1 since grade 5, language 2 since grade 7, and language 3 since grade 9...
The human potential for language learning is pronounced early on, so it is easier to learn these earlier, than later.
Depending on your child's aptitudes and inclinations, choose your languages: latin, greek, hebrew, french, italian, spanish or german...these are the most widely recognized and used.
Certain careers need foreign languages, like Law and Medicine should have strong Latin backgrounds, Religious Studies should do hebrew and greek, Literature studies maybe French and Spanish.
As long as the child can communicate fluently in any one language without confusing words or expressions from other languages... all is OK !

Answer 4

Cool! I always wished I had studied Latin as my older siblings did, but alas it was no longer in the public schools by the time I got there. Add greek and that little scholar will be able to understand the origins of a huge percentage of what (s)he will hear every day! Adding two romance languages on top of the Latin shouldn't be too tough. Good thing (s)he didn't pick Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, etc. on top!

Oh, to answer your question...I heard of once case in which a younger child was given the opportunity to learn 4 languages at once. Did very well on 2, a bit less proficient on 1, and the last didn't reach conversational level as it was only on Sundays.

Bravo!

Answer 5

Wow! That's wonderful! My guess is that there is probably no limit to how many languages a child can learn all at once. The human brain is an amazing machine and with young children it certainly can act like a sponge. I'm not sure there's research out there regarding as to how many languages children should or should not learn at any one time.

My own children are only learning Spanish and English. Their dad speaks to them in English and I speak to them in Spanish. I'm a dual language teacher, and at school, I've known some children to learn Spanish, English, and yet another language at home.

Like I said, I'm not sure that there's research out there regarding the number of languages a child should learn. It's wonderful to know your children are being exposed to many languages!

Answer 6

Well 3-4 is cool. I myself was homeschool and learned 4 languages.. I reccommend They learn Latin, German,French and Spanish. There isn't really a limit to how many languages you can learn. I'm currently learning 5 more languages....

Answer 7

Nope no limit as long as they are doing it naturally and not being forced. It is easier to learn languages and math when you are younger. because learning how to communicate is almost the very first thing any human child does. Our brains are set up that way. Although people are different, you may have one child who has trouble just learning that one other language.
How a language should be spoken may be easier than
learning how to read and write. Reading and writing are visual learning skills and motor skills that use different portions of the brain. (many people do not realize that math is a sort of written language)

just as a fun side note
my mom helped me learn math using grocery store and a cook book. it helped to see math in action
(how many apples did the pie recipe call for dear? what if we want two pies?)
the questions got harder as I got older.
some recipes are doubled by weight not by quantity.
this also taught me weights, measurements
counting money and healthy menu planning and of course cooking too.

Answer 8

No, not really. I know 6 languages and I learned 4, (English/Greek/Spanish/Portuguese) , at the same time (starting at birth, until I knew them) because my family speaks all of them (my mother is from Greece and her fam is from Spain, and my father is from Brazil, and I live in the USA). So, there is really no limit, it's just easier to learn 1 at a time.

Answer 9

NO NO NO no limit, why would you set a limit? now if you are the one teaching them and making them there is a difference, you just dont want to put to much on your kids at one time. but as long as your children like it then why should it matter? it will help them later on in life. I think its a great idea. Im not going to have my child homeschooled because i hated it never having friends going to dances etc.
but anyways its a great idea to teach languages and as long as your kids dont mind and you dont mind teaching it then have fun with it!
good luck!
-Maria

Answer 10

2 to 3 and he or she will not only be trilingual ,but the envy of the monolinguals.