is it good to speak to ur kid in 2 different languages or will they get confused?

Question

so should u just stick to one language? but then wouldnt it be harder to teach them the other language when theyre older?

Answer 1

My daughter learned spanish and english by her mom talking spanish to her and me talking english (we both soeak both languages). She is fluent in both and never showed any signs of confusion. As she got older she had questions on different meanings, but she was not confused

Answer 2

I don't have any personal experience with this, but I've heard that it's great to speak to your child in two different languages. Some children do start talking later b/c of a bit of language confusion, but they catch up quickly and are then fluently bilingual. I've also heard that they may combine words from both languages into the same sentence early on, but they work that out as they get older, too.

Answer 3

I'm a former college educated preschool teacher and now stay-at-home dad. I can tell you that in the preschool field we always encouraged bilingual parents to use both languages at home. As a general rule, children learning two languages sometimes take a little longer to start talking that children learning one language but once they do start they've picked up on both languages. An interesting side note, I often noticed that bilingual children in my class (which consisted of mainly 3-4 year olds) could not do 'translation' for me. They had a hard time bouncing back and forth between languages or telling me a single word (like when I'd say something like "how do you say 'hurry' in french?" or whatever.)

Answer 4

Studies show that bilingual children have a worse vocabulary and language command in each of their languages than children who are not bilingual. However, bilingual children know more words overall. For example, a 10 year old bilingual child may know 500 words in english and 500 words in spanish (which means they know 1000 words total, while a child who is not bilingual will know 800 words in english. Practically speaking, what that means is bilingual children have a significantly more difficult time in school, particularly in english and reading classes. They have a disadvantage when compared to children who are not bilingual because they dont know as many words in the english language, do not write as well in english, etc. I actually perform IQ tests on children and we have to interpret our results differently for bilingual kids because they commonly score significantly lower on the verbal scale than non bilingual kids. That being said, bilingual children have the distinct advantage of having a working knowledge of 2 languages when they grow up! And that is also a great gift to have. So, the choice rests with you as a parent. Both choices have there pros and cons.

Answer 5

Kids who grow up hearing two languages will learn to speak both without an accent, which is great! My children speak Spanish and English and are much more fluent than I am (I have an accent). Just be aware that your child may start speaking a bit later than other children; my two older children were both later talkers, but perfectly normal, and able to speak full sentences at a very early age.

Answer 6

If they know both languages at a basic level, it will expand your child's knowledge. You are correct, once they get past the age of 11 or 12, they will not be able to grasp the new language without having to think about which word they are going to use. Before that age, they will be able to speak the second language as if it were their first.

Answer 7

It's great if a child can grow up being bilingual....my kids are in French immersion and it really is amazing what they pick.

For learning at home, I will give you an example. My friend's first language is English and her second is German. Her husband is the other way around, German first, then English.

With her daughter, she speaks only English. Her husband only speaks German to the daughter. Conversations at the dinner table are funny (to me, the Anglophone) because one asks a question in German and gets a reply in English. Her daughter is only one so we haven't seen if this works. But my friend is a language teacher and swears that this is the way to do it!

Answer 8

Your suppose to speak both languages to your child b/c when there older it's much harder to teach them im trying to get my son to speak spanish he's 15 months now.

Answer 9

I think it would be easier for them to learn it younger, while they are learning everything else. They will be used to using both if they learn it that way. And yes, it seems it would be harder to teach when they are older, than if they learn it in the first place. I don't think they will get confused if both are used. The only thing that will happen is they will know things have two different names, but is still the same object.

Answer 10

I think speaking 2 them in 2 different languages is great! The mind of a child is like a sponge...it will absorb it all. My bf nephew speaks and understands both German and English because his mother is German and his father is from Tobago...

Good Luck!