Multi lingual children - We'd like to raise our children with two, probably three languages.?

Question

My husband and I have four languages between us. It's important that our child speak arabic (my husband's first language) and english (my first language, also we live in UK) but we tend to speak spanish at home and it would be good to also enable our child to speak this language too. Does anyone have any advice?

Hi thanks for everyone's suggestions - I should have included the information that I don't speak arabic (yet!) and that our child is still a bump at this stage.

Answer 1

Firstly it really depends on the age of your children, as before the age of 8 children are more likely to be able to 'pick-up a new language'. My parents faced the same problem, in that I was born and brought up in England and they wanted me to know my mother tongue Arabic. They achieved this quite easily - my dad spoke to me in Arabic, and I responded in Arabic. my mum spoke to me in English and I responded in English. By the age of 4 I was easily flitting between both languages, and more importantly I recognised who to use which language with. I wish they'd dropped some Spanish in there too..... trying to learn now is very difficult - although I am still fluent in Arabic. good luck.

Answer 2

It's wonderful to expose your child to many different languages. The language part of the brain is very open during young childhood--they don't know language. They just know that when mommy says "food" she puts food out. If you said that word in any other language, the child would just associate food with that word. You see? So, it is a great thing to do that. I have heard people had the most success when everyone in the family just talked however they want, no matter how many languages they may speak in a day. When the child gets older and begins to speak, when they ask for something in, let's say, French, then give them the name in Spanish and English too. Let's say the child asks for a cup in French, then you would say the word in Spanish and then in English, and then give the cup. The child will learn that there are multiple words for each thing. You should be aware, however, that children learning to speak in a multi-lingual household MAY not speak as early as other children. It will take your child longer to start saying the words because in his/her brain, he/she's trying to figure out which word to use. Just make sure you don't push them too hard and let them speak the language they prefer to speak. And, you should also know that if your child plans to attend public school (I'm assuming you are in the US, but if not, ignore this), delayed speech as a result of a multi-lingual household may be an issue in the early years. AND, your child may not speak English well enough to be in the normal classroom setting; they may place him/her in an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. To avoid these problems, you can look at placing him/her in a private school that, instead of requiring English, allows the child to explore all three languages. In some school districts, there are dual language programs where the children actually learn two languages at once, instead of just English. I babysat a girl (7 years old) that was going through a dual language program that would last the first 5 years of school (elementary school, 1st - 5th). She had Spanish class with one teacher and English class with another and was learning them both simultaneously. Anyway. You will be helping your child out in the long run, so I say go for it. Don't play it safe. But, get your child's pediatrician involved and let them know that you are planning to raise the child in a tri-lingual household, and that you'd like him/her to speak all three. Ask your child's pediatrician about how that is best accomplished. Ask early on, don't wait until the child is supposed to start talking--they can tell you the best way to expose your child to all three languages while causing minimal delays or issues with public school in the future. Good luck!

Answer 3

Wow. That's really great that you're planning on teaching your kid 3 languages. I'm planning on doing that too. When I have my kids and evrything. Because my 1 language is spanish, then english and I'm learning german right now. Well I would suggest to explain to the kid where your gonna speak each language. Like spanish in the house, english in the school with the other kids and outside. And arabic with your dad and his family.Teach the kids the 3 languages from the basics so he can keep it up. My german teacher has a little boy who's only 5 years old and he alredy now 3 languages (spanish,english and german!) I was so impress! Is really good for a kid to grow with 3 languages so we won't have problems communication with other people and that makes him very socialble and intelligent. But be careful that you don't get him(her) to mix the 3 languages because then you can have some trouble. Hope it helps!!! Good Luck ; )

Answer 4

id say spk mostly eng and arabic to ur child, so that he can learn those 2 first. speak spanish only to each other, and the child will pick up an understanding of spanish as well.

i think trying to teach the child all 3 languages at the same time will probably slow his language, development but 2 languages shouldnt be that much of a problem.

my husband and i have the same problem (4 languages and a bump!), and that's the approach we wud like to take. i myself learnt 2 languages from birth, then learnt the 3rd in more depth as an adult, and can kinda follow a conversation in a 4th. same with my husband, but his languages are in a different order!
also, my third language is his first and my first language (english) is his third! but english is what we speak at home

Answer 5

For the first few years, until they become fluent, speak the language of the country you live in. After that, introduce another language.

Given that they will speak the language of their home country at school, NEVER speak that language at home. Perhaps speak one on Mon/Tues, another Wed/Thurs and another Fri/Sat.

My wife's children had a German father who never spoke anything but English - they missed an awful lot by not growing up to be bilungual. Those who speak three or four languages from childhood nearly always pick up several more as adults - for instance, if the child speaks Spanish he/she will almost certainly pick up Italian and Portuguese - and the commercial world is their oyster. They will have huge wage-earning potential.

Answer 6

Your husband should speak Arabic to him all the time. You should speak English to him all the time. And when you're talking to each other when he is around, you should speak in Spanish. Like that, he might be a bit less confused.

You should buy them books in different languages. Maybe the same book, but also different materials (so that he also learns about the culture). Same for videos. With DVDs now, it's easier. Is there a bilingual school where you live?

I'm sure you can find a book on that subject.

Answer 7

I'm in a similar situation though I don't have children yet.
My mother language is Hungarian, my husband's is Romanian, and we live in Italy. Between us we speak Romanian, because my husband doesn't know Hungarian. My big problem is, how will my child learn all these languages, plus English, plus an other language if possible. I mean, if I speak 5 languages, why couldn't my child do the same?
So my solution would be, that each of us will talk to the child in their own mother language, and in the kinder garden/school my child will learn Italian as well...then in school he probably will learn English and eventually an other language too.
It also helps a lot if the child can watch foreign language-TV channels. It's my personal experience, that children can learn a language watching these channels! I've learnt German this way!

Answer 8

A close friend of mine speaks German (her 1st language), English (her husbands 1st language) and Spanish fluently, and already her 2 year old can speak and understand both German and English.

However what you may find (as she has) is that the child will be a little slower at talking fluidly and may mix the languages up. For example her little boy will say "no, milch". in stead of 'no, milk' or 'nein, milch'.

If you are introducing 3 languages at once then it might be helpful to limit each day to just 2 languages eg Monday Arabic and English, Tuesday English and Spanish etc, and it might also be useful to speak specific sentences firstly in one language and then another. For example "These are your shoes, Estos son sus zapatos" (excuse my poor Spanish, I had to use a free translator!)

It's important to remember that your child's first language, like yours will also be English, and they will possibly go to a school where English is predominantly spoken and taught, so you may want to bear this in mind so that they are not disadvantaged in communicating at school, or with their friends.

I think what you're doing is wonderful and I would have loved to have been brought up being able to speak and understand 2 languages. Wishing you lots of luck.

Answer 9

I got some good books on amazon.co.uk in Dual language English-Spanish Dictionaries and picture books , I also got some story books made by Berlitz they are about a little boy called Nicholas and his adventures with Princessa (the Cat) and his Abuelita they are very good and in both languages . My son is 2 and a half. Speaking to your child in both languages will work, I find my son understands more English but that's because he speaks English more. When we were on holiday he had no problem with staff and other children in Ibiza whereas the other English kids were struggling. I did have to tell him he had to talk in Spanish or they would not understand, he slipped up a few times but as soon as he got a blank expression he tried in Spanish! TV Programmes like Miguel & Maya on BBC and Dora the Expolrer on Nick jnr have a bit of Spanish. and Pocoyo on ITV although in English, the Duck is called Pato and there are a lot of spanish references. Hope this helps.

Answer 10

go for it...kids are able to learn 3 languages at the same time, however its good to teach one base language so that the kids can b more confident in asking. on one hand if u live in the uk, it might b a good idea to go for arabic or spanish first, then english. this is becos as u live in the uk he will b most exposed to english language n therfore better chances of learning that than others.