What is the best way to teach my baby to speak spanish and english correctly at the same time?

Question

My main language is spanish eventhough I speak my husband english all the time, and my husband's is english.

Answer 1

oh.. don't even bother.. babies don't speak. they hardly say "papa". but if you insist, there are some good magazines freely delivered usually at the airports, which contain texts in 2 or languages. Often these are English and Spanish. Good luck!

Answer 2

I asked this same ques and didn't get much response. I'm english but strongly feel my baby will NEED to know spanish when she's older. I am trying to teach her both. I have bought DVD's for her that she watches in both languages. You can change the lang on the main menu. We watch Dora, Diego, Handy Manny, shows like that where they use both. I KNOW babies are able to learn both lang. The sooner you start teaching them the better they will be at it. If you are spanish then speak spanish as much as possible and have your husband speak english - they say babies can tell the diff between diff languages and not confuse them. When you teach her new words repeat them in both languages. My daughter doesn't talk yet so I'm waiting to see if it's working or not but I bet it is! She enjoys her videos just as much in spanish as she does when they are played in english. Good Luck

Answer 3

My mother is a speech language pathologist and she would tell you that it will most likely cause delays in the child's speech. If I knew a second language, I would be teaching it! Who cares if my child is a little behind at 2. At 20, he'll already be way above the job market if his second language is in demand. I work with a lot of multilingual families and the most common method I have seen, is the mother solely speaking one language to the child and the father speaking the other language. Some stay at home moms will speak the secondary language all day while daddy is at work and revert back to their main lanuage in the evenings. I watched a 3 year old that was very fluent in German and English. It was amazing! She didn't get confused and talk to me in German. She was right on target for her age level in english. My son was taught one language and is still behind in his speech - common for boys - I think you need to decide 100% whether you want to teach both and be confident in whatever that decision is. Be prepared for a possible delay and don't just give up, just because it may slow them down, doesn't mean you're harming their actual intellegence. By school time they are going to be just as verbal as their friends. If you definitely want to teach them, than start at birth! Babies start listening very early to speech patterns and fluctuations. Best of Luck! I'm jealous and would love to teach my baby both

Answer 4

Speak to your baby in Spanish at home and every other chance you have. English will be learned both in the homs and outside. Bravo for bringing up a bilingual child!

Answer 5

set aside the same few hours every day when you just speak Spanish and dont stray from the routine. it is best if you can divide the spanish speaking and english speaking times equally. dont be concerned if his speech is delayed, that happens in bi-lingual infants. and be prepared for sentences with both languages in them for a while.

Answer 6

My language is English. My son's father is spanish but he speaks really good english. I don't know if my son will speak any spanish.

Answer 7

My husband is spanish and he learned spanish first when he was a toddler then before starting school learned english, with our children they speach spanglish because he taught them spanish and english at the same time.

Answer 8

speak it.... when ever you talk to baby say things in both languages.... if there is more english spoken in the home buy your baby spanish childrens video and books you can read to him in spanish

Answer 9

Well there are books that i read to my sons,

it says the number in english and then spanish,
and then the number and the word Star
in english

and then the nuber and the word star in spanish ( estrella )

so it goes one - Uno

one salamander
una lagartija

two - dos
two leaves
dos hojas

And so on.

but you need to be very verbal with your children.

always talking and explaning.

good luck

meg

Answer 10

I have read from experts that it is best to wait until a child is 4-5 years-old before trying to teach them a 2nd language.