My husband and I can both speak Spanish and English, and sometimes speak it around the home. So my 4 yea rold daughter has learned a bit. Problem is, she sometimes will speak in english but say certain things in Spanish. We want her to know both langauges, but realize they are different. How can we do this without confusing her?
2007-01-12 23:33:12 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I've heard of other families in this situation. A common practice is for each parent to pick a language, for instance, the father pick Spanish and the mother pick English, and always talk to the child in their chosen language. Family discussions can be in either language. This shows the difference between the two languages to the child.
I hope it helps, good luck.
2007-01-13 00:05:55 · answer #1 · answered by rbwtexan 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You will not confuse her. Little children are fully capable of learning languages without any instruction. She will figure it out on her own -- you do not have to worry about messing her up in any way. She is 4 years old, so she is still learning. But in a couple of years there will be no problem with switching between languages. Just keep speaking English and Spanish to her and she will learn both.
Children are much more capable than we sometimes realize of learning from the world around them. When she interacts with other children and people outside the home, she will realize which language it is okay to speak to which people. My mom told me about an experience she had in Italy where the kids of a family would automatically know whether my mom spoke the dialect of their region (she didn't) and would translate for her anything that people said in that dialect. Your daughter, too, will learn which words belong to which language, and will be able to sense which people can and can't understand that language. Kids all over the world grow up in bilingual situations and they turn out just fine.
Keep it up!
2007-01-13 04:03:17 · answer #2 · answered by drshorty 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
a good way to do this would be one parent speaking english and the other only spanish...
this way she will separate the two but still be fluent...
there are certain problems like if one spouse is at home so often so your daughter may learn one language better than the other...
she also should get some basic knowledge of the culture... so if u'r from a spanish speaking country u can make foods from that country and things so she doesn't feel comfortable only with american culture, and therefore more comfortable with american language...
i think it's a really good idea, when i have kids i plan to speak only english with them, while my husband (current fiance) speaks only portuguese (we live in brazil)
its also a good idea to get movies and games in the foreign language u'r trying to teach
good luck!
2007-01-13 01:07:09 · answer #3 · answered by Angelina 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's more than ok to use "Spanglish". I use "Greeklish" a lot when I don't want people to know what I am saying about them. The trouble is that more people know Spanish than they do Greek (even though many words are similar).
If you really want her to seperate the two then use books and CD's only in Spanish and emphasize that she is to respond in Spanish only. Make sure you talk to her about the proper time to use both languages (such as describing or translating something to someone who only speaks Spanish) and that many times people will not know both languages which would make it hard for people to understand her and vice versa.
2007-01-13 02:24:14 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm going to do the same thing that the guy above me suggested. My fiance will speak Danish to our children and I will speak English. Because English is my first language I'm more comfortable speaking it and more confident that I can teach my children english better than I could danish. Then when they get older we'll be able to show them that daddy speaks Danish, and mommy speaks english, and the two languages are different.
2007-01-13 00:47:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
drshorty is absolutely right. Don´t worry you will not confuse her at all. Kids are more clever than what we think.
We live in Spain and my granddaughter speaks fluently Spanish and English and even translates to English people because she knows they don´t understand. She just turned 7 but she is doing it since she was 4. She switches automatically from one language to the other depending whom she is talking to.
Good luck and have confidence.
2007-01-13 05:40:04 · answer #6 · answered by Martha P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
have her to watch tv in both languages... Do not to use 'spanglish' at home, and do not swap languages too often, but use either consistently for an extended period of time.
Language will not mix up if you have acurate pronunciation, since the sounds of English and Spanish are so different, a spanish word can't be mistaken for an English one.
Good Luck!
2007-01-13 01:34:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are some free spanish lessons available online.
2007-01-13 22:18:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Surely she is old enough to know which language is which,
2007-01-12 23:42:33 · answer #9 · answered by orderee4 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋