Babies Bilingual Speach?

Question

How long does it take for a toddler to distinguish between two different languages (polish, English) and how long does it take for them to speak full sentences???... My daughter is 19mths and all I hear is Baby talk, occasionally a word in English and occasionally one in Polish... I want her to know both, but how do I make it less confusing?

Answer 1

I observed a young Hispanic woman with her two young children one day. One was less than 2 the other about 4. She was speaking both English and Spanish to them. I ask her how she was teaching them both languages as we are interested in teaching our youngest grandson more than just the English language.

She said she tells them everything twice. Once in Spanish (her native language) and once in English (which she was very fluent in). I ask her if she sometime felt it was too time consuming to repeat everything and she said yes. But she said if she became rushed, tired or upset she had to take a deep breath and remember her goal is to teach her children both languages fluently and she must be consistent.

So just be consistent. Young children understand more than we think and they absorb more than we realize. My daughter started teaching by g'son sign language when he was 6 mos. He is 15 mos now and knows many more signs than you can imagine. He does not always use then and sometimes you think he is not paying attention but he is learning. Especially when he is learning through playing. Use playtime to teach both lessons. Playtime involves something on the childs level and something they know about and they do not realize they are learning.

Sometime children learning more than one language are a little slower learning to talk clearly because they are absorbing both languages. If you stay consistent she will learn.

Don't stress her and don't let yourself get stress over the progress. It will happen.

Answer 2

We have a few friends where one of the parents speaks a different language. The way they do it is one parents speaks only English to the child and the other one only the other language. The consistency really helps them organize the particular languages because they always know when a particular language will be spoken (i.e., French with mother, English with the father) rather than wondering when to speak what language... Hope this helps - that's a wonderful gift to be able to give a child!

Answer 3

www.multilingualchildren.org

Go to this website and they can answer a lot of questions you might have. I have a bi-lingual little 15mth old girl (or at least she is on her way, she only says a few words for the moment!) and I found this site helpful. They'll reassure you that no, your child isnt confused about learning several languages at once even if you are fearful about that, different methods to use (such as different languages for different days, different situations, for different people, etc), and a lot more. It can take longer for multilingual children to speak, but this is one of the best things you could do for your child. I know how hard french has been to learn for myself as an adult, and here she is learning it flawlessly from her father with NO effort. Lucky girl.

Answer 4

Kids are hard-wired to learn languages. I've read that they have no trouble learning multiple languages. My boss is Swiss and his wife Venezuelan, their kids speak English, Spanish, and Swiss-German - i think I first met his son at age 2 1/2 and he had no trouble. My next door neighbour has a nearly two year old, they speak Spanish at home and he learns English at the sitter's -- he has no problem understanding me, but doesn't know to stay in English for me (probably doesn't help that i know a bit of Spanish). Basically, as your daughter sorts out the concept of language, the idea of what words go with what words and what words go with whom will sort itself out.

I'm told also that it's a bit easier if one parent speaks one language primarily with the child, the other speaks the other. Also, stick with one language per instruction/topic/event I would think. As in, read a book all in one language. Give an instruction in one language, not half-and-half. That sort of thing - to get her used to the idea that some words go together, some don't.

We don't have that luxury here - one parent household. I'm teaching my son English (I'm most comfortable in English), and some French. He'll learn Mandarin from his sitter, Spanish next door. I don't expect he'll be fluent in any but English, but it's laying down the patterns and the framework for later!

Full sentences can depend on the child. I know that I did not start to talk in sentences until just before I turned three. But then in the course of one or two months I started speaking in fully 'correct' sentence structure, and could read, and could spell simple words using fridge magnet letters. Other kids might speak three-word sentences "Go out now!" and the like, I think before two. The little guy next door does at least two word instructions - told my little guy today, "No push! No push!" ... and I think he asked me where my shoes are (he's fascinated with my shiney red shoes, wasn't wearing them today) in Spanish, but my ability in that language isn't up to understanding much baby talk!

Hope that helps, sorry I don't have a source list for you.

Answer 5

it's suggested to use one language per person, this way she knows that with dad I communicate in Polish...now this is not easy, I promised to my self that I would only speak Italian because they can learn English any time. but it's much easier to speak in English, when i speak to her in Italian i realized that she has picked it up. so continue with polish more than English

Answer 6

my daughters are learning English/Spanish...just keep talking to them in both languages and they will learn it. my youngest is 2 and only says things when we tell her to, my oldest is 5 and is having trouble but is catching on. My oldest understands when people speak to her in Spanish, she just does not speak it well. but it takes time to learn 2 languages. its not that confusing to the kids, only to the adults.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

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