Multilingual home.How can I teach my toddler 3 languages?

Question

Me and my husband speak different languages we communicate in English. She starts saying words in spanish, arabic and english how can I hel her lto speak all 3 properly. Any articles or web pages will help .. Thnx

Answer 1

I was born into trilingual family and I spoke all three fluently by the time I started grade 1. Each of my parents (and their parents) spoke to me in their own language (but they spoke each other's as well) and then my favourite grandma spoke a third. I also started Russian in kindergarden. One thing you will notice when children are communicating in multiple languages, is that they will have signifficant interlanguage especially in the first 2-3 years - the mixing of vocabulary from one into the other. However, this is a perfectly normal neuro-linguistic phenomenon and it's a very good sign that the child is incorporating the language into their schemata (subconscious memory). In my family it was the stuff of family folklore and they still laugh about some of the funnier things I mixed up from the 3 languages. Whatever method you choose, your little girl is lucky indeed because the ability to communicate in multiple languages is a huge asset in life. I know, I speak 7 and teaching immigrants for many years it came in awfully handy for me.

Answer 2

When to teach a new language
Most experts agree that it is easier for a very young child (preschool age) to learn a language than for an adult (or even an older child) to learn.

There are a few reasons for this:
*Younger children have very open minds. They repeat what they hear.
*Younger children do not have the "hang-ups" of older children and adults about "sounding foolish".
*When we learn languages before age 12, all of that information is stored in the same place as our first language. After age 12, this new material is stored in a different place in our brain. Because of this, even children who are taught a second language early on, but have forgotten it, can often pick up the language again later in life and have fluent pronunciation with no tell-tale accent.

While timing isn´t critical, it is something to think about as far as ease of learning goes.

Answer 3

teach your toddler english first, then work on the other languages later in life otherwise the people at their school or where ever will put your child in the special needs because they wont be able to distinguish english from any other language. the special needs class is esl english second language. remember ENGLISH first!!!!

Answer 4

I heard of one family where one parent speaks to the children in one language and the other concentrates on another language. You could also designates certain days for certain languages to allow your kid to gain exposure to the different languages.

Answer 5

Don't worry so much about it. It will eventually all come together for her. Don't worry about "proper" when it comes to a three year old.
You don't need to "teach" her anything at this point. Just give her time.
When she starts school, she will learn english really well.

Take a look at this article also:
http://linguistlist.org/ask-ling/biling.html

Answer 6

don't try to.
each of you speak to the baby in your own language.baby will pick all the lang. without any confusion,may just take a bit longer to vocalise her thoughts.good luck.
i had tried this on my first son it worked well, but i had to discontinue when the second one came along who turned out to be a MR child.

Answer 7

its best that she takes classes

its really cool to know more than 1 language

and its more beneficial

and it will always be.

its gunna look good on her resume too

ppl prefer bilingualz!