Doubt related to speak more than one languages with kids?

Question

Hi All,

I am Deepali staying in Mumbai city of India. My mother-tongue is Marathi (one of the many languages that is speak in India). Our National Language is Hindi and the Standard Communication language is English. English is widely used in all the offices, schools. So most of the people in Mumbai know all the three languages (Marathi, Hindi and English). So we (me, my husband and my other relatives) most of the time talk with my baby either in Marathi or in English. My baby is currently 1 year and 3 months old. She understands now few words of Marathi and few words of English.

I have read somewhere that baby’s grasping power of learning different language is very good in this age. I was just wondering that shall I speak to her in one more language say “Sanskrit” which is India’s ancient Language? (I have also studies that language). Will that be a burden and/or confusion for her? Please help me in knowing this answer.

Speaking Sanskrit will be an added advantage as it mak

Speaking Sanskrit will be an added advantage as it makes pronunciation very clear.
If I can speak Sanskrit with her, what process shall I follow? Like whenever I show her a flower, I usually say that “this is a rose” (in English) and then I say this in Marathi as “He gulabache ful ahe.” (This is a rose). Is my approach right? And if I want her to know Sanskrit also, can I say this in Sanskrit?

Please let me know that I am right? Or Shall I follow some other technique to learn more than one language?

Thanks in advance

Deepali

Answer 1

Hi Deepali!
You are quite right in the methodolgy you are adopting with your baby. Go ahead. The baby won't get overloaded or confused. Why do you under-estimate a child's intelligence!? If it has a problem, you'd know, of course.
As an educationist, I say that the baby's mental growth is max (50% of adult intelligence ) in the first 4 years of age !
From 4 - 8 age, the growth increases another 30% , and from age 8 till 16, there is only 20% of growth!
So give the baby every form of stimulation--visual, auditory, tactile, and motor skills.
It is worth it. From billions of dendrites (Neuron tentacles in the brain), millions will die away due to disuse, and those that have been stimulated will develop.
That is how, some kids become extremely good at sports (like Sachin at 16, or Nadia Comaneci at 13!), some become world-class musicians, and some become extremely good academicians/authors/writers/linguists!

I too am fluent in many languages.

Born in Calcutta, lived in Bombay, Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, etc.
Learnt French & Sanskrit (Distinction in both). Enjoy speaking various languages.
My father was a linguist who knew 18 languages, was a Jawahar Lal Nehru Fellowship award winner, musicologist, Dance, Drama,Music critic for Times of India for 36 years, etc.

Answer 2

children at that age have more connected nerve-endings in their brain, reports a popular science magazine. hence, they can understand stimulations very easily
it is very good that u want to teach ur child so many languages, including sanskrit, which is a beautiful language. not only pronunciation, it will help the child think logically
yes, u r going in the right way... learning through seeing is the best way... use other senses like smell... aham bhojanam jighrami [i am smelling food]
u should help ur child learn through simple methods. she will pick up hindi/eng/marathi by speaking with friends when they grow up... it is fairly simple. but sadly, no1 speaks sanskrit. so u should keep using this method, as it will be useful later, since sanskrit is considered a very scoring subject in higher classes
at this age, it will be no hurden. but later on, don't force her if she can't pick up a language, it takes time

Answer 3

i dont know what medical science say but one thing is clear that what you will teach to kids they will learn that thing wether it is language. just think one thing in india people of different religion are here and each have a different language they are fluent in them how it is possible. but now days english is imp one coz i m feeling shame coz i m not that much fluent what a student of class thisrd is now. i m trying to get job in infosys, tcs , satyam, cts etc each have only one criteria your english should be of high level. if you have than you are welcome otherwisw pls stay away. by the way i m engineering graduate.
i dont think there shold be any negative impact if you will teach more than three language to your kids. and there is one added advantage of sanskrit is that you not need to do all these yoga and other thing because when you speak sanskrit you have to put more energy and really it is difficult to prononuce. just think few min on OM word and some other sanskrit word you will found the answer urself.

Answer 4

This topic should be posted in psychology. Because i learned about this in psychology. The easier way to talk to your baby child is to talk and read to them in two different languages. Which is English (of course) and the Hindi language that is the main language that connects to others. For instance: Chinese main dialect is Mandarin, if your child knows Mandarin the baby would be able to understand Cantonese, Pinyin, Traditional etc.

I am not sure with the age but i think at age 2 the baby learns the words. By now your baby would only know goo-goo-ga-ga-stick their tongue out and start licking themselves.

I know at least 4 languages. I learned only one language when I was small.

Answer 5

Yes it`s true that kids at the age btn 2 to 5 have good grasping power...
..like plants, if u give any support, then they grow-up in that direction & support.

Regarding sanskrit also, u rviews r correct.
U know?...sanskrit is the base(mother) languge for all indain languages
.
If u speak sanskrit, then it`s very easy to learn & speak other Indian languages.


And u r aproach by teaching in multy langauages at same time, may cause some confusion for kids.

There should be some gap for language 2 language.
We have to feed them diff lang words slowly...one by one...

Answer 6

I thnk it will b more of a burden thn a help or tool.Atleast at this age, it will b too early and confusing for her to memorize or recognize 3 dffrnt languages.And more over, sanskrit speaking or knowing ppl are numbered,so give her some time if u really really want her to learn sanskrit.[m not derating sanskrit language].....MANISH

Answer 7

The best way is to
read short stories in 3 languages for the baby.

The newest method for learning
SSS method= Start to learn a language by reading and/or listening Simple Short Stories in that language.

Answer 8

It could be a combination of things: your mother's own disappointment in herself for dreams that she never realized, envy of your probable success and obvious determination, or even fear of "losing" you, that you could move far away or be too busy for her. Mothers especially get very upset (usually) when their kids grow up and become independent. In some cases, they get over it. In other cases, her own emotional problems, like low self esteem, could be leading her trash you. This isn't okay! Talk to er about it and tell her what you said here. If she doesn't get it, then you'll have to distance yourself from her. Perhaps if you do that, she'll realize how "toxic" she's being. But if not, don't give up your dreams!

Answer 9

The children are good in grasping more than one language.But not the babies.The baby will get confused if you use more than one even if she looks understanding it.whatever she learns at this stage,is a mental exercise, so giving more exercises are not advisable.Babies should learn things along with the objects.Though your baby looks brilliant give her some time for her physical growth.

Answer 10

It is great to know more than one language, I think you should teach them all three, in my family I've seen the kids know two languages perfectly. Maybe three will work for your kids, when there young it is a lot easier. Well ... good luck