I speak English and Spanish, the father speaks English, Hindi and Punjabi. Both myself and the baby need to learn Hindi to communicate better with his family. The baby obviously needs to learn English too. Would it be too much to teach a 3rd language-Spanish also? When is the best time to teach each?
2007-04-18 08:55:32 · 11 answers · asked by Freaked out 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I have been a language teacher for 16 years. I teach English, and like you and your husband, we each speak 3.
Our children grew up speaking a different language to mom and dad, with the objections of the teachers at the elementary school. ha ha.
Your children can learn a language from a NATIVE SPEAKER. In other words, you each speak ONE language, your native language to your children. Then they will associate one language with one parent. Right now, it should be Hindi and English. ? your first languages?
Later in life... after the child has established a knowledge of grammar rules and vocabulary in two languages.... the child will be ready for a third.
AN EXCEPTION to this might be... Spanish and Hindi at home with the parents, and English at school. This means 5 years without English. But that's also OK. Your children will learn English quickly at school (8 hours immersion/day) and siblings always speak with each other using the school language, no matter what they speak at home with the parents. ALWAYS!
I have discussed this subject dozens of times with many concerned parents doing the same thing in the last 16 years. Learning multiple languages is not a big problem, if you do it in stages, and don't be worried about "mixing" two languages in the same sentence for the first 8 years of life.
I recommend Punji lessons at age 12.
A passive knowledge of Spanish or Punkji can be achieved too.. but concentrate the daily experience / LESSONS on the 3 most important.
good luck.
2007-04-18 09:03:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think its great that you teach your child 3 languages. Start now while he is a baby. Its very important that you start while they are babies, that's when they "absorb everything like a sponge". I speak english and spanish also and my husband only speaks english. My daughter used to be very fluent in spanish until she started pre-school where she learned english. Now all she wants to speak is english but we're working on her spanish. Good luck to you! =)
2007-04-18 09:17:54 · answer #2 · answered by * lovemykids * 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can only talk from experience.
With my granddaughter we started with 2 languages (English and Spanish) which she has complete control of and after she was more or less 4 we started with the third (Dutch) and now out of her own (7 years) she has started with German in her free time.
Spanish and English as I said she has complete control. Dutch she understands everything but every now and then has problems with finding the right word. German she is very happy about doing it. It got in her the idea of wanting to be able to communicate with everybody and that stimulates her.
So, I would start with 2 and after your baby has complete control on those two, go for the third. (around 4 years old).
2007-04-18 09:11:43 · answer #3 · answered by Martha P 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, after a certain age...I believe 5, it becomes about 60 percent more difficult for a human to learn another language! Start now! The baby will thank you later in life! I would!
2007-04-18 09:03:49 · answer #4 · answered by superstar_3000_3000 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it is not too much. Definately do it. Your baby will learn these languages the easiest at this stage in its life. His/her brain is like a sponge, and it should have no problem absorbing and understanding all three languages (in time of course).
I strongly encourage you to do this!
2007-04-18 09:02:53 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When our first child was just starting to speak we exposed her to a lot of a second language. It seemed to cause confusion. Once we focused on just English, her development continued. I would expose your baby to the sounds of the other language but don't try to make them bilingual too early.
2007-04-18 09:13:48 · answer #6 · answered by jonmm 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
i don't think its too much. the younger you start the better. i was told once that at 4th grade children begin to have a harder time learning a new language. i'm not sure if thats true (because i don't remember where i heard that from) but i would def say start young.
2007-04-18 09:04:38 · answer #7 · answered by ccbean 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should let your baby develop in his/her own time I believe it is wrong to force your children into thinking and learning to much from babies, they will grow up stressed and feel like a failure all the time that is why there are alot of young suicidal teens around.
2007-04-18 09:07:36 · answer #8 · answered by Carol 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
start one at a time because if you do it all at once the baby might get confused
2007-04-18 09:04:14 · answer #9 · answered by p.d_mexi 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's not too much & start from birth.
2007-04-18 09:01:33 · answer #10 · answered by J9 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋