is it possible to teach a child three languages?

Question

is it possible to teach a child three languages?
would it be too hard or complicated for him/her?

My husband and I both speak English, Spanish, and Italian.

We just had a child and we want to teach him Spanish, Italian and obviously english, but is it possible?

all three languages are equally important to us for various reasons. They are spoken daily within our families, and.....

Long story short, it's extremely important for us to know all three languages.
It's nearly impossible to choose one language over the other

it was easy for my husbands parents to teach him Spanish and English as he grew up, and it was easy for my parents to teach me Italian and english as i grew up. My husband and i both learned the third language in college, so we dont know how hard it might be for a child to learn three languages.

is it possible?
any tips?

thats about it, Thanks, Grazie, Gracias

Answer 1

I've been there with my two children, I'm Irish my wife Spanish and local language Catalan. I think you should be natural about how you teach. Speak your native language with them which is more natural for them and expose them to the other target languages as much as possible. My children speak all 3 without a trace of non native pronounciation. ( 15 and 18 years old now)

Answer 2

My children have been trilingual since about age 7 and 5, respectively.
I always speak English to them, my husband always French, and when they were 6 and 2 we moved to the German part of Switzerland. So yes, I'd say it's possible. I think they are pretty much indistinguishable from unilingual native speakers in both English and French (though it may be hard to place an accent on them in French--their English is identifiably Canadian). Their German is not *that* good but they are keeping up in school (grades 6 and 3)--and a lot of people will tell you no Swiss's German is that good anyway. (I'm not one of them! Just saying!)

I would suggest (assuming you're in an English-speaking place) that you avoid English as much as possible and concentrate on the other two (or if you're in an Italian/Spanish place avoid that). Otherwise the majority language can easily take over.

Make sure your husband is a VERY involved parent (I'm going to assume you will automatically be). My husband found it hard at first to speak French to our first daughter when I was around (he and I speak English together, and he felt weird about it). But when they were just the two of them, he had no problem, and neither did he after she started speaking (even obviously understanding). So I left them alone together a lot!

Answer 3

I think it depends on your child. In my personal experience, my wife's family all speak mostly Spanish to each other, I unfortunately do not speak much at all. I do understand more than I can speak. My wife has tried to get my son to learn it. He is 5 now and very stubborn and refuses to learn it. I just don't have the patience or the time honestly to learn it. If I could speak it and my wife and I spoke nothing but Spanish, then he would have no choice to pick it up. I do know that in the case of my son, the few words he does speak are the ones that he should not say, he picked these up from his uncle whom he adores. I must also confess, these were the first words that I learned in this language. Must be a male thing.

If you speak all languages routinely, then I would imagine that your child will pick them up. If you live in America, then the most important one would obviously be English and then Spanish (which is almost spoken as much as English nowadays.) I do agree with you of the importance of a child learning more than one language though. Just think of all the more opportunities that will be opened for him in his future!

Good Luck,

J

Answer 4

I think it's possible!! As sooner as possible...
If children hear 3 languages since there were born it's a very good way. So they have the chance to grow up with 3 different languages and they would understand and speak them.
I know a girl who grows up bilingual. Her parents spoke always in Italian and German with her. Now she is 4 years old and knows both languages perfectly. When she was 2 1/2 years old she began to know difference of the languages. With her father she spoke in Italian and with her mother German.
Penso che sia sempre un vantaggio se i bambini possono imparare due o anche tre lingue da quando sono nati...(sorry but I don't know how to say it in English...)

Good luck!

Answer 5

It's NOT impossible. Children can soaked up lots of different thing @ an early age stage. Their mind r like sponges eager 2 learn new things constantly. My dad is Italian n my mom is Spaniard/Portuguese/British n we all (2 brothers n 2 sisters) speak all 4 langs around the house.
If u guys concentarte on "Romance" langs (Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese n Romanian) since u guys speak 2 already, it should b easier 4 ur child 2 learn & understand others. Leave English 4 school/recreational time. U welcome/ prego/de nada.

Answer 6

The student who was staying in the next room to me at University had a French mother and Spanish father from Barcelona but was born and had been educated in the UK. He spoke English, the language of the community, French, his mother's language, and Spanish and Catalan, the two languages from his bilingual father. He assimilated all these languages from childhood and was equally articulate in all of them.

Answer 7

Yes, my kids speak four languages now. Our mother tongue is English. The other two language they are still on the process of learning but they've already covered the basics.

What I do is I designated days for each language. Since they already know English, our housekeepers teach them Tagalog, and I designate Tuesdays and Saturdays as Russian and Azeri nights respectively. They are studying Turkish and Mandarin in school as well.

So far they are coping well. Since they are young, they enjoy the idea of speaking in a foreign language. For them it's better than pig latin because no one here understands them.

Answer 8

I learnt Polish and English when i was little. All i can say is that it was hard for me at kindergarden and all that because i really didint learn much english from my parents becasue theyre polish.
I dont think its a very good idea, teach him the language of the country that your in, and he'll do much better in literature and school and all that. If not, then it'll just confuse the hell out of him, like it did to me.

Answer 9

It is possible but make sure you use all the languages. People tend to forget languages if they haven't used them in a long time. My grandmother's first language was German but she didn't use it much as an adult. By the time she was an old woman, she had pretty much forgotten it.

Answer 10

teach him step by step, dont force them to study the 3 at the same time, maybe u teach them alternately to study it. play with games that uses any language that might love by the children. give some interesting stories or other activities that might enhance their mind to learn all the 3 languages.
good luck