Question for multilingual families...

[Jen & Her Men]

Our au pair starts tomorrow from France, Im soo excited cos i used to speak french to a pretty good standard so im looking forward to brushing up on it.

If it all goes well she will be staying for 1 year then we will probably get another french speaker..

What I want to know is...I would like James to benefit from having a french speaker in the house but wondered if he would pick stuff up being so young and also with her not being around ALL the time? If I get her to speak French to him is it just going to confuse the poor child?? If thats not a problem, whats the best / most effective way to work it so that he is getting used to both languages?

Thanks!

 

[budge]

just as k her to speak french around the baby and he will pick up the language.

 

[daftscotslass]

My OH is dutch and he speaks Dutch to Rebecca. There should be no problem speaking two languages to your bubba(s). It's up to you if you want the au pair to speak to them in French because normally the best way for them to learn is one person, one language. We did a lot of reading on it and though apparently they can be a bit slower to speak (not majorly and everyone is different) eventually it actually benefits them language wise because they have some sort of built in awareness of grammar rules in different languages! It's soooo much better if it's introduced young because you don't have to jump the hurdle of translating words back into English in your head as you sometimes do when you learn a language when you're older.

My mum's neighbour is German, her husband is Scottish so she speaks German to them and him English. Their youngest is 3, their daughter 4 and they are both fluent in both. What is so especially cute is that they speak to mum in German, Dad in English and to each other using both. She had no problems with them speaking later than other children of similar ages.

Will be soooo great for him!

 

[Sammystar]

Definitely agree, one person, one language. It will be great for him to have a French speaker around. Tell her to speak only French to him.

He'll pick it up really quickly, you'll be amazed!

 

[Squiglet]

Lil miss is exposed to Swedish, English and Spanish. She seems to understand all the languages as its not words they understand at this age its intonation in the language... She absolutely Luuuuuuurves Swedish though and giggles.. probably cos DH sounds different when he speaks it..

Apparently bilingual babies are slower to speak in general but when they do they can generally converse in both and switch easily between the two... Saying that lil miss already says a few words (mummum, papa, eeea (Tia), at (cat), eye ya (hi ya), Hey (hej)) so its not delayed her at all.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

Thanks guys! I think its really exciting too! I love different languages and feel its really important for kids to not just rely on english, especially nowadays cos we are all so much closer together iykwim.

Squig I cant believe lil lady is already saying words!! im proud of James and he just makes Oo Oo noises and shouts a lot!!!!!!!!

Lol

 

[Squiglet]

I think lots of babies say words but we don't actually realise they are saying it... because we also sign with lil miss... We have the added advantage of her actually signing and saying the word so we know that even if the words aren't correctly pronounced she will do the sign so we know what she means.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I would so love to sign i think thats ace. You definitely have a bright little lady on your hands there though

 

[Melanie]

Thea speaks quite a lot of Hungarian just from being exposed to it on a daily basis living in Budapest. Its sad because i know she'll loose it now we are back home.
She signs too and shes been speaking really well since she was very young. Now at 22 months you can have a sensible understandable converstation with her. Once she gets comfortable with you she never shuts up lol.

 

[mamichuli]

Hi hun,

Just ask the Au Pair to speak only french to LO. He will pick it up without difficulty, I promise. And also, as Squig says, the thing about multilingual kids being slow to speak is bollox. Jessica (my eldest) started speaking well before she was one (words like mumma, papa, agua (water in spanish) cheese (in english)) She mixed a bit, I think because she took the "easier" word in each language, so cheese and shoe in english ( in spanish they are queso (pron keso) and zapato (pron thapatoe) respectively), but she said "guapa" in spanish, apparently easier than "pretty" !
Also, kids that have several languages from an early age, my three have been exposed to Spanish, English and Catalan (local dialect) will not only speak them all like a native language, but will also find it easier to learn other languages later on, as they have no fear of experimenting with language. As a result of this my two eldest speak Spanish, English and Catalan as "mother tongues" and are both learning French. Jessica can actually speak some French, enough to get by now . To give you an example, she spent a term at a school in England this year, year eleven. The kids were preparing their GCSEs and Jessie was more advanced in French than them...and she has only been taking French for a couple of years .

Lisa

 

[lisa&alex]

i think its a really great idea have you met her yet jen or is she arriving tmro??

 

[Nicola g]

I speak welsh to Dafydd and hubby speaks english. Same as the girls.

 

[tuck]

I agree, ask her to only speak to him in French and he'll soon pick it up. I speak english to Matilda and everyone else speaks greek and she understands both, she speaks a few words in english and a few words in Greek at the moment. I's also helping me pick up some greek as people tend to speak slower and in smaller sentances to her

 

[annaespana1]

That's the right thing to do. I am a primary teacher in Spain (year 3) all the kids in my class are Spanish and they are spoken to in English at all times in school (all subjects bar Spanish). By the time they get to my year they have a very good grasp of English and and the time they reach year 6 they are completely fluent (swearing too!)

 

[lfc_sarah]

Aw thats great!!

 

[kirlykird]

Hi

Sam is going to (hopefully) be a bilingual baby and we have done a lot of research on this to try and have the ebst effect.
I speak Englhish to him & pappa speaks Swedish. he may not be a fluent Swedish speaker but we are trying our best.

It is much easier for a child to pick up on a language as a baby as they acquire the skills to have the ability to learn any language in the world when they are babies, hence with the pronounciation. For example, although I can speak some Swedish, I still struggle with how to prononuce certain words, Squiglet may be with me here such as the Swedish word for 7!

You may find that his speech may develop a little slower than that of a standard child but by the time he hits 3 or so, he should be quite adapted. The downside that we have here is that apart from Anders we do not have a constant Swedish speaking influence when Anders is not around. We have seen from some friends that in this situation it is more likely that Sam will understand the language rather than be able to fluently speak it. When we have spent time in Sweden or are around Swedish friends, he does seem to be able to understand. We find with friends with multilingual families (there are a lot of them!) that the babies seem to speak more in the language of the mother as she is usually the main care giver. However, the families that we know whom have dad ( the secondary carer) as the foreign language tend to understand but reply in English. This is what we are hoping for from Sam if he doesn't completely pick up the language.

I would say give it a go if that is what you wish to do. I myself speak french very well & my husband has requested that i speak French to Sam but for now I have decided to not to confuse him and get on with the Swedish first! I will try with that later! I think a child is very lucky to have the advantage of starting out in life with the benefit of at least one other language and if that is what you would like for James then good luck but don't be too dissapointed if he doesn't quite pick up what you would like. My husband was hoping for a fluent speaking Swedish baby and although we have our fingers very tightly crossed, he has relaxed a little bit more on the fact that this may not happen to the ability that he was hoping but you can only try your best!

 

[cez8457]

I think its a great idea. I would like kyla to learn welsh but was worried about how she would pick it up, pleased i saw this thread, answered a few questions for me.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

Thanks for all your replies guys you have been very helpful

Alix is speaking to him in French all the time so hopefully he will pick some of it up

 

[Hazel]

I've been learning Spanish at evening classes for a few years so I've finally got someone to talk to that won't ignore me at home . I'm hoping Connie will pick up some Spanish from me in the future as I can talk to her and it will be good practice for me also.