3 year old learning a second language... what is your opinion?

[juicychops]

my ds will be 3 on Monday. got a leaflet about toddlers and young children learning a second language. apparently its supposed to be easy for them to learn a second language

should i consider it? or is it too much for a 3 year old to learn?

would it help him? or just confuse him? He can only count up to about 13 so far and doesn't know his alphabet yet so would it be silly teaching him another language?

i dont know another language apart from very basic french from school so if he could then it would probably be nice for him and useful to him when he's older

i know there are lots of things out there aimed at young children to teach them

your opinions please...

[broguemum]

IMHO the earlier the better for languages. My DD (4.5) speaks English and German but this is due to her growing up in a bilingual household. She sometimes mixes up some words but this is getting less and less frequent. I guess it depends on how your DS will be taught.

[Brangelina]

My DD is 2 and bilingual and it's not been too much for her. At 3yo they have brains like sponges and will just take it in their stride and yes, the sooner a child has contact with a second language the better.

Quite apart from the language itself exposure to a 2nd language from an early age helps with brain development and bilingual/multilingual children tend to do better academically due to better mental flexibility.

Oops, I did go on didn't I? I hope that answers some of your queries anyway.

[juicychops]

cool yes it did thanks. whats the best way to teach them another language?

the leaflet i got was for a 30 day free trial for a BBC language course called 'Muzzy'. you get dvds and cds and books

i know there are lessons they can go to but cant really afford anything like that

[Brangelina]

At this age it's best to learn through play, sort of doing things in a nursery type setting, just generally chatting away, repeating instructions (come here, give me the book, etc.), songs and stories.

I don't know anything about the Muzzy courses I'm afraid (been away too long) but if you post on the Language/Bilingualism section you'll probably get loads of advice there. I think there've been posts on Muzzy in the past so maybe a gander in the archives might shed some light?

[Elphaba]

Mine have all learned Spanish from age 3. Ds1 is 6.5 and ds2 is 5 and they go to lessons on a Saturday morning. Ds3 is 3.4 and he has 2 lessons a week in his nursery (the same teacher as the older two have at the weekend) and when he starts school in Sept he'll also go to the Saturday lessons.

I think it's great - they aren't remotely confused. They know what is Spanish and what is English. Sometimes when they are just playing they count in Spanish or talk about objects adn colours in Spanish.

Best to start early imo.

[Elphaba]

Juicy - my friend's dd and ds (5 and 4) also do the Spanish lessons with my boys but they also have the Muzzy stuff at home and she thinks it's good and that hte children do pick up stuff from it. She also lets her children watch some of their Disney DVDs in Spanish!!

[Ellbell]

juicy... I don't want to be negative, because I do agree that the earlier children are exposed to foreign languages the better. However, I don't think it's possible for children to learn to use a language effectively just by watching a DVD. I don't have personal experience of Muzzy, so I am not saying that Muzzy is no good. However, I do have lots of DVDs in Italian (which I teach and speak pretty fluently) and my dds have always really enjoyed watching them, but I can't say that they've made them able to speak Italian (except that for a while DD1 thought that the word for 'peacock' in English was 'fonso', based on a character called Alfonso in her Pimpa video ). I don't speak Italian with my dds consistently at home (am not a native-speaker, and not even bilingual, though I do speak fluently) but I do use Italian expressions sometimes and tell them the Italian words for things, especially if they've been watching a DVD or something. Unless you are able consistently to follow up what your ds sees on Muzzy, to revise it with him and to find other ways to reinforce his language-learning, I think he's unlikely to do more than pick up a few words. However, that's not to say that even that won't be useful and fun... And if it's a free trial, why not go for it. You have nothing to lose!

[Countingthegreyhairs]

Hi Juicychops

V. good advice here. The earlier the better. I read somewhere that very young children use a different part of their brains to learn languages than adults (because they learning via a different, more instinctive process). Well that was the gist of it anyway!

DD (4.5 yrs) is currently learning 2 languages in addition to English (only because we live in a multi-national setting not 'cos I'm a supermummy or anything - it's just normal here)!

At school she is taught in French in the morning and Flemish in the afternoon.

The key is that she only speaks the language concerned with a native speaker (so dh and I only speak to her in English even though we speak French ifyswim). Also, the way they do it at the school is that one specific teacher speaks French and another Flemish. That way the child doesn't get confused and they never swap roles.

I didn't think dd would be able to cope to be honest but she has no difficulty at all in separating them all out and speaks to the correct person in the appropriate language. They are like sponges at this age.

If I were in the UK I would be hiring a French-speaking au-pair to play with dd on a regular basis, speaking exclusively in French, having regular more formal lessons once or twice a week when they are older and as others have said, watching lots of DVDs in French. You will be giving your child a great gift. (Sorry for the long post but can you tell I'm passionate about this subject!!)

[Countingthegreyhairs]

Oh and don't forget about going on holiday to France regularly (if you decide on french that is). There's nothing like being exposed to a language all around you, day in, day out. Small children are programmed to mimic and copy and it comes so easily ...

[goingfor3]

[Elphaba]

Learning with a native speaker is an interesting point - the boys' Spanish teachers are a couple who are Mexican so their first language is Spanish. From the second they enter their house, every word is in Spanish so they are not just learning individual words from a book or a DVD (although as someone said, learning to count or learning colours etc is still valuable, and fun, imo). They hold all conversations, play games, sing songs etc all in Spanish.

[Countingthegreyhairs]

Oh yes, songs are a brilliant way to learn ...my French has improved dramatically through learning a load of French nursery rhymes

[juicychops]

thanks everyone!! now i will have to decide which language! what would you choose out of french and spanish?

[MaryAnnSingleton]

can recommend La Jolie Ronde, though not sure whether they take children that young...

[MaryAnnSingleton]

www.lajolieronde.co.uk/3%E2%80%934-year-olds.asp - ds started at about 6 yrs and loved it - he was the oldest in his group

[Countingthegreyhairs]

difficult one juicy chops

french is obvious choice because of geography but spanish increasingly popular and on the rise (I was told by a friend recently that it's increasingly becoming a requirement for many jobs in the states as it's spoken by over 30 million people there)

lots of posh schools are teaching children mandarin chinese and cantonese now in view of future rising economies ...

german is helpful to go on to learn Eastern European languages ...

but you can't really loose whichever you choose really as an awareness of other languages + an ability to speak a second language will make it far easier to learn subsequent languages when the time comes ...

[tribpot]

I'm in a similar position in that I speak Spanish and would love for ds to pick up a foreign language whilst he's so receptive. I have a friend in Switzerland whose ds (a couple of months younger than mine) can already speak French + some German and some English. Trouble is, I think they do need the every day exposure to hearing it spoken around them and I can't very well speak Spanish to dh, although he could reply in Swedish to the confusion of all

Are there any foreign language playgroups near you? (Are there any near me, I wonder, in Leeds?).

Of French or Spanish I'd go with Spanish but I'm biased as that's what my degree is in!

[tribpot]

Counting - even 20 years ago, when my dad lived in New Jersey, the factory manager had to speak Spanish because that was what the factory floor staff spoke.

[Lizzylou]

I did French A-Level and Ds1 (3.75)has been watching an Usborne French video off and on for a while (mainly whilst potty training ). I would love for my boys to learn another language and only chose French because I'd done it and also because it was in 50p from the charity shop!

I would go for it.

[CoteDAzur]

3 is not at all too young for a second language. DD is 2.4 and is learning 3 languages at the same time. All kids we know here are at least bilingual.

However, I would not think of Muzzy as the best way to learn a foreign language. An important part of learning a language is watching and imitating native speakers - how they say a word, facial expressions, etc. I don't think a big green cartoon character is the best role model for this purpose.

[annasmami]

Age three is definately not too old - in fact, it's probably too old to achieve true bilingualism and a 'native' accent (as the language part of the brain grows fastest during the first three years). But its never too late to introduce new languages to children. And even after three they still pick up languages so much easier than adults.

But I would also agree that learning a language 'passively' by watching dvd (eg. Muzzy) will not achieve the same as learning it by actively communicating with a native speaker.

We are raising our children (3 and 5) bilingually in German and English and use the one-parent-one-language method. We supplement this with German Saturday School, holidays in Germany and lots of German dvds and books.

Even three languages is no problem for young children - the key is consistency and lots of 'active' exposure to the languages!