To want to raise my child speaking German?

[BlauBlau]

So my family originally came from Germany, it was one of my grandparents who came from there. My grandparent spoke the language, but after emigrating, gradually forgot how to speak German.

I did German at school to GCSE level, and got an A*. So my German is conversational, but very basic (i.e: I speak German about as well as a 2 year old).

My monolingual toddler is over a year ahead in their English, so that's going well. Should I just swap to speaking German to them 100% of the time? Any music or TV I show them is in German.

How would I find other (probably much more fluent XD) German speaking families, so my little one could have playdates with German-speaking chilldren? I worry that, if it's only me speaking German to them, they won't be interested in speaking German.

Mariposista

Everyone is being very negative OP. It’s a lovely idea to share your heritage with your child. Take the focus off him being bilingual and work on exposing him to German.

This. My mum is German and we speak in English, but I still have family in Germany and 'feel' German. It's a really important part of my identity and I want it to be the same for my DC.

Anyone questioning the importance of language to self should read this article published just today/yesterday:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230608-what-happens-when-you-cant-speak-your-parents-native-language

My comprehension is good through hearing German throughout my childhood, but, although I studied to degree level, I don't feel fluent enough to raise my DC bilingual. I gave up trying to talk to my DC only in German because it felt completely unnatural and I didn't have the language ability to talk to them as a mum rather than a teacher.

However... it doesn't matter how much they hear - being exposed to the language will make a difference. You should try to share everything you know!

Good morning/night
What would you like to eat/drink/do?
Please/thank you
Yes/no
Colours
Objects

Simple books:
https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9780241491416-german-for-everyone-junior-5-words-a-day/

https://usborne.com/gb/books/browse-by-category/foreign-languages/german

Nursery rhymes:
https://youtube.com/@SingKinderlieder

My DC love this channel:
https://youtube.com/@kika

This website has other fab ideas:
https://www.fluentin3months.com/german-for-kids/

Lastly, as PP have mentioned. There is nothing that makes it easier to learn a language than visiting the country and conversing with real people. This will also keep your family connected to their heritage.

Good luck OP!

By age 12 is an exaggeration even in parts of Europe that have very high English ability levels. I live in Finland where they do learn English very well and many are pretty near fluent by the time they finish school but DD is 12 and only one of her friends speaks English well enough to have a conversation with me, and that's probably because her dad is an English teacher.
But they learn from school, TV (TV is only dubbed for very small children here, unlike in some parts of Europe where TV is dubbed even for adult programmes) and the internet and books.

OP, its best for parents to speak their native language to their children but exposing your child to German in other ways like playgroups, saturday schools, cartoons and music is good, even if they don't seem to pick up anything the early exposure will help them if they try to learn the language later on in life.

I think it is great to raise your children with 2 languages. It is a real advantage in life. They find it easier to learn more languages later.
My dc were brought up with 2 languages. Now one has 3 and the other has 5.

... they're taught English at school intensively

Most of Europe doesn't have kids aged 12 anywhere near fluency.
At 14 EU students are expected to be at a B1 (pre-intermediate) level of English, all other things being equal and factoring in individual L1 interference/national language programmes etc. By 18 they are expected to be a decent B2 (good intermediate/upper) level.

Neither of which = fluency.

Some learners find English easier due to their own language crossovers. I'd put the Dutch in top position.

@BlauBlau by all means encourage an interest in German with your child. You can certainly teach them the basics with your level which would hopefully foster an interest and willingness to continue.

As others have said, they won't ever be bilingual, but very very few people truly are.

I'm in Italy, and I'd say my daughter is almost bilingual. But it's rarely as simple as following OPOL and giving the child exposure. There will always be contexts in which one language has dominance over the other. (my daughter is now at university in the UK and initially had issues with writing essays etc, not because of "language" per se, but because of tone, register, Syntax etc)

Friends here in the sand situation as us, one Italian parent, one British, have a totally non bilingual daughter. In their case the Dad is British and works away. The child never had enough exposure to English in her early years.

But, as I said, languages are great, so absolutely nothing wrong with helping a child have an interest, especially when there's a cultural family background which will help foster what's known as the affective dimension.

Good luck!

I don't know if this is an option at all, but have you considered sending your child to a German nursery? At the German school in Richmond, for instance, there are quite a few parents who don't speak German at all or only very basic German. Only 1/3 of the children at the German school are German children from Germany. 2/3 are international (including families in which no-one is German) or dual heritage families living in the UK.

I got an A* at GCSE literally think I can say where is the station please 😂

on a serious note I speak my ‘mother tongue’ but because I was brought up with a Grandparent who didn’t speak English. In addition my parents brought up my brother and spoke English and our mother tongue, his language skills are much much weaker than mine. You need one fluent speaker who only speaks that language to them and never speaks English.