Non English kids

[fyimate]

Am I wrong in getting annoyed at non English parents for NOT teaching their kids English (even though they -the parent- can speak it)?
I've seen my DD confused by other kids because they dont speak English when playing with her, and then I hear the parent speaking another language to the child even though they (the parent) can speak English.
Why dont they teach their kids English?
It annoys me more because of the amount of money taxpayers have to fork out in translators which appears to be avoidable?

One of my closest friend's is Portueguese, she speaks to her daugther in portuguese (even though she is fluent in English). The child's grandmother is french, she speaks to her entirely in French. She goes to school in England, she speaks fluent English. This child who is 5 speaks 3 different languages! Quite frankly I'm rather jealous and would love the opportunity for my dc to be multi-lingual. Get over yourself!

We have a multilingual playground, parents often switch back and forth from home language to English. We have more than a dozen languages, anda various degrees of fluency in English amongst the parents.
It's the getting annoyed with someone for talking to their own child that I find puzzling. You might have got cross if she'd been speaking to you in Polish or Urdu ad expecting an answer.
To drop another pebble in the water, this is a school in a middle class area with a high degree of affluence. I taught in a similar school in North London. Then I moved to a very different school in the North West, with a 75%+ free school meals and clothing coupons.
The attitude to immigrant families was very different, and people speaking their home language was often perceived as exclusive and threatening.

Odd thing about this is that children don't need verbal language to communicate to they? There are so many ways that we 'talk' to each other' Actual words are a tiny part. Children are especially brilliant at doing that. Look at toddlers, most of them can barely speak anyway.
I watch toddlers on a daily basis happily playing together without uttering so much as a word, well apart from "it's mine" and "go away!"

you could also find a Portuguese babysitter, and even a Portuguese teacher who could teach her maybe a couple of hours a week, and play games and sing songs with her and so on, which may be a more gentle introduction to the language. All of this and my other suggestions would also help your dp and support him in his task because the onus wouldn't be solely on him to get her to like Portuguese and participate actively.

On the point of leaning a new language, has anyone tried Rosetta Stone? It uses a method called dynamic immersion which mimics the way you learn a language as a child, it is a fantastic computer programme and you have you own madonnaesque head set with microphone.

I wanted to learn Italian and sent off for a free demo cd which they sent in Turkish (they send you a different language than you ask for so you can see how easy it is) and it was brilliant, I enjoyed it so much. Quite expensive but a fun way of picking up a language, very quickly. This is for older children and adults though.

I speak Portuguese with a northern Portugal/Angolan accent (thanks to the fact that that's where xp comes from) much to the amusement of people from the south!! They keep correcting my R's all the time but I prefer the northern accent cos I love to roll my tongue !!
It's difficult to find translators and teachers that are not Brazilian CoteDAzur and most Portuguese dictionaries I buy are really Brazilian Portuguese.
Fyimate, get him to keep up with the Portuguese. Even though my DD can't speak it if I told her now to close the kitchen door in Portuguese she'd know exactly what I said.
Don't give up!

Well I've dabbled in a few Portuguese websites and language courses but finding the time to go through them properly is a challenge plus learning Portuguese from scratch - as an adult is difficult.

She still remembers how to say basic things like how are you and I am fine etc but because we havent kept it up she forgets what they mean but can still say them.

Her pronouncation needs work, she cant say her 'r's quite right, (her dad says it's because she's English) :P

And there's no fear of not being able to talk to her English family, there is none.
Maybe I could get his sister to talk to her in Portuguese too, it would give me an excuse to get her to bond with her only niece anyway

Btw, I find this site quite useful for me > www.learningportuguese.co.uk/
And here > www.bbc.co.uk/languages/portuguese/talk/

The only way to raise fully bilingual children is to give them loads of native exposure of the 'minority' language.

We use the one parent one language approach and combine this with LOTS of books, dvds, saturday school etc to supplement the minority language.

So, while some may find it rude, I try to always speak to my children in the minority language (unless I'm addressing English speakers at the same time, but then I just repeat it in my language to dc), otherwise they would not learn it. Simple as that.

And, despite having lived in the UK for almost 20 years, I still would not want to pass on my (very slight) foreign accent. I'd rather they learned proper English from their English friends/school and my language (in a great accent from me!

I am thinking of finding her some Portuguese friends to play with or a Saturday school.

Because the children get english when they are outside the family so they use the other language within it to enable the children to be bilingual. Like several children with french parents at my daughters nursery.

Scurryfunge. Why do you associate this OPs question with a BNP thread. The woman/man is asking a perfectly reasonable question. All I would say is that by the time children enter school they are normally able to speak English, it is the parents that don't. Many parents I've found speak their mother tongue to the children so that they wil be bilingual,in my school the parents speak to their children in own language sometimes, although they themselves speak perfect Englsih, but the kids can speak English so it doesn't matter.

English.

In fact, I get annoyed when non English parents do speak to their kids in English (even though they -the parent- are fluent in another language)?

Because it would be shame for the children not to get the chance to become bilingual!!!

And, no, your (OP's) dd will NOT get confused by hearing her friends speak to her mum in a language other than English, honestly!

So, you are very unreasonable indeed in my opinion.

Utter bollocks.

My LO made friends with a greek toddler in Kefalonia last year. DS couldn't speak a word of greek, other little boy couldn't speak a word of english but best friends they became.

I like that children aren't as ignorant as a lot of adults, actually, OP. I trust that you verse your DCs in the local language whenever you travel abroad? If not, why not?

FFS OP have some common sence I live in Wales I speak Welsh but my family does not, my friends speak Welsh but we do not speak Welsh to each other, do I expect them to no I bloody do not even though I enjoy my countries language does no meen that they have to...

Likewise in the staff room the languages spoken are Welsh and English but if an English speakig college wants to join in the convo we just speak English and switch between the 2.
I am lucky I can flit between 1 and the other.
Ha ha Bessie spot on.

Thank you complimentary, but I ignore scurryfunge along with some others as they seem to like attacking me in any post I make, even elsewhere.

And as for the latest posters, you obviously havent read the more recent posts but just skipped to the end otherwise you'd know where this post is atm.

No I did not have the time to read all 9 pages so did skip a bit. Perhaps your OP was a bit missleading I will take a look.

YABU and stupid (or jealous).

Their children will be bilingual from learning English at school and have better job prospects and be able to travel. They will also be more adaptable and find it easier to (gasp!) voluntarily choose to learn other languages as they get older and it is highly recommended by, well, everyone that children if possibel be exposed to a second language for hese reasons.

If their children can speak one language at home and learn English at school... I don't think your child will be done any harm by being exposed to another language... (and if so guess you will need to cancel all future trips to ANYWHERE that doesn't speak English)

Oh and as well you should know that parents who are not native speakers are advised to NOT speak their second language with a child. It will result in bad habits you should only learn from a native speaker.

Again, sanielle you didnt read what I've said SINCE posting so I'll just keep referring you to read how the discussion has progressed BEFORE you start getting aggressive.

I am an immigrant. I moved to this country 4 and a half years ago, knowing next to nothing of the language. I took lessons, immersed myself in the culture and now I speak the language to a high level.

I now have a daughter with whom I speak only in my native language. My husband speaks to her in his. My reasons for this are as follows:

1. I do not want her to pick up any of my bad habits, grammatically speaking
2. I want her to be able to communicate with my family when we visit home (can you imagine if your own child couldn't communicate with your parents?)
3. I want to give her the advantage of having two languages
4. I want to make learning languages easier for her in the future (bi-lingual children learn further languages with more ease even into teenage)
5. I want to be able to communicate with my own daughter in the easiest, most comfortable and natural way possible.

If anything, I worry that she may not learn my language very well, as children pick up the language of their country much quicker and easier that many people imagine. Just because they don't currently speak in the 'majority' language, it doesn't mean they don't understand it. Children learn best from other children (so no worries about the teacher having to teach her when she starts school). In many cases, the child who speaks a foreign language up until they start school will learn the language of his or her current country better and more thoroughly than the foreign one. I plan to expose her to my language as much as possible with DVDs, music etc in the hope that she will keep speaking it to a high level. Having a foreign mother in no way guarantees that the child will attain 'native speaker' status in her language. It's a tough job.

I don't care about what other parents think on the playground - I am doing what is best for my child. Their sensibilities do not figure anywhere in my decision making process. Although to be honest, I have only come across positive responses so far.

• A Brit in Germany.

Well said, Psammead! I completely agree with all your points and feel the same way (only that I've been in the UK for close to 20 years and still have a German accent...).

(A German in the UK )

othersideofchannel - I read that growing more and more confused because there's another (fairly well known to me) poster who's othersideofthechannel and is English speaking in France!