At what age do bilingual children start talking?

[schroedingersdodo]

DS is 19mo and still doesn't say anything. He understands lots of words, mostly in Portuguese (the home language) but also understands English. He follows simple requests, like "where's the ball?." He signs "yes" and "no," "bye," blows kisses, points to things, etc. He babbles a lot, and can make many different sounds. Sometimes he copies sounds, roughly repeating what we say (he's been doing that for many months).

I was very chilled about everything until now, but I'm starting to wonder if I should worry. His development has been absolutely normal in all other areas, he's very sociable, confident, reacts to sounds, etc. I think he just didn't figure out yet how to make words (and since he can communicate very well with gestures, he probably thinks "why bother?").

I've read that bilingual children tend to take longer to speak. BTW, I was talking a lot by 1yo, whereas my FIL didn't start talking until he was 2yo (and has no speech problems whatsoever). Maybe I'm just being anxious because DS is a PFB?

My plan was to wait until 2yo and then think about it. Maybe I should stick to the plan and wait a few more months?

Watching with interest. DS (9 months) will also be bilingual and I've also read they start talking later. I used to babysit for a German family when I was at uni and the little boy started talking late (though I don't remember exactly when, I just remember his mum saying that). When he started though he knew the words both in German and English and was saying them both for example "zug... train" when he was playing with his toy train.

All my nephews and nieces are billingual (French/Welsh) and all started talking slightly late - all a bit after their second birthdays, but all spoke both languages when they did.

My mother told me that bilingual children speak later - my experience was that my two DS were speaking quite well at 2, but not complete sentences, and at that stage were not mega late talkers, but were not particularly verbal.

They have caught up since and when they started school at 3 there was no difference between them and the monolingual children.

Also when they did start to speak I found they used whichever language was easiest at the time - so "car" was easier than "voiture" so it was that, but "merci" was easier than "thank you" iyswim.

My DD wasn't a particularly early talker - she was saying a few words at 1, but really wasn't stringing words together in either language until she was 2.

She is now 7 and can read quite fluently and write correctly in both English and French.

LOL, DD couldn't say "with" for ages. She used to say "I want to be avec you, Mummy."

That's reassuring, thanks for the answers! It seems that I should just relax and wait until at least he is 2yo at least. I reckon he will be talking by then, he seems to be "almost there"...
I love the "easy language" thing, jamaisjedors. Children are clever, they just go for the easiest option - why say "voiture" if "car" will do? :)

With hindsight, I wish I had sung more nursery rhymes with DD (or sung along to a CD of nursery rhymes). They are really good for language development.

DD was babbling away from the same age as her mono-lingual friends. We started to hear the first comprehensible words between 15-18 months.

I've heard different things about language development in bilingual children, so I'm not sure where research stands on it, but DD doesn't seem any faster or slower than other children to me.

My son is 17 months and although he's got a few words he's not stringing them together and I'm anxiously awaiting "I love you mummy".

He does however understand so much going on around him e.g., "OK, everyone to the bum changing station" has him galloping off in that direction or "let's go close the curtains" and he'll go ahead of me to help, or "come and get your mummy cuddles" (he runs away screeching with laughter). I was watching him at creche yesterday and he also understand what's going on there (Dutch).

I think I'm just being a little unfairly impatient - because like OP, I've no reason to doubt that his development is just fine.

I heard that boys tend to talk later than girls but I don't have any scientific proof it's just ppl around me says it. My dd (3) was having conversations in both Chinese and English at 2. My sis dd3 also conversing 3 languages at 2! I think it really helps when they have older siblings, they pick up talking much quicker. Don't worry although he may not be saying much now, he understands a lot more than u think and he will catch up very soon!

Yes, I also heard boys speak later than girls, and my experience (anecdotal evidence) confirms it.

I wonder if the fact that he doesn't go to nursery or childminder has an influence on that? A doctor once told me that as he spends his day with me and I understand him without words, he has no need to talk. If he had other carers he would have to make an effort. Does anyone feel like that?

bonsoir my two still say "vic" for with - kind of cross between avec and with.

btw (hijack) I saw on another thread that your DD is reading Usborne young readers - where did you get them from? I am struggling to find appropriate readers for DS1 (also 7 and in CE1) - do you know anywhere which sells box sets? thanks

Hi my DS is also bi-lingual and didn't start speaking 'properly' until about 2 years old. He said a few words, like mummy, daddy, book etc but didn't really use full sentences.

Now at age 3, he's really grasped both languages amazingly well. So I wouldn't worry at all. :)

I recently spoke to a speech therapist (who did observations of all the children at the pre-school my son goes to). She was very reassuring and told me that it's much harder for bi-lingual children because they know 2 words for each object e.g. table and insert name for table in other language. She also said the main thing is that they are able to understand you when you ask them to point to something or to fetch something. She also said that children who learn 2 languages from birth are extremely lucky because they will be able to master 2 languages perfectly as adults, especially concerning pronunciation.

Before my DS started school, he mostly spoke English because he spent most of his time with me. Now he goes to pre-school and speaks his other language much better than before. There will be stages where one language seems to be more dominant than the other.
I hope this helps :)

Sorry for the essay!

DD didn't have many words before 2 IIRC. Now at 2.10 she speaks in three languages very well. At 19 mo, I wouldn't worry at all.

There are huge variations of course, but I recall that for monolingual children "they" would maybe start to get concerned if a child did not have 30 words by
the age of 2. There is far more to language than the spoken word. Does you child understand simple instructions? Can they communicate their wants and needs to you?

At 19 months some children do have lots of language and it's easy to think your child is lagging, but a couple of months can make a huge difference.

It can be useful to write down all the "words" you child can say (in either language). You might be surprised at how many he can say.

Raising a bilingual child is a lovely gift.

jamaisjedors - I bought a whole lot of Usborne books on amazon.co.uk and had them delivered to my parents' house (so cheaper postage and no VAT). It still worked out quite expensive - but I lend them out to other parents and borrow other books from them. There is quite extensive book exchange at DD's school among families, fortunately.

Dontbugmemalone thanks for the essay, it was very useful!

Yes, he communicates his needs/wants very well and understands a lot of things. It's just the words that don't come out.

I don't know other bilingual children the same age, and all DS's "friends" are speaking. But your responses made me feel much better, I feel he's just getting all in and one day (whenever he likes) all the words he's already learned will come out :)

I had two and a third in the background (parents spoke in English to each other, obviously I listened to them) and I began talking around 2 and that was still very slow. I wasn't very interested in talking until two and a half.
But it's also probably ASD related.

Hi, we;re nnot bilingual and our dd started talking at around 2 years. She is in reception now, very chatty and big vocab.

My 3 are bilingual (hollow laugh to self imagining lazy blighters actually saying more than Oui with attitude, but they do understand everything). No more than odd words in either language at 2.

DS3 is only just 2 but the other 2 were speaking confidently during that 3rd year. Vague, I know - but with hindsight they were late talkers but have come out the other side as non-stop talkers to the point of driving me to distraction so the exact timing is hard to recall.

My DD is also 19 months and only recently has started talking. We are raising her to be bilingual but at the moment it's only English words she is coming up with. I sing nursery songs and watch DVDs in my mother tongue but my DD doesn't seem to be able to speak any words at the moment. However, she understands me and responds to my requests or instructions which is encouraging I guess by reading the messages above.bonkersLFDT20 suggestion to write down all the words my DD can say is great. I started logging them and was amazed at how many she can actually say!

My friends son is also 19 months old (Spanish and English) he will say dos, agua, guapo, hola, yeah, no but that's about it. He is quite clear by showing you what he wants.

mine spoke at about the normal age- just in two languages, but then they were very late with physical skills, so had plenty of time to sit and ponder

Another one here at 2, ds had 40-50 single words but no sentences till about 2.1, now catching up with his friends and talking both languages. We do lots of songs and rhymes to help him and his understanding has always been ahead of his speaking. There seems to be some debate as to whether you should expect a delay with bilingual kids though, as some do talk at the normal age.