Foreign language nanny (China)

[Seldon]

Hi, we’ve just moved to China with a 8 month old baby. DW works full time and I am a consultant. We have decided to hire a nanny through an agency recommended by DW’s employer. We started the search process this week.

As it has now moved from a theory to reality, it struck me that having a mandarin speaking nanny might cause some language difficulties for DS. I’ve read how the vocabulary that children hear can affect their language development. How do we ensure DS learns English sufficiently well. Does anyone have experience of having a foreign language nanny? Any advice?

Thanks a lot

Are you and your husband native English speakers ? If so, your baby will learn English from you and Mandarin from your nanny.

If your baby is already 8 months she is already learning English.

It’s exactly the same as children whose parents speak different languages. Growing up bilingual is a wonderful gift.

It did for my friend - massive issues. Despite very educated parents and a lovely nanny my friends daughter had to repeat year 1 at her private school when they returned to the U.K. even now at 14 she sometimes slips it was ingrained the phonetics did sound right and not the right order with words

Thanks. I’m a native English speaker, my wife is a native Dutch speaker. We speak English with each other but my wife would like to speak Dutch with our son. I really like the idea of being bilingual and mandarin would be a great asset (not why we moved to China though), but worried if it will all be too much for him. I’m generally feeling a bit guilty

The benefits of being multi lingual massively outweigh any negatives. You talk in English (I take it from your post that is your native tongue) to your child all the time, it may slow things in the beginning but it will be well worth it.

This is an American site and may be useful.

www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/faq-raising-bilingual-children

Initially some dc vocabulary can be behind when being raised bilingual or more in your case.
However they may stay behind in English a little bit until they get a little older say 8+ then things start to click into place. I'm not sure if that would work in your circumstances as I know some people in U.K. get terrified their dc will fail 7+ etc so it's worth considering but being bi/tri lingual will far outweigh any primary school problems imo.

Babies are much better than adults at learning languages. Your baby is already familiar with English even when not speaking. They can totally learn three languages no problem. When they start speaking they probably will muddle the three a bit but that's okay and will sort itself out. Accepted wisdom is that each adult always speaks to the child in their language for consistency. Sometimes children will understand a second language perfectly but reply in English.

My Bil lives in China. DNiece has had a Chinese nanny (or Aya) since a few weeks old. She's now three and speaks a mix of both. BIL and SiLs mandarin has improved greatly too.

She's at a British nursery now (well the nursery attached to one of the British schools) and they teach them in both English and Mandarin too.

I have a bilingual child and I've just spent the weekend with a friend who has trilingual children. It's not an issue. The child eventually has a stronger command of their schooling language and they can be a bit slower to talk fluently. My son was 3 by the time he started taking. He's now at university and being bilingual has never held him back. Just the opposite

My DDs friend speaks fluent English, Mandarin (father's tongue), Cantonese (mother tongue) and pretty good Spanish. She is very bright and academically able. Huge benefits.

It's a myth that bilingual children are 'behind'. If it's done properly, it is a wonderful gift. I really recommend you be strict with your nanny in her only speaking Mandarin to the baby, and equally you and your wife do OPOL (one parent one language).

Please read up about bi and tri lingualism it is not true as claimed here they are slower at learning languages. Its just they are learning 2 or 3 so their 100% is divided over 3 and whilst compared to a mono lingual child this may appear behind its not as the child has language in 1 or 2 other languages.

Read up about minority and majority languages and join some support groups.

It is not easy bring up a child bilingual and in your case I think your wife's Dutch will be the hardest one so I would encourage your wife to speak to your son only in Dutch.

Just please educate yourself here you can give your son an incredible gift if you go about it well.

Thanks, this is quite reassuring. I have been feeling a bit guilty. My wife’s employer pays for our housing and has a relatively good package so we can afford for me not to work and be a SAHD. However, I’m not keen to be a 100% SAHD with a young baby/toddler, so if we can get the balance right, this can benefit our son.

Other than the site mentioned up-thread, does anyone have good resources on bi/trilingualism? We are so far doing the OPOL strategy but a new element is about to be mixed in.

My brother had a nanny who spoke no English. He then moved to a third country and went to a nursery that spoke a third language. His speech was slightly delayed. But no lasting damage AND he benefitted from early exposure to three languages.

As long as you speak English to your child there won't be any issues

Bilingualism is always a good thing. All kids need exposure to different languages from the outset.

What an amazing gift to give your baby three languages!

So long as each language is spoken to her by a native speaker, she will be fine.

Just make sure the nanny speaks in Mandarin to your baby. Dont do what my PiL do (with the best of interests) and speak mangled English to him.
Baby will sort it all out if the languages they hear are of high quality. Three languages aren't an issue either, if you decide Dutch is important.