Recommendation for second language learning

[YankeeCat]

I hope I have this in the right section, I am new to this site. So I want to set my child on the path of learning a second language but neither my husband nor myself know one. My child is a toddler and I think learning a second language would do her so much good. The younger you are the more you soak in and waiting until high school to learn is going to be a joke (I know from experience).

I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations for programs that could help teach her a second language. I am thinking of setting her on the path of learning Mandarin. I was looking at things like Duolingo, DinoLingo, Little Pim, and Rosetta stone.

I just want to open doors for her, but I can't teach her I can only learn with her. The suggestion box is open even the second language I should teach. I think learning a non-European language for a second language would do her good though although the more practical language to learn here is Spanish or French.

Thank you.

You should find a bilingual Spanish or Spanish immersion preschool for your child. I assume you're in the US - does your Park District offer any preschool hours, or could you afford a language immersion preschool?

There's no way you yourself can teach a language to a toddler without speaking it fluently. Toddlers learn language through interaction.

It's a great idea - you don't have to google too hard to see that there are many benefits to learning a 2nd language - I hope you can muster the motivation to do it. You're thinking in terms of the benefits for your child and perhaps completely overlooking the benefits to yourself as well and also to the bond with your child if you were to learn together - which is the way I would go to start with - no doubt of they decide they want to forge ahead with learning more or faster on their own - they will. I detested languages at school but I was a teacher for a 5 years and for a time had to sit in with a mature Spanish woman who was training - I was there more to help with class control TBH - it was awful the lack of respect and interest shown by the students - it was no different to what I remember although behaviour was far worse. Generally other teachers weren't that keen to sit in on these lessons but I enjoyed them so much I made sure I did as many as possible - she certainly inspired me to want to learn Spanish - in all probability I was probably the only one. I tried a few times to start learning but come the start of lockdown in 2020 I started using Duolingo as a free app - I had used it before but never stuck at it - lockdown was the perfect opportunity and... I am still using the app every day - it's a very easy app to use, it helped me to get into a daily habit which is absolutely the most important thing. There is an offer that only appears at Christmas (popups in the app) - I would recommend you take it if you start now and come Christmas you are still using it - I'd simply sit down with your child and use it together. I learned French and German at school - I hated them both but Spanish to me has seemed like an easy language to get started on - it definitely has a sophisticated depth to it that gradually gets revealed as you get further into the language but what I like most about Spanish is that it is generally pretty easy to speak it - to pronounce - (Portuguese is hard!) and you don't feel like an idiot speaking it as I did with French in particular. Many words in Spanish are quite similar to English words - spelling is generally as you would expect from the sound of the word with the bonus that there are few double letters - e.g. el profesor. I also use and pay for the Babbel+ app but I would start with the free Duolingo - it's a very established course - lots of lessons. I am now close to 900 days of continuous daily use - what surprised me the most - is the enjoyment I get from "learning" something new, from the progress I continue to make and I also become interested in Spain, the country, the culture, history, artists/writers, etc. I think it would be a brilliant thing to do together.

Thank you for your advice Mathanxiety and larkstar.

Yes, I do live in the US and thinking about it I do recall when I was looking up nursery schools there is one place that offers french language immersion. I will take another look at it and see if there are any others for different languages. That is a good idea and I agree that practice with other speakers is important as there is a lot of nuance that is missed when you are going by the textbook.

I intend to go down this journey as well. She is picking up so many words and this is the perfect time for her to start to learn, by the time high school hits, it is probably going to be too late. I had other priorities when I was in high school and did not take my Spanish class seriously. It was just to fit the requirement to get into college and the language class I really wanted to learn at the time (Japanese) was cancelled (fine I will just take Spanish instead).

You are right I didn't think about the bonding opportunity larkstar. If she gets better at it then me she will get so much pride in teaching me something which should be motivational. I will take a look at Duolingo, I should get a head start on the language ahead of her so I can point her in the right direction.

You can absolutely learn a language in high school. My DDs all started French in 9th grade and DS started German, having chucked Spanish, which they did in elementary and middle school and emerged knowing about three words each - "Adios" and "Pobre Anna"...

An immersion experience is a very efficient route to true fluency - if you can find a preschool offering this, go for it.