Languages for Babies

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My little girl is 10 weeks old and my DH and I would like her to be exposed to another language other than English.

Does anyone have advice about how we go about this? I did think of buying nursery rhyme cds in other languages but I would also like her to hear it being spoken in everyday conversation. Are there any clubs we could join for such a thing?

Anybody?

I think it depends on where you are.

most of the provision for children under 2 is aimed very strongly at children who are native speakers (growing up in monolingual/bilingual households) - and, obviously, it tends to be based around the relevant communities, which are often biggest in London.

I think your best bet is to buy DVDs or CDs. Incidentally, it is worth knowing that Baby Einstein DVDs (at least the old ones) come in four languages as standard - English, Spanish, French, German - probably reflecting their American origins.

It might be worth sitting down and thinking this over. What kind of outcome are you aiming at? How are you going to support that as a family, once the club comes to an end?

I spent a lot of my childhood in a Finnish speaking environment as my bf's family were Finnish speakers. The sound of Finnish still brings a smile to my face. But I never actually learnt any because there were no attempts to actively involve me in speaking it. Otoh I speak excellent English, because my mother not only taught me that but took care to place me in situations where I had to speak English. My German is passive: I was taught it, but never really had to use it for prolonged periods.

And to carry on: my db, who was adopted, spoke Korean fluently at age 2, a couple of years later, that was totally gone, because there was noone to support it. He doesn't remember a word of it today.

Thank you MIFLAW and cory.
Our hope is that we can take advantage of the huge potential to learn in the first 3 years so in the future she has an advantage in school. We both feel that we miss out on not having a second language.

We have also considered the possibility of learning together but worry that she would pick up the errors we make with grammar.

It needs to be sustained is the only thing. If you're willing to have an au pair to speak the language a bit later on, do visits to that country and really create/maintain links with that language then it's totally doable.

There's a big distinction, which you seem well aware of, between language for exposure/to promote language learning and becoming bilingual. Clearly your approach won't result in bilingualism but it should produce a better than average speaker of another language who could attain fluency easily. Does that make sense?

It does make sense frakkinstein, thank you.

What frakkin says, good chance of producing a better learner if it can be sustained. But remember that there will be several years between those first 3 and Yr 6/7 when they start teaching it at school, and that is when you have to do the work of sustaining it. But yes- I'd definitely go for it.

Thank you for the encouragement city :)

Sorry cory - on my mobile.

Mmm Bookcase, I think you need a massive amount of commitment to raise a child with two languages, and above all you need a good reason for doing so. And more importantly, you have to convince your child that there is a good reason for having any sort of interest in that language. Kids are the ultimate pragmatists and will drop a language if they don't find it relevant to their communication needs. So how can you generate that interest?

Firstly by being interested in the language yourself, whatever it is. Be a good role model by watching videos in that language or going to language classes. Go there on holiday and let your child see you using the language (however flawed your grammar may be).

Get an au pair from that country who will speak to your child in her language - 6 months at 20 hours a week will have an enormous impact. Back this up with formal lessons from a trained teacher once the child is older.

Can you enrol in a bilingual nursery or primary school? Kids are most willing to learn a language when their buddies are using it too.

Advertise for a 'tandem' partner - a family with kids who have maybe just moved from the country where this language is spoken - offer to take them round or help them out, and when your families socialise you can use both languages. The kids will learn from each other.

Are there Saturday schools near you for this language? For instance there are a number of German Saturday schools around the country that meet once a month and provide a forum for kids to do things together in German - it's more social than real formal school, I get the feeling.

My own two children are bilingual, but it's straightforward for us because we speak one language within another linguistic culture, so the kids are naturally exposed to both. Nevertheless, we've worked hard at balancing the two. Many other parents at my daughters' bilingual schools have used the techniques I've mentioned above, though, to varying degrees of success.

I agree strongly with the other posts, you need to look at what language resources you have around you. Bilingualism is bilingualism regardless of what 2 languages you speak. The effect on a child's development, brain structure (yes, it does affect the way the brain develops) etc is the same - no language is better or worse than any other. And no language is more 'useful' than any other - how many kids encourages to learn whatever fad language at the time have ever used it in a career versus how many haven't?

If you pick a language that has resources around you, be they a large local immigrant community, an indigenous minority language like Welsh or Gaelic, or a language spoken by close friends. The important thing for a child is interaction in that language, passive tools like DVDs are basically useless on their own. Kids need to hear language being spoken, look at mouths and their shapes, speak themselves.

I have also thought a lot about this one - my ds is 2 years 3 months and 7 1/2 weeks ago I switched into speaking French with him. I was terrified that my French was not good enough and that he would pick up bad habits, poor grammar etc. However, I then thought about the alternative which is that he waits another 9 years, thus losing all his most receptive language learning time, then learns French at school, where he will very laboriously learn French with poor grammar, a bad accent etc etc. So I decided that I was his best bet, even if he grows up with not terribly good French from me, it will be something more than what he would get if I just spoke English to him. I wish I'd started 2 years earlier - that way I would have had most of the first year to learn desperately before he started talking!
Since I've started my French has improved dramatically. I am going to French classes, watching French DVDs with him and by myself, singing French nursery rhymes and reading French children's books, over and over again. I love it and it already feels strange to talk to him in English. My son was perturbed when I started, but now appears to understand about 70% of what I say - I can tell him to do things like switch the light on in French and he does it, I can even say things like 'if you do this now, we can do that later' and he understands and co-operates. He is saying some words in French back to me and mixing languages a bit e.g he'll say 'I'm cherche-ing for baby'. I spend 4 days a week with him so he's had a fair amount of input.
I say if you want to try it go for it, don't worry about your poor grammar - just commit to improving it. The language you will use with a small child is repetitive and simple - perfect to practice on. Get children's books from Amazon and read them again and again. Listen to nursery rhymes, find the words on the internet and sing along. It will all help. You are your child's best resource for language learning in the next few years.
Sorry this is so long, do get in touch directly if you want to ask any questions!

By the way, I read a very inspiring post on a multilingual children site by a woman who felt like you did, and decided she wanted to teach her daughter Italian, despite not speaking it herself, so she started classes when she was pregnant and talked to the baby when she was born, and at 3.5 her daughter speaks Italian and English. So it can be done!

Thank you very much nesomja. I had been feeling that it wouldn't be possible but now feel encouraged again!
How long per day would you say you use French with your son? Do you think it would be enough to read a book then sing some nursery rhymes everyday for example, or should we do more?

That depends on what level you want him to achieve, BookCase. Imho you will never achieve an active command of the language unless you put him in situations where he has to speak it. But a passive knowledge is also a good thing to have.

I would ideally like her to have an active knowledge but unfortunately I don't think it's going to be possible. At the very least I will get hold of some books and CDs. I will also keep looking out for classes and perhaps advertise for a French person to talk to her a few times a week.

You could consistently have a nanny from eg Spain right through your DD's childhood.

I would agree with those posters who say that to maintain the 'other' language that this has to be done actively. We lived in the Netherlands for 5 years. DD1 attended the local primary school for the whole time. She continues to use it now both formally as she is studying for A2 Dutch and informally chatting with her Dutch friends via facebook.

DCs 2&3 attended school abroad for a shorter period though long enough to become bilingual at the time. However they were at what a colleague of mine describes as the 'sponge age'. At the time they mopped up all the language but one squeeze (moving back to the UK) and now it is all gone. We will see as they start learning languages at secondary school whether the act of early language learning had a lasting effect.

hi bookcase!
I think what you're doing is great - any language-learning is a bonus and should be seen as such.
If you live in or near London, I am starting Mother andf baby/toddler language sessions in French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Both native speakers and learners are very welcome!
check out my link and join to receive updates
www.meetup.com/lalalanguages
good luck