How do I do it?

[AnnaK]

I am bilingual in German and English. I have bought Muzzy dvds. Ds is not quite 2 and is talking quite nicely in English. Will the additional words for identical objects eg 'blue' and 'blau' confuse him and cause problems or should I just persevere? Help, I just want to make it easier for him.
Many thanks

Hi, AnnaK. Which is your first language, German or English? Do you have a dh/dp and, if so, what language(s) does your dh/dp speak? Do you yourself only speak one language to your ds or do you use both? I'm just asking so that I can better answer the question you have asked.

I struggled too, Hausfrau! I worry too much about wording things badly and offending someone! The South Walian in us, perhaps?

A friend of my dd is German, and has simply used both English (predominantly) and German around her daughter right from the start. The girl is almost 5 now and doesn't ever seem to have been confused by the two languages and just shifts easily from one to the other.

She usually disciplines her dd in German, and I have to say that it sounds so much more effective that way!

lol, hausfrau!

being the loudmouth type though, i'll go ahead and answer anyway.

anna, children learn best if the 2 (or 3 or whatever) languages are kept separate inasmuch as each person only speaks one language to the child. you can do it with situations instead (eg german inside the house, english outside) but there should be a clear difference. otherwise, yes, children can become confused.

saying that though, dd learned the differnece between english and spanish v early on and now (at 3) is completely unphased if I mix the languages. I do think it's best to keep them separate at the beginning though.

Thanks for responding! Obviously I hadn't thought the question through properly, so here goes:
I am English, dh is English and he doesn't speak anything else. I was thinking about speaking German on days when I am with ds and English at weekends. Haven't started it yet, though.
No offence taken in any of this, many thanks for taking the time to respond!

that should work, anna. just make sure you keep it consistent.

Right, so as you are fluent in German, you wanted to pass that advantage on to ds? I understand. I only speak English to my children (and it's my only language). Dh (who is bilingual) speaks only Welsh to them unless I'm a major part of the conversation as I don't understand or speak much Welsh. Dd and Ds are fully bilingual but it has helped that they have gone to a Welsh medium primary school and ds goes to and dd intends to go to a Welsh medium secondary school. Without that extra amount of Welsh listening and speaking, I don't think the language ability would have developed to the fluency it has. I think you need to hear and speak a lot of the second language to really establish it, but I could be wrong. Hth.

Yes, there are a few of them around Hausfrau! I know of someone who cannot pronounce Welsh words properly due to those sounds not existing in her first language and her native accent and I have to try not to cringe when I hear her attempting to speak Welsh to her children. Thankfully, her dh is fluent and so can teach them the correct pronunciation. Why she doesn't just stick to her first language I don't know!

Thank you everyone. About the accent, I totally agree. In my case, I grew up for 7 years in Germany and then worked there for 4 years, and speak it pretty much without an accent (to the extent where Germans can't necessarily tell). My grammar isn't great but good enough to get by. I think, again in my case, that this is probably sufficient...

Anna, I'm in a similar situation to you. I have a French mother, and grew up bilingual (in England) by speaking French at home (my Dad speaks fluent French too) and English out.

My DD is just 2, and I've been speaking almost entirely French to her since birth, plus have a French mothers help two days per week. DH understands a fair amount, but has a crap accent and limited vocab, so sticks to mainly English. We speak English together, and of course I speak English with most of my and DDs friends.

My accent is ok, but my grammar is a bit weak - plan to read/watch lots of French to improve it, but ooooh, time, energy, the usual suspects!

Anyway: DD now speaks and understands both languages about equally, and is not confused at all. If asked what 'cat' is in French (etc) she looks at me as if I'm a total idiot and replies calmly 'chat'?!?

Good luck, go for it!

Lots of kids have more than one lang in the family. Just keep what you do languagewise consistent. For us my dh & kids speek in one lang & I speek in another to them. We do this as a family as I'm also bilingual in dh lang so understand. They go to school were some kids also have another language at home. My first lang isn't the lang at school so I have an accent but the kids don't mind!