DH first language is French - have concentrated on English should we introduce the french now 21 months? how?

[sedgieloo]

Sorry probably a boring question that has come up lots of times...

All of DH family are French speaking (live in Canada we are in the UK) and English is limited.

My french is limited. DH is perfectly bilingual, but its all English at home.

Rightly or wrongly I wanted to concentrate on English first anyway and it turns out she is a really early talker, full sentences now/100's of words in her vocabulary, so I'd like to encourage the french, but not sure how to begin.

Oh and out of interest, will her English slow up if we introduce the French?

Of course it's not too late, but DH will have to speak exclusively in French when in direct conversation with your little one for it to have maximum success. Depending on where you live in the UK, you could access French saturday schools and French mums and tots. You could add in French TV by satellite, French books, DVDs, skype to Canada, anything which creates "need" to speak other than with daddy. Check if amazon.fr delivers free to the UK, as many DVDs in French are also in English too, so you can watch in both languages.

If you're living in the UK, the last thing you need to worry about is English, especially with one parent who speaks only English. Your husband will need to basically completely switch to French, even then it will be a struggle given the tsunami of English she'll be facing. Given that exposure didn't start at birth, it'll make it a bit slower, but she's still young so immersion should be fine. But you can't half do it, if your husband keeps slipping into English the French won't have much hope.

Her English won't slow up - even parents who do ML@H (minority language at home, i.e. the home language is exclusively the minority language with both parents) find that their kids majority language (in your case, English) dominates by the time they get to school.

You will just have to introduce French everywhere and anywhere and quickly, how much is your dh around and could you access any other French speakers - e.g a nanny or au pair? It will be hard now she is speaking, as she will probably say 'stop talking that language daddy'. I switched languages to French with my son when he was 24 months but not yet talking fluently. It was hard, he didn't like it at first and it has taken a lot of commitment, for example we almost exclusively watch DVDs in French and never watch live TV, we sing nursery rhymes in French, we have computer games in French,lots of books in French and I have also paid for some Childcare in French. He is now 4 and understands French but mostly speaks English. With number 2 it was French from birth - much easier to introduce but she is only just 1 so can't comment on the difference yet. In my experience you are coming up rapidly to the stage when it will be too late for a parent to switch as it will just be too hard on you all, so do it now if you want to have any chance of bilingualism through immersion rather than learning a second language later on and more laboriously. It really is worth the effort though if you can manage immersion, it's so much easier and more effective.

Thank you, I'm discussing this with DH, he is the French speaker so need to get him onside here, and he hasn't really spoke French since we moved here 14 yrs ago, except when he calls his parents. I can understand a quite a bit, so I could get along OK with him speaking French with her, but I can see us all just slipping back into speaking English all the time as it is what we are used to.

We are in the same situation. DH did manage to change to only French and I can understand everything and say everything I need to, although not with as much spontanaity as in English. DD (6) understands everything but chooses to answer in English, apart from short phrases such as 'merci Papa cheri', TJe veux de l'eau', etc. Only see French family for a week or so a year and DD won't talk to them, as much due to shyness as language.

Oh bellemadame pls may I ask when did your dh start speaking only the French. I'm struggling to persuade dh to switch, I think he may worry that it will interfere somehow with his relationship with her because she communicates so well already in English and the French is going to just be babble to her if he switches even at this young age. I just think she will become less and less interested in skyping her grandparents as time goes by if she cannot understand them. I would like her to have the ability of a second language of course.

Although not the same, I began learning French with DS when he was just over one. He's now three and mixes his languages, but then my French is still rather, er, basic. It's worked well for us. Especially for me as I have someone to practise with all day long. We watch French children's DVDs and read French books.
All he'd heard until we started was, of course, English. He never batted an eyelid when I began to switch.

DH started when she was a baby, although not new birn. He found it quite hard, having lived in the UK for 10 years!

It's not going to be babble to her; they learn so fast.

I have found skyping gp's difficult even though she does understand them; too much focus on DD and therefore too much chance to get embarrassed/be difficult. What works quite well is to show something; pictures/models she has made or a French nursery rhyme or song to perform (prompted like mad off camera, possibly also waving a packet of crisps.

I think you need to have a serious discussion with your dh because it is fairly straightforward, if he doesn't switch she will not speak or understand French and will lose that connection with half of her heritage. It will only get harder and there will never be a right time to switch. He is right to be concerned, at first it will be very strange to her and their relationship may be affected in the short term. It will also be hard for him as he is used to her understanding and responding. However it is possible, we did it. You might be underestimating how much you can contribute too, you can make an effort to bring French into your lives if it is important to you- to start with, learn some nursery rhymes and start singing them. You could have French lessons maybe and work towards your whole family being more bilingual? But I guess you need to decide how important it is to you and why, presumably bilingualism was not a priority before since you didn't start from birth - or did you just not think about it? Has your dh always preferred to speak English to dd? What has made you change your approach now?