Thinking of introducing a second language.

[Xavielli]

Hello.

My DP is Greek but does not speak the language. We have talked about teaching the DCs but unsure of where to start. We have asked MIL to speak to him in Greek and she has agreed.

We know a few basic phrases. DS is 19months and has a pretty good grasp of repeating words and knows the meanings of most that he can't say.

Any advice about when/where to start and how to teach him to seperate the two would be very helpful

I have greek friends whoose children speak both fluent greek and english. They didn't have to teach them to separate the two languauges as somehow the children just did it naturally.

If he has regular reasonably intensive contact to MIL, he'll pick up Greek. He may not bother to speak it but he will learn to passively understand it at least. The thing is he will pick up on MIL speaking to you and dh in English so will see that it isn't absolutely necessary to speak the language. Kids need some kind of motivation. Can you find any groups/activities for kids in Greek?

Of course, if you spend your holidays in Greece where he can interact more with Greek speakers, he'll make progress faster. Like M said, he won't have a problem seperating the languages, they do sometimes transfer grammar structures to the other language when they're learning but they're just using trial and error. Tends to right itself with time. Shame dh doesn't speak Greek. That would have been ideal.

As your DP doesn't speak the language it will be very very hard (sorry don't mean to sound pessimistic) but it is never too early to start. The ideal age to teach a child a second is the day they are born !

My DS has been hearing two languages since he was born, he understands our mother language perfectly and says quite a few words now (he is 25 months), but his English is poor as we don't speak to him in English (this is deliberate as the best thing is to separate the language of the home with the language of the community).

Your best bet is to get your in-laws to speak to your children in Greek CONSISTENTLY, they must't start giving in and speaking to them in English again. According to language experts, young children associate language with individuals, so granie speaks to me in Greek, mummy speaks English, daddy speaks French, etc... Once they have established that you only speak and hear ONE language with that individual it is easier for them to answer back in that language.

Unfortunatley my sister's 3 children do not speak our language despite the fact that we are all from the same country, because she gave up speaking to her kids in our langauge once they had learned English at school. This is where it usually starts going wrong. Lack of consistency.

Your in-laws and relatives will have to be very consistent and patient if they want your childern to learn Greek. Also it is a good idea to get them enrolled in a local Greek school or playgroup in your area if you have one. The more exposure they get to the language the better. There are plenty of bi-lingual nursery rhymes, books, tapes, video's etc. which are also a good start.

In the end they may only become "passive" in their knowledge of Greek (understand it but not speak it), but I reckon even this is better than being monolingual !

Good luck !