Can I do this?

[SofaKingFedUp]

My DD is 7 months and she is half Turkish. I am British, dad is Turkish.
We visited her dad 3 times this year he is unable to come here so we have to go there, so I don't know how often I will be able to take her in the future years. At the moment her dad texts me everyday to ask how she is but we are just on civil terms so we don't speak via phone calls, it's just texts about DD, nothing else (long story)

I would really like for her to learn Turkish, I spoke to her dad and asked if he will call her and speak to her in his language so she can learn. He agreed but said he will start when she starts to understand (he said around 9 months as he feels silly speaking to her when she can't understand/reply also when we are in his country all the people I know speak to her in Turkish.

My question is, am I able to help her learn even if I don't speak the language?
I was thinking of putting cartoons on in Turkish for the time being, and saying the little words that I do know to her and then when her dad starts to call her she will pick up more? Will this work or will she have to be around the language more than this to pick it up? Or will this just confuse her and affect her ability to speak?

I always wanted to learn another language and wish I did more to learn, so I would like for her to learn and also so she can communicate with people when we visit her dad. I heard it's easier to teach them very young so I would like to start now, Even if it's slow and steady?
Thanks for any advice.

To grow up fluent in a second language, you have to have a certain amount of contact time with that language per day/week. The number varies depending on who you speak to, but in general it's around a third of the time. So your DC would need to be listening to and interacting with people in Turkish for a few hours every day. I'm not sure that's going to be possible through going to Turkey just 3 times a year and watching Turkish cartoons. (they shouldn't watch too much TV, after all!)

Thanks for replying, her dad has agreed to call her everyday, although I don't see the phone call lasting very long at this stage,
Do you think she will pick up enough to understand the language and then when she's a bit older she can learn it a bit more through books and games etc? Yes she doesn't watch tv much, even if I put it on for her she only watches for about 10 minutes but I thought if it was on on the back round then maybe she would subconsciously pick up words? I don't know haha
I was considering learning the language myself and then maybe we can learn together sort of thing.

I applaud your efforts here but have two thoughts.

Firstly, as PP said, this isn't enough to get your DD fluent.

Secondly, whilst you welcome it now setting yourself up to call this man every day might become something you regret. It's great you want contact with him for your DD but a daily call may be something you come to regret and may become an issue for your daughter when she only sees him a few times a year.

Are you going back to work and looking for a babysitter at all? If that is the case you could look into getting a Turkish babysitter which would be a big help. We have a Romanian babysitter who I thought would just be temporary so I never asked her to speak in her language - big mistake, 8 years on my kids would probably be fluent by now!