Bilingual kids?

[lovely36]

Hi I'd really appreciate some advice from anyone who has bilingual kids. My husband is English and I am Spanish but I am fluent in both English and Spanish. We speak English all the time and home so my son who's 15 months understand English. However I really want him to be fluent in Spanish too. Any advice on how you managed to teach your kids two languages or more? I'm afraid of confusing him. Thank you xx

Hi!

My husband and I are native English speakers but I'm fluent in French so I always speak to my sons in French and have done since birth. My four year old replies in English but he understands me. (My one year old doesn't talk yet!) If he watches tv it has to be in French (except for special occasions), he goes to a Saturday French class and we have French music on a lot.

Are you speaking Spanish to him at all? Don't worry about confusing him; studies show that that doesn't really happen. They do mix up words from both languages in the same sentence but they understand that they are different languages. X

I try to speak to him in Spanish but I tend to forget since I've always spoken in English as I grew up in America my whole life. I occasionally speak in Spanish but I know it's not enough. He seems really uninterested when I speak in Spanish. I've been listening to Spanish music lately though. So do you suggest I speak to him in Spanish at all times? My husband and his family speak to him in English because it's the only language they speak.

I think it depends on what you want. If you just want him to know the basics then you could speak Spanish as and when you feel like it. If you want him to be fluent then studies suggest that he needs to hear Spanish for 25-33 hours per week which (depending on how often you are with him) might mean that you need to speak to him in Spanish all the time. Many people think that the One Parent One Language method is best (when each parent only speaks one language to the child and doesn't mix them). I speak to my son in French all the time (I work three days a week), that is the only exposure he gets apart from his Saturday class and he still won't speak French to me!

Have you seen the bilingual monkeys website? Lots of advice there x

It's early days for us, but I'd stick to Spanish-only cartoons music, and speak to him in Spanish when it's the two of you. Possible a Spanish playgroup or Saturday class too?

If you want him to be bilingual you need to adopt the OPOL approach - One Parent, One Language. So you need to speak to him in Spanish ALL THE TIME. It takes some getting used to, particularly when around others speaking English, but you'll soon find it becomes natural. I would also only allow TV in Spanish - check out YouTube for cartoons in Spanish, and children's songs.

@HavelockVetinari @Sophie4113 thank you ladies for the advice. I had not thought of that approach but I'm going to take it. I want him to be fluent in both languages. I will look into that website too. Thank you!

@EssentialHummus I didn't even know there were Spanish groups. I will definitely look into it. Thank you

You need to only talk to him in Spanish. Your husband only in English. If you speak English all the time it's not going to happen.

You must speak only Spanish and do it from now or it will be too late. After dc start t o understand and respond to one language, it becomes more challenging to start another, however it can be done. But most people do not want to put the effort and their children lose out on being bilingual. But if you are able to put enough effort it is worth it. My dd became bilingual age 4 when we enrolled her in a bilingual school and got a French aupair.

Generally OPOL is a good approach, and children don't tend to be confused, although usually you might start earlier than now. But I don't imagine it will be too late to start, and it's important not to get too hung up on the idea of speaking Spanish 100% of the time - aim for that, but there will inevitably be times when you use English too.

It depends where you live. If you live in Spain so everything outside the home is in Spanish then it’s fine to speak English with him at home with your DH. If you live in the U.K. (which I think is the case) then the only way he is going to learn Spanish is from you. My dcs are bilingual French /English - DH and I are both British, but the dcs have always either lived in France or been at a French school. French is enforced (ie they have no choice) at school and English at home. They used to be trilingual when we were living in Germany - French at school, but German in the playground and at all extra-curricular activities. They soon lost their German when we left Germany because it was impossible to keep it up in a meaningful way - ie in a way that meant the DCs knew they had to speak German. What you have to know is that bilingual (or multi-lingual) children don’t do it because they think it’s clever or in any way useful, they do it because they have to do it to communicate. If your son grows up knowing he can speak English to you that’s what he will do - by the time he’s old enough to realise speaking Spanish might be quite useful it will be too late. It’s up to you to enforce it - it can’t be optional it has to be second nature.

Like Sophie and Karin say, it's about enough hours where they do speak Spanish, and that almost certainly will involve some time where they have to speak Spanish.

I was in a similar situation with English husband. Managed to bring my (now adult) children up bilingual by:

speaking Swedish a lot (not the whole time, but a lot)

importing material that made it attractive for both of us - DVDs, high quality children's books etc, reading aloud a lot

engineering situations where speaking Swedish was attractive- e.g. Swedish games

engineering situations where speaking Swedish was necessary- in my case, this was mainly spending the summer with Swedish-speaking relatives, but OPOL would also do it

The important thing is to remember what you want to achieve, not the exact path through which you achieve it.

We’re a trilingual home. We live in London but used the OPOL approach so I only spoke to the DT’s in Flemish and DH spoke in his language, French. They went to a English speaking school but one which could adjust their timetable to fit in additional language lessons. DT’s speak, write etc as a native in the three languages. DD is now doing languages at Uni and is now also fluent in Spanish and German,