should we bother?

[meX2]

i am indian and was born and brought up in Leeds, my parents both came here at a young age and therefore always spoke english with me and my sisters. I only know bits and bobs of Punjabi and cant really put a full sentence together properly .

My DH is Pakistani and he speaks Urdu fluently as do all of his family. theyr always going on that my DS doesnt know Urdu and that we should speak it to him more so that he picks it up now.

personally i dont really see the point but because all of my DHs family speak it regularly should i try and start encouraging my DH to speak it to him more.

I regret that i dont know my mother tongue, but in this day and age and society is it really relevant anymore? HELP!!!!!

yes, you should encourage dh to speak Urdu to DS, definitely yes

Mr Wong speaks Hakka which is a chinese dialect rather than one of the better knon chinese languages and he speaks it ALL THE TIME to the boys. But get this ...they only reply to him in English.

I very much doubt the boys will use Hakka outside the family, but I am so delighted they have part of their culture alive and kicking

go for it! Start ds counting and naming basic things and then get all the in-laws to speak it to him too, even if he doesn't speak it back he will absorb it

Yes, you should encourage your dh to speak only in Urdu to your son. It's not only a question of how 'useful' a language is, but bilingualism is good for childrens' brains i.e. bilingual children do better academically than monolingual children (because their brains have more connections or something...). So, go for it!

Yes. You should both try and teach them. Personally I think they can only benefit from being bilingual.

Just remember that it is not easy, but it is worth it. You and your husband will really need to want to teach them wholeheartedly.