Teaching a child a second language

[BunnytheFriendlyDragon]

DS is not speaking yet but I had in mind I'd like him to learn a second language. Is this easy from a young age abs if so how if you go get speak the language yourself?

We do have a family second language on one side but neither of us speak it so would be relying on one set if GPs to speak that la gauge to him. Not sure how feasible that is.

So we'd either want ego teach him that language or a language we are not connected with that may be useful such as French or Spanish or Cantonese...

Is this realistic?

I'd say it was highly optimistic if you didn't speak the language yourself. Is there no way you could learn the second family language and focus on that. Having someone who is fluent in it such as a grandparent is a fantastic opportunity I wouldn't want to waste.

For fluency, you'd want a fluent speaker to use that language regularly around the child. I have known children who have one parent who spoke English around them from birth and the other a second language. The children grew up fluent in both, although they had preferences about which language they talked about certain topics in.

I am using a second language with my son who is 3. I've always used it around him, but I haven't used it in place of English. So he knows some vocabulary but he isn't going to grow up really knowing the language. I think the same would be said if you stated learning a language alongside your child - they won't become fluent that way but they'll pick up vocabulary and perhaps some grammar.

Better to teach a language you already know. Or send him to classes, but he doesn’t even speak yet so a bit away for that.

I have friends who've learnt Gaelic from grandparents (it was beaten out of our parents generation at school so there are lots of people of that generation who don't have any but their own parents did). These kids had a basic knowledge pre-school from their grandparents and then went to Gaelic nursery and Gaelic medium in primary school.

So I guess it depends firstly on the GPs. How often would they be looking after your dc? And would they be prepared to speak only in that language all the time?

Secondly I think maybe if you don't have access to schooling in that language it might be a bit much to expect fluency. But maybe someone who has been in that position would have a better idea.

I reckon go for it though. Even if they never progress beyond basic phrases it will still be really good for brain development.

I imagine if you speak to DCs in a language you have some competency in, they'll learn a bit, but as others have said, they'll never be fluent with only that input. Speaking to them in Cantonese sounds very ambitious, unless you already have knowledge of it, as it's a completely different system of sounds a lot of which most Brits would have trouble reproducing (I'm assuming here that you're British and have no previous knowledge of Cantonese - apologies if not!).

Definitely take advantage of the GPs, but again, it'll depend on the amount of contact your DCs have with them, and their knowledge will probably end up being fairly passive (still useful).

One thing some people have done is look for a nanny/childminder with a certain language, but obviously that's not an option for everyone.

My English parents used to talk to each other in French if they didn't want me and my DB to understand - well now I've got a degree in it, so more fool them! Hahaha!

I have some knowledge of the family language. I understand almost all of it actually but never really spoke it so may be able to hekp teach that to him if GPs do too. They currently see him once a week but he's only 3 months and my mother may have him some days when I go back to work.

There may be classes for it for when he's older.

I wondered whether there were children's tv programmes that taught another language or whether we could watch tv in another language or listen to music. I'm not averse to learning a language too. I know some of three other languages but not fluent in any.

Just seems like it may be best to start early.

Childminder / nanny is a good idea

He needs a native speaker using exclusively that language with him. That could be the grandparents if they’re going to look after him regularly. If they only use the minority language with him, it might work.

The issue starts when you’re all together and the GPs use English with you and/or your partner. Then everyone defaults to English and your son might do too even in the company of the GPs.

It can be done but you need to be strict about it, or employ a childminder/nanny who also speaks the minority language. TV, books, extended stays in that particular country will of course help as well.

It doesn’t matter if it’s not an ‘useful’ language like Spanish or French. I grew up trilingual - 2 of the 3 languages are not important on an international level - but the advantages of your brain thinking in more than one language are bigger than if you just understood and knew some words in Mandarin or German, if that makes sense?

When it came to learning English and another 3 subsequent foreign languages, it was an advantage because my brain already knew how to make connections between various languages.

Just some thoughts....
I am bilingual, english being one of the languages. I've read in many psych books that the brain learns pronunciation and patterns in infancy and very early childhood.
(and based on my life experience I fully back that up)
So I experimented on my son, the "control group" is basically everyone who has not done this. Not a well designed experiment, I admit :)

We listened to chinese, japanese, arabic, slavic and latin based songs, speech when he was really small.
Most of what he heard from me was in English as a baby. Rhymes, song, etc. Partially because of the above, and partially because I knew them better than the others.
We have always talked to him -from the point of him starting to speak -at 11 months old (too soon :)- in our common mother language with my husband.
All through his kindergarden years he has heard me speak english to him, but never responded in english or shown any signs of particulary understanding it. So I just declared the whole experiment a bust. And was quite disappointed as I would have liked him to be bilingual as well.

We moved to London when he was 7 and he started school here. With 0 english knowledge. And here is the interesting part: in 3 months he learnt to read/write and speak english to the extent that he was -by month 5- put into the gifted group in english.
Another interesting (1) thing that surfaced a few years ago that when he started watching anime in japanese (most only have subs, not voiceovers) he could discern the words and "hear" the words separately. Even though his exposure to japanese last was when he was about a year old. I have been learning japanese for a little bit now and I still have trouble finding where the actual word starts/ends in real life speech.

(2) Europeans usually struggle with a few very specific arab sounds. It is just foreign to us to create the sounds in our nose or at the back of our throat. He has no issues with this. Has no idea what he is doing obv., but he can easily mimic it.

Apart from the identification and mimicking of sounds I think exposure to all the diff language patterns have helped him a lot. In his opinion he is rubbish at languages, but all his teachers (french and german) say that he is really amazing at them. But being a perfectionist yet totally lazy teenager makes him believe otherwise.

So 15 years past the initial 'it's a bust' I do think we have given him an advantage.
On the control group thing: We have some acquaintances who came from the same country as us, non bilingual, didn't do anything like we did, have the same aged kid(s) and their kids -in general- took about 7-11 months to be proficient in english.
But by now (10 years on) most of them are truly bilingual.

In my opinion - even if you only expose your kid to other languages it is already a big thing forward. They will have the option to use that subconscious knowledge or not. If GPs are in the picture on a frequent basis than chances are your kid will learn their language.

Other side of the coin: see the "control group" they are just as fine, just took them a bit longer to get there.

What @TheSunIsStillShining is true and indeed fascinating.

My parents only spoke their native language at home and we had little exposure to the local languages - but through our geographical location, family and work relations, we regularly heard a variety of languages from Hungarian to French and everything in between. Like the PP said, lots of different sounds.

I started preschool at 4 and didn’t speak a word of the 2 local languages we had to speak at school. Both me and my siblings were fluent in the main one within 1 month and quickly picked up the co-official.

I have very little of an accent in the other 4 languages I speak, and it’s mainly due to acquiring, as a child, so many new sounds and letters that simply don’t exist in all languages, especially European ones.

Exposure exposure exposure. And consistency with the minority language - that’s the most important I believe.

Thanks for all the advice here. Very helpful. It's still something I'm thinking about.

The most likely language to succeed is the family language that you at least have knowledge of.
Do you have netflixs? You can change the language in some programs in there. Dont ask me how. DH does it for the kids.
We also used to buy up Disney DVDs when we visit DHs extended family, so have the possibility of films in the second language.

If you choose an arbitrary second language it's very unlikely to work as a) your child won't get enough input in it, and b) you won't speak it to a high enough standard to pass it on. I'd either stick to the heritage language or not bother if i were you - cognitive advantages of bilingualism are not 100% proven anyway.

The heritage language being the other language your grandparents speak, that is.

Get grandparents to speak native language to him. They should not switch to English at all.

He needs a native speaker using exclusively that language with him.

This. We have a fully bilingual 4yo. It is bastarding hard work. The “oh, I’ll just name fruit in mandarin/French/German” approach is a waste of time imo.

Of course, it would be better if you started speaking with your kid the second language, but you can also just use services like lingopie to play cartoons to your child in a foreign language, and I can tell you that it works as well. YOu can start learning a second language too, so your son would have someone to practice this language with.