My to-be-bilingual DD is threatening to start speaking. What now?

[DeJaVous]

DD is 11 months and has suddenly started saying Mama and Papa and aai (stroke), it's taken me by surprise!

Ever since she was born I have spoken only English to her and DP has spoken only Dutch. My Instinct on hearing her say 'aai' (usually whilst attacking one of the cats) is to repeat it and look thrilled, because I am

I haven't done though and I'm wondering what I should do when she produces words in DPs language. What's the form?

I suppose I should have read some books by now, but I'm not really a parenting book type person and I didn't think of it. Could anyone recommend a good one?

In the early days (when you really want to encourage ANY talking that's happening) I used to say "that's right, Dad says 'aai', Mummy says 'stroke', you're stroking the cat", and then once he had more of a handle on it (more like 2 I think) I'd say "that's right, and what does Mummy say".

But I'm sure there are lots of other approaches too!

I do have a good book, will look it up later if no one else recommends it first.

Weta

Thanks Weta, I'll give that a try.

Anyone else got any advice? Any book tips would be greatly appreciated

DH and I only speak English but (we're in Swizerland) the dc go to German speaking daycare and so have learnt both German and English at the same time.

I didn't always recognise their early words in German but if I did I sort of treated it as if they'd said in English, IYSWIM. In your case I would have said "yes, you're stroking the cat" and made no mention of the fact they said the word in a different language.

But that's a bit different from your case, where the two languages are both spoken at home, so I'm not sure that what I'm saying is relevant.

I'll shut up now...

only book I've read was Growing up with 2 languages by Staffan Anderson. I liked it.

I honestly don't think you need to do anything. By using OPOL already she'll be fine....xx

Thanks everyone!

What I'm worried about is how best to stick to OPOL now she's producing words. It would be all to easy to 'spring' into Dutch when she says 'aai' out of sheer PFB enthusiasm

I guess I'll just stick to doing what Weta and Gipfeli suggested.

I'll see if I can find anything about Growing up with 2 languages by Staffan Anderson...

we speak only Afrikaans at home, ds started playgroup in June and this week the supervisor told me he is speaking English to them in full sentences. I also saw him one day translating an English TV story into Afrikaans to one of his soft toys. He will be 3 end of November, and we did not actively encouraged him to speak English so it will happen in due course. I think don't confuse her by changing your setup, stick to the way you've been doing it.

Wow SpacePuppy, that's amazing!

It seems really counter-intuitive to not reinforce and encourage her for speaking (if it's not in my language), but it sounds like it really doesn't matter.

I've read that psychologically you should stick to your mother tongue as it is a natural language to you to express feelings and emotions. I've never tried to speak to him in English, however he was understanding English before he spoke it. He only started getting the hang of making sentences in English, he does about 4-6 word sentences and sometimes he throws in an Afrikaans word, but the other children don't even notice.

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Actually on reflection I think I probably did what Gipfeli suggests at the very beginning and then gradually went to doing what I said in my first post. It's hard to remember as DS1 is now 5 and DS2 is 14 months but doesn't say anything yet except mama, papa and lots of grunting and squealing! I just did what felt natural at the time and with DS1's level of understanding as it evolved.

I am a fan of OPOL though so I would definitely avoid launching into Dutch with her.

Growing Up with 2 languages is the book I was thinking of too, I found it quite helpful - much of it is kind of obvious/intuitive but it's quite good to think about it a bit.

Weta

Unfortunately/Fortunately Pitchounette I've spoken a lot more Dutch than English in the last five years. People can tell I'm not Dutch but tend to guess Belgian before English Dutch has become the norm for me even to the extent of dreaming in it...

Anyway, that is what makes it difficult for me to know what to do. I like Wetas approach of saying ""that's right, Dad says 'aai', Mummy says 'stroke', you're stroking the cat", and then once he had more of a handle on it (more like 2 I think) I'd say "that's right, and what does Mummy say"".

I suppose I should carry on trying to ignore her Dutch and say the English version of what she's saying IYSWIM. It just seems so counter intuitive to not stimulate her first attempts at language.

ooops, got a bit long winded

x Weta

Oh, I don't ever speak Dutch to her. I Sometimes have the occasional one sentence slip when I'm in a situation that needs a lot of quick changes. She always looks at me like I'm mad when that happens

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'tis true Pitchounette!

I'll just stick to saying the English version of the words.

Thanks again everyone