To learn or not?

[AimeeJ]

Do children who learn a second language from birth then go on to have a propensity to speak other languages?

I only ask because I have someone who could easily just speak our baby in Tagalog - the upside also being that he/she can learn sounds that we don't have in English as well as a second language.

The downside is that as a second language, it's not going to be that useful living in Europe, and there's a strong likelihood that DC will have to learn French as well at some point (whereas DH and I only speak English fluently).

Would I be better just concentrating on the French angle (playgroups etc) from the beginning instead?

Thanks in advance!

Well I would say go for it because I'm all for protecting and encouraging languages. There's nothing stopping you exposing your child to French through playgroups as well. Children do tend to 'pick up' other langauges more easily when they have a wide range of experiences and grammatical structures to tap into. How it works when it's an asian langauge to a european one I'm not so sure but I think Tagalog's sounds are quite similar to Spanish (I have nothing to back that up other than hearing Filipino friends and teaching EFL where they seem to have similar pronunciation problems!).

European languages are, I think, going to become less important - Tagalog could be a pretty niche skill to have in years to come!

The only notes of caution I would throw in (assuming your DCs are going to be learning French as a foreign language at school) are:

Check whether your primary schools in the area have agreed French as their main langauge (some areas of Nottingham have agreed Spanish for example) and that's the language the secondary schools will expect them to have learnt. Also most of their classmates will be starting the language from scratch and unless it's handled really well by the teacher they may start to get bored.

It's difficult for a child to become fluent in a language when they only hear it occasionally - you would probably need to do a bit of support at home when the Tagalog speaker isn't around.

I wouldn't worry about it not being useful - our kids are bilingual English/Gaelic and though there is some "use" for Gaelic in Scotland, there's not a lot elsewhere. I do it partly for the language itself - the more speakers the better - but also because of the benefits to the child.

I'll try and dig out a thing I read ages ago about benefits of bilingualism - they certainly include being better at learning the third language (our children are learning Spanish as an extra now and are hoovering it up, I'm astonished at their pace!). Also supposed to help with musical ability and maths - my 3 are all very good at Maths, not so much the music!

The only negative I'm seeing here is that the 2nd language speaker would have to be around a lot. We aren't native Gaelic speakers but our kids are - but they spend 6 hours a day at school and also speak to each other in Gaelic at home. They get a lot of input - I would think it would have to be very regular.

I think so, yes.
I think knowing more than one language from birth just then goes on to make other languages "click" that bit easier when you have to formally learn them, rather than acquire them as a small child through natural interaction with a native speaker.

I imagine it also has an affective role in that it awakens interest in language per se.

Thanks for all your input! Very reassuring - it seems crazy to pass up on the opportunity to learn another language (especially when I'm a bit limited on that front!).

I would say that always good to seize any opportunity for a new language, as young as possible.

I was always seen as quite good at languages and was taught very well at school, but am nothing like as quick at them as any of DH's family, who have all be brought up with 2-3 languages.

And whereas Tagalog isn't the most widely-spoken of languages, speaking a "minority language" can lead to all sorts of job opportunites and career openings (from translator/interpreter to MI5 spy ) too...

I second Weegiemum - usefulness isn't the issue. And organichairbrush any language, as young as possible, is great.
It can make language learning easier later on; but there are other factors too, such as general interest/ability in learning language. My siblings and I are bilingual. I pick up languages easily but badly; I tend to have big vocabularies but limited grammar - so like a child acquiring language! However I can learn grammar when I try! I've learnt German, Italian, Spanish and Breton but only my Italian is any good these days. I also learnt Latin and found it very very hard - probably because it isn't a spoken language!
Anyhow, my brother is also really good at picking up languages, but my sister isn't; she's a different personality to DB and I: we're more creative, outgoing, chatty etc and she's quieter, serious and - get this - a genius at maths. Which is a language I guess...

I can back all of this up with proper studies!