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Is it too late to teach Spanish?

5 replies

ChristineC320 · 03/05/2018 22:10

I am fluent in Spanish (Spanish family) but grew up speaking more English, mainly because of school and friends but my family, apart from my siblings all speak Spanish.

I have a daughter who's 9 and a son who's 5, I will admit I didn't try very hard trying to teach them Spanish when they were toddlers mainly because my husband only speaks English so thats the only language we use in our home. But now my daughter seems to be showing an interest in learning because I've been watching a Spanish tv show and it's caught her attention and she seems in awe that I understand and is always asking me what's going on, what's this person saying ect I feel absolutely terrible that I didn't make the effort to teach her and now I'm wondering if it's too late. 😫😭

My son doesn't seem to be bothered but I'd love for both of them to learn it. I just don't know how to go about doing it now. She's also learning French in schooland the last thing I want is to overwhelm her.

Any advice on how to teach another language? Like I said I have no idea where to start. Do I just start talking in Spanish and hope one day they'll understand me? I can see it annoying them. Lol

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Mamabear12 · 04/05/2018 01:16

The older children get, the more tricky it is to teach them a second language. Your 5 year old is still at the age, where he could learn if he was suddenly thrown in the deep end and you suddenly just spoke Spanish to him, but it would take 6 months to a year. Its more difficult, as he knows you understand English so he might just respond in English when he knows you understand. Another option, would be to just get a Spanish au pair. Where there is a will, there is a way. But it takes hard work. Most people are not willing to put in all the extra effort. If you are willing, then I suggest going to check out the website: Bilingual monkeys.

user789653241 · 04/05/2018 08:24

I'm in the exactly same situation regarding my native language. I tried to teach ds when he was small, but because of all the health issues he had, I given up.

He started showing interest later(in ks2) all by himself, and started learning using websites. It's slow but he is very persistent. And great thing is I can help him when he needs help.

I don't think it's never too late, but once they are older, it might need a bit more determination from child themselves.

brilliotic · 04/05/2018 10:18

My cousin moved to France with her kids and within 6 months after starting school, the 9/10 year old was chatting away in French and keeping up at school.

This child will never quite be a 'native' French speaker, I don't think, but immersion does take you far.

However without immersion, so, short of you packing up and moving to a Spanish speaking place, at age 9 a child won't usually learn a language without actual work/effort. I believe the time for that is up to about age 5. From age 5 we stop learning/developing language (our native language included) purely from being 'a bit' exposed to it, and start learning/developing through explicit instruction/reading/conscious effort instead. If we are monolingual up to age 5, we might become very proficient in another language but will never become properly bilingual (two 'native' languages).

So particularly with your 9yo I don't think simply starting to speak to her in Spanish is a good strategy - as you say, she'd probably become annoyed!

However, if she is keen, you could do something like Duolingo with her. My DS has been learning French with Duolingo. He does about 5 minutes every day. It is amazing how much progress he is making; the 'little and often' approach really, really works.

In order for this to work, I think you need to discuss it with your DD and come to a joint decision. My DS really wanted to learn French and so I explained to him that you can dabble around a bit with a language and have some fun, but if you want to really learn it, you will need to put some effort into it very regularly. He chose to do that, rather than just explore the language a bit. So we kind of made a contract, he wants to put in the effort so it is not me making him do it, but I can remind him and occasionally nag him to do it if necessary to help keep him on track because overall that IS what he wants, even if sometimes he doesn't feel like it. In turn, we signed him up for French club at school for some interactive practice, and support him with his Duolingo sessions at home (we both speak French as a learned language). Being closely involved means that we know where he currently is at with his learning, so in addition to the 5 minutes formal learning we can point out relevant French stuff in the environment (e.g. when knowing the French word for something helps with understanding the spelling/pronounciation of an English word).

I really think at age 9 it needs to be your child's 'informed' decision, so she needs to know that it will entail continuous effort and still choose to do it.

Good luck! It has been a joy for me to see my DS making such progress with French. I hope your DD will be well motivated by the benefits Spanish can give her (understanding your TV programme, but also when you visit relatives in Spanish speaking places... how good is it to be able to understand what's going on?!) and choose to put the effort in.

ChristineC320 · 04/05/2018 10:32

Thank you. that's good advice and I will look into duolingo. she is very interested. ive explained the benefits of being bilingual and i think it would be nice for her to learn spanish because it can sort of translate to italian aswell ( i can understand italian without having made an effort to study the langauge) and it would be very useful during holidays with us or when shes an adult with her own family ect

i'm excited to start teaching her. i just need to find a good plan on how to begin.

OP posts:
user789653241 · 04/05/2018 10:38

Same for my ds, spend about 5 minutes everyday on duolingo and memrise. Those are great free websites.

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