Why wouldn't you raise your kid bilingual?

WiresDreamDisasters

I'm always surprised at people when they are surprised that the wee-one can speak English and Japanese, and that this is how we're raising her. She can't speak European yet, but I don't think she'll really need it in the future anyway.

Troll jokes aside - why are people surprised at this?! 

fretmeister

No idea.
I would raise mine that way if I could.

thecolourbox

They are probably just impressed, most people seem to struggle with English (largely because of how it's taught, I think) so the thought of learning another language terrifies them.

If I have kids I'll teach them German (I'm not German, but can speak the language).

Good on you

Roland

Learning two languages from birth has a noticeable affect on the rate at which children learn to speak. It naturally takes them longer because there’s more to learn. However it make it easier for them to learn further languages. For me the biggest impact is on the way they think because, from the outset, it gives them a wider range of concepts. They understand that there is more than one way of looking at something.

I’m proud that one of our granddaughters is bilingual.

Nitefly

My sister married a chap from Sweden, and moved there about 25 years ago.  Their first chid was born soon after, and so my sis learned Swedish the way her daughter did, i.e. from the basics up.  The first child is equally at home in either Swedish or English, and loves coming here to visit.

Sis had a second child about 4 years later - that one is much less confident in English, I guess because her mother spoke much better Swedish by the time she was born.

Does your littlun speak more English to you but Japanese to her mother?

Stratavarious

Japanese..  cool! 

Japan is on my bucket list.  

I can successfully order beer in many places though.  sorted!   My kids are both good at German from lots of trips walking and camping in the swiss alps.  I did German and French at school and worked enough in Europe (Fucking Brexit bastards!!) to practice.

Spanish/French and Italian share a root - so learn one, the others are easy to decipher. German is quick to learn the basics.

Portuguese and Finnish..... mmm never made much headway past coffee orders,  Closest to Finnish is Eskimo!

It’s a nice icebreaker to have a few phrases. Even if you just binging a phrases podcast/CD before a trip.

It is shame there is no real Welsh option for English school kids. 

EricTheWeary

It’s pretty common around the globe. 

MagicPigDetective

Good on ya. Agree, it’s a perfecty normal and natural thing all over the world, which some struggle to understand the concept of and are judgmental on the ‘usefulness’ of learning languages.

My children were raised in Welsh, as its mine and my wife’s mother tongue. Being bilingual to me is completely natural. Purely through watching TV, my oldest daughter pretty much taught herself English by the time she was 4. She’s taught my youngest daughter through playing and watching tv and youtube together, she’s now 4 and can speak English. So they’re fully bilingual by 4 and we haven’t had to do anything. It’s been incredible to see their capacity to absorb and learn a 2nd language, much as I did from watching playschool, Mr Benn etc

boogieman

One of my friends is married to an Egyptian guy and they have a 5 year old daughter. She speaks fluent Arabic and English....stupidly it still amazes me when she chats away to her dad in another language. 

WiresDreamDisasters

I can read a bit of Japanese. Enough to slowly work myself through a bedtime story book; not sure what puts her to sleep first, the story or my slow ass reading of it!!

I never really paid attention to languages when I was younger. Wish I did!

monquixote

A friend of mine is English / Chinese and is really annoyed that his dad elected not to bother to teach him to speak mandarin.

Seems like a big advantage.

Sassafras

I'm bilingual and apart from occasionally getting muddled up with certain expressions, I'm bloody glad I am.
If anything, it's given me an interest in the roots of different languages.
Some Brits I meet can barely speak one language.

SPECTRUM001

Good for you - the globe is getting smaller, so growing up with a second language is a great and useful skill. It might also develop into an ability to learn a third...

I am appalling at languages - and used to teach English at Prague University ! I couldn’t speak any Czech, and constantly felt admiration for my students and inadequacy for myself.

At the time, I just thought it a British thing.

Mudcrutch

My children all speak and write English Dutch Welsh French German & Danish.
I can understand the spoken word but can’t write anything except English.
I don’t have any need to write in other languages so quite happy

Teetonetal

I cannot imagine why you wouldn't do that. The earlier they the learn the more fluent they will be.

Both my kids speak English and German. Eldest starts french at school in year 2.

Language is just one thing that you can pass onto your kids yourself, but will remain a free useful skill for life.

I assume the suprise is that it's just not that common in the UK and as a nation we suck at languages.

Jimbro66

A good friend of mine is married to a Frenchman and they have a lad of primary school age. It would have been nice if he had been brought up to be bilingual but my friend speaks very little French and her husband works long hours in London so the lad sees very little of him during the week, only at weekends. Consequently the lad has limited exposure to French. He has picked up enough to be way ahead of his classmates in French but is certainly not fluent.

If the mother had been the native French speaker it would have been far more likely that the lad would gained fluency in French simply because they spend far more time together.

It's great that your daughter is being raised bilingual WDD. Other folk should be impressed, not surprised.

Logie

We have two grandchildren who are growing up in South Wales and it's fantastic to listen to our grandson switch from Welsh to English with ease.

We lived and worked in various European countries for nigh on 12 years and although we mastered shopping level Greek/ Italian/ German/ Dutch we always envied people who really knuckled down and became fluent.

Our nephew has two language degrees and he helped fund his travels by doing translations over the internet.

It's something to be admired and it's a shame we are not more pro-active as a nation in this regard. 

Mudcrutch

One of my ex wife’s ex husband’s mother and father were Spanish He’s fluent but never bothered teaching his daughter from birth his mother tongue.

scrumhalf

Logie said:

It's something to be admired and it's a shame we are not more pro-active as a nation in this regard. 

I agree. On my travels ten years ago this very week we were joined by a couple of Dutch girls, one of whom spoke so many language that if a UFO had landed she would probably have been able to converse with the aliens.

However, if you are an English speaker in an Englsh-speakingcountry, which language should you learn?

joneve

fretmeister said:

No idea.
I would raise mine that way if I could.

This.

exocet

We are cursed because we speak English - very little incentive to learn other languages which is such a shame. Really wish I could speak another language fluently.