Why wouldn't you raise your kid bilingual?

jonnyburgo

My niece is 9 and speaks English, Turkish ans Arabic perfectly, brains like sponges at that age. Its pretty amazing to see.

CHRISB50

vasselmeyer said:

CHRISB50 said:

My uncle was a strange one. His dad’s family were all Italian. His paternal grandmother could only speak Italian, so always spoke to him in Italian. He couldn’t respond, but understood what she was saying perfectly. He retained that his whole life. He’d go to Italy on holiday and be able to understand what was being said, but could never respond. I don’t really understand how that works. 

@CHRISB50 That is the difference between active and passive language. I said earlier that my wife only speaks to our kids (now in their mid-20s) in her native language. I've been hearing that language for 25+ years and can understand it really well, but because I never speak it, the words won't come. You have to use a language regularly to build an active vocabulary.

Interesting. 

I’ve worked for a Korean company for over 20 years. I recognise every word I hear spoken on a daily basis, but have no idea what they mean. I can sometimes pick up the gist, but only as certain western words are used, as there is no Korean equivalent. 

Brains are funny things. 

shuikit

Because the parents were bulled so heavily as children for speaking a different language or treated like a zoo animal for it that they don't want their own children to have to go through the same.  Or for having a 'not normal' name, why they might only give their children 'English names'

RaymondLin

CHRISB50 said:

vasselmeyer said:

CHRISB50 said:

My uncle was a strange one. His dad’s family were all Italian. His paternal grandmother could only speak Italian, so always spoke to him in Italian. He couldn’t respond, but understood what she was saying perfectly. He retained that his whole life. He’d go to Italy on holiday and be able to understand what was being said, but could never respond. I don’t really understand how that works. 

@CHRISB50 That is the difference between active and passive language. I said earlier that my wife only speaks to our kids (now in their mid-20s) in her native language. I've been hearing that language for 25+ years and can understand it really well, but because I never speak it, the words won't come. You have to use a language regularly to build an active vocabulary.

Interesting. 

I’ve worked for a Korean company for over 20 years. I recognise every word I hear spoken on a daily basis, but have no idea what they mean. I can sometimes pick up the gist, but only as certain western words are used, as there is no Korean equivalent. 

Brains are funny things. 

annyeonghaseyo

CHRISB50

RaymondLin said:

annyeonghaseyo

안녕하세요

ToneControl

Mudcrutch said:

A mate of mine many years ago before the internet decided to teach himself Russian .
Ive always thought Russian was a very hard language to learn and he would give up after a few months but he stuck with it and is fluent even married a Russian girl.a few years later.

what a fortunate coincidence, I wonder why he wanted to learn Russian?

;-)

ToneControl

shuikit said:

Because the parents were bulled so heavily as children for speaking a different language or treated like a zoo animal for it that they don't want their own children to have to go through the same.  Or for having a 'not normal' name, why they might only give their children 'English names'

yes, and some parents want to ensure their kids assimilate

Jalapeno

Simonh said:

His advice for learning was to watch the news in the language you are trying to learn as you should be able to work out what is being said by knowing what is going on in the world.

That's ok, until they start with the Stock Market report, weather forecast or the Football results !

TheMarlin

My children are all fluent (and qualified) in Italian, and have good conversational Spanish. 

But, they’re not kids any more, 29, 23, and 21. 

PonchoGreg

Jimbro66 said:

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.

I'll echo that. I only speak French to my 3yo, but my partner doesn't speak French fluently so we never converse in it. As his nanny/nursery/mum's family is all in English, English really is his default language so I think it'll be a while before he starts speaking French properly. Not helped by the fact that we haven't been able to go to France for a year, given the situation...

But hey, he understands it perfectly and actually uses quite a few french words interchangeably in conversation, so I'm not too worried. He'll get there in time.

EricTheWeary

Jalapeno said:

Simonh said:

His advice for learning was to watch the news in the language you are trying to learn as you should be able to work out what is being said by knowing what is going on in the world.

That's ok, until they start with the Stock Market report, weather forecast or the Football results !

I’ve heard a few times people move abroad and just watch loads of kid’s TV. Languages are spoken fast and fluently and even with some familiarity it’s hard to break them down other than as a stream of noise but on children’s television it’s slower and simpler. 

Cheesey sitcoms are the other one; the exaggerated acting style means you can follow what’s happening without needing to worry about the exact words. 

I watch some French films/ TV with English subtitles. But I’m reading more than I am listening and I know enough French to understand that they don’t offer literal translations. I need to find the French equivalent of Sesame Street. 

UnclePsychosis

EricTheWeary said:

Jalapeno said:

Simonh said:

His advice for learning was to watch the news in the language you are trying to learn as you should be able to work out what is being said by knowing what is going on in the world.

That's ok, until they start with the Stock Market report, weather forecast or the Football results !

I’ve heard a few times people move abroad and just watch loads of kid’s TV. Languages are spoken fast and fluently and even with some familiarity it’s hard to break them down other than as a stream of noise but on children’s television it’s slower and simpler. 

Cheesey sitcoms are the other one; the exaggerated acting style means you can follow what’s happening without needing to worry about the exact words. 

I watch some French films/ TV with English subtitles. But I’m reading more than I am listening and I know enough French to understand that they don’t offer literal translations. I need to find the French equivalent of Sesame Street. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5,_Rue_Sésame

EricTheWeary

UnclePsychosis said:

EricTheWeary said:

Jalapeno said:

Simonh said:

His advice for learning was to watch the news in the language you are trying to learn as you should be able to work out what is being said by knowing what is going on in the world.

That's ok, until they start with the Stock Market report, weather forecast or the Football results !

I’ve heard a few times people move abroad and just watch loads of kid’s TV. Languages are spoken fast and fluently and even with some familiarity it’s hard to break them down other than as a stream of noise but on children’s television it’s slower and simpler. 

Cheesey sitcoms are the other one; the exaggerated acting style means you can follow what’s happening without needing to worry about the exact words. 

I watch some French films/ TV with English subtitles. But I’m reading more than I am listening and I know enough French to understand that they don’t offer literal translations. I need to find the French equivalent of Sesame Street. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/5,_Rue_Sésame

There are episodes on youtube! Yay! 

HAL9000

My cousin had an English mother (my Mum’s sister) and a Swiss father, and spoke fluent English and German. She did some work doing simultaneous translation at UN conferences. Her most amazing achievement though was translating Shakespeare into German - not modern German but German as it would have been in Shakespeare’s time. Sadly she died young but I’ve always been in awe of what she accomplished.

equalsql

My wife's cousin, who is English, married an American of Latvian descent. They live in France and their 10 year old speak English, Latvian and French fluently, with the latter being his primary language as he goes to a French school. His mother prefers to talk to him in Latvian, the father in English. To see such a young lad switch seamlessly  between all three languages is pretty mind-blowing.

strtdv

My dad is pretty good at languages, he speaks English, Dutch, German and Russian fluently, and has some Ukrainian and French too.

I think the contrast in attitudes to a second language is huge between the UK and most European countries. For my GCSE French it was all asking directions and things like that. My dad is Dutch, and his equivalent of GCSE English was reading Jane Austin.