I am speaking Sinhalese Language as my mother language, but we stated to talking English at home when my baby is 6 moths, now she is almost 2 years old and can say about 25 words, and can understand simple sentences, but she is still not talk sentences, only she is saying "What's this?". In my country speaking English is very important.Unfortunately I and my husband also not 100% fluent in English. But we desperately want our girl to lean English.Please mums, give me some advises about my problem, is it all right us to talk continuously in English even though we are not fluent in it as much as we do in our mother language?
Thank you mums, all of you were really helpful, I'm planning to go to my mother land after another 2 years, where the mother language is Sinhalese, according to your answers, I believe that it is better to continue talking in English as when we go back to the mother land she will any ways expose to the mother language.
The more you talk in English, the more she will learn. Also the more she is with children her age or a bit older, she'll start to learn. She'll get grammar later on, like most children. It already sounds like you know a lot so I wouldn't worry about it :D Do you go on playdates? That would help both you and your daughter.
She will learn just fine. Speak to her in both languages; whatever English she doesn't learn from you, she will pick up in school. Most kids raised in the US in bilingual families become English dominant. Here is a good research based article if you are interested: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/raisebilingchild.html
I actually wouldn't worry too much about it. If she's going to grow up in the US, English WILL be her main language. She will hear it on TV, from friends, all through her schooling years, she will read English, she'll have no choice but to speak it. And as SHE learns to speak it, YOU will also improve. The challenge for you, as she gets older, will be to keep her fluent in Sinhalese, too. At some point, she will probably be the only one of her friends that speaks it and might refuse (she wants to be like her friends and not stand out). I've got so many friends who are raising bilingual kids and right at the time peer pressure starts, they revert to only English for a while. Then it becomes "cool" to speak another language and they start up with their second language again. If I were you, I'd actually keep speaking only Sinhalese to her, but set up lots of playdates with English speaking friends, enroll her in English speaking pre-school (like there's much choice there in the US), let her watch TV in English, read her books in English. There are many families in the US where parents speak NO English, but the children are perfectly fluent in both, speaking English like an American and their native tongue like a native. So your daughter will be just fine.
I think you should actually speak more of your mother language. Since she lives in NY, your daughter will get exposed to English quite a lot when she is out of the home, but she will only get exposure to your mother language through you and your husband. Being bilingual will become invaluable to her as she grows older, since it will help her learn other languages much easier.
I have background in the field. Please, please speak your native language with your child. It is a gift you can give her. If she is exposed to too much English now (and not enough Sinhalese), her window of opportunity to learn it will close. Many parents who speak several languages regret not speaking enough of the native tongue to their little ones.
Secondly, if you and your husband do not feel you are very fluent in English, it is actually BETTER that you speak your language so she establishes a language "system" with proper rules, etc. Good luck whatever you decide!
