Opinions on Bilingual Parenting

No that is not true they will do well! Children who speek more than one language are very smart because their brain is working quicker than most! I have known some children who speek spanish and english and they are doing great in school! Dont believe everything you hear! IF the language is soken to the child from birth through adult hood they will know and beable to destinguish the difference between all of the languages that are spoken to them! Good luck

Hi A.,

I personally have no experience in this however I am aware of several missionaries that are bilingual and speak their language in the home with the children and the native tongue when in public. I have seen these children to be very successful in life and actually better in school due to the fact that they are taught to "think" and not just memorize.

I can't imaging being bilingual ever being a stumbling block. My sister who has a Masters Degree in Education and 30 years experience with all types of kids also agrees with me.

Wish you well!

M.

I just want to say hooray for you. I think teaching your children different languages is great. I done some reading on it and I've always heard it's better to teach them young than when they are older. I'm hispanic and know very little spanish, because my mother (including aunts & uncles) thought that us kids would have a difficult time in school if they spoke to us in spanish. They did not want us to have a difficult time in school so all of the kids in the family have had to learn spanish in our adult age. I too have been turned down for jobs where we needed to be fluent in Spanish. We all even missed out on having meaningful conversations with our grandparents. We understood them most of the time, but we were not able to speak back to them. We had to have our parents around to translate. So go ahead teach your child all you can. You won't regret it. I still tell my mom, why didn't she teach us. So now she speaks to her grandchildren in Spanish, I also have Dora & Diego to thank. Good Luck.

J.

Hi A.

Are you kidding me? The benefits of a child speaking more than one language are tremendous-especially CHINESE! Children who learn two languages are more often smarter than any other child in their class that only knows one language! They are using more of their brain to think in two different languages. Plus they can even understand the words more-root meanings and derivitives!

My husband is Mexican and I am European, but I can speak French, Serbain/Croatian and a bit of Spanish. My husband can speak Russian and Spanish (We both speak English of course). The more languages the better, it stimulates their minds.

Point to a color and say that color in every language you know and tell him which language it is. Crvena-Red in Serbian, Rouge - Red in French, Rojo-Red in Spanish, etc!

My goodness who told you it would be more difficult for the children in school with two languages? Ask your pediatrician, 2+ languages in the home is way better than 1!

Speak in Chinese even with your husband around-so he can learn a thing or two!

Just think of all the possibilities your child will have in his career having known more than just English. More now than ever people are wanting to hire multi-lingual people and they are paid better every year.

Keep doing what you are doing A. and NEVER STOP! Chinese, English and Spanish are the most popular languages on the planet right now! Imagine how smart your child is now and how much smarter he's going to be with all those languages behind him.

We speak Spanish to my 2 year old and he's a sharp as can be! It astonishes me at times!

Best of luck!

Our family isn't bilingual, but my mom's been an educator for three decades. Through her and through articles I've read, bilingual homes do not hold a child back in school. It will never be easier for your child to learn a second (or third) language than it is now, in early childhood. If you do decide to raise him bilingual, each parent should speak one language to the child. In your case, you speak Chinese to him at home and dad can speak English. Because he will be learning two languages, he may be a bit behind his peers on English, but nothing so dramatic that it would be considered a problem. Ultimately, it's your decision what you and your hubby want to do, but it would be such a fantastic opportunity for your son to learn Chinese. In this ever more global economy we have, it will be a huge asset to your son to have "fluent in Chinese" on his resume.

A., I am sorry you are feeling so confused on this issue. I think it is just awesome that you are in a position to give your child a head start in learning multiple languages. Children learn best when they are young. I am not experienced in this myself as, unfortunately, I am an English-only speaker. Many jobs I've come across would have been available to me as a social worker if I'd spoken Spanish. It's something that I can pick up a little now, but the time to learn was as a child. My oldest son is 5 and quickly learning Spanish in school so that hopefully he will be fluent. Studies have shown that in the long run, multilinguality leads to better test scores in English as well. Grasp of 1 new language leads to more easily grasped 2nd and 3rd languages. The job opportunities are tremendous for the multilingual.
I have also heard, and read, about difficulties and confusion for children learning more than one language. Current research shows one problem... that babies who are spoken to often do not speak as early as those with one language. Probably this is due to some confusion, but that generally it is because they are busy learning to differentiate the multiple languages... very much UNDERSTANDING although not SPEAKING. Once they've mastered the differences, usually before school age, they are proficient in the different languages and are now at a major advantage.
If you will do a search engine search (Google is my preferred), you can find many articles and discussions on the issue that I believe will convince you that raising your child with multiple languages is a gift and a valuable upstart for his education. You sound like a wonderful and caring mother. Best of luck to you.

Hola A. H,
Soy B. J y tuve la misma preocupacion. Mi esposo solo habla Ingles y yo hablo Espanol (mi primer idioma) e Ingles (mas o menos). Algunas amigas de la infancia se casaron con maridos extranjeros que hablan tres idiomas y me dijeron lo siguiente: Primero deberan tener mucha paciencia pues al principio hablara mezclando los idiomas, hasta que vaya a la escuela comenzara a separar cada idioma. En mi caso cuando mi esposo esta trabajando y yo estoy en casa veo programas en Espanol y hablo todo el tiempo en Espanol. Llega mi esposo y como tu comienzo a hablarle tambien en Ingles. Recuerda que la unica fuente que tiene tu hijo para aprender Chino correctamente es por tu parte. El Ingles correcto lo aprendera en la escuela.
Y al igual que A. si alguna mama quiere compartir mas tips sobre este tema, en verdad se lo vamos a agradecer!!!!

HI A. H,
I am B. J and I had the same worry. My husband speaks only English and I speak Spanish (my first language) and English (more or less). Some of my friends from childhood are married with foreign spouses that speak three languagues and they told me the following: Firstly you must have a lot of patience because at the beggining the kid will start to talk mixing all the languages until he/she goes to school will start to separate each language. In my case, while my husband is working I watch programs in Spanish and I talk in Spanish then when he arrives I start to talk in English again. Remember that the only source to learn the correct Chinese will be from you. He will learn the correct English at the school.
And as A. asked, If any mom would like to share more tips, we will really appreciate it!!!!!

Hope you're having a great day, A.! I think it's great that you're able to teach your child more than one language and it will only benefit your child in the long run. However, since your home is primarily an English-speaking home (both parents speak English) and if you're planning on sending him to an English-speaking school, then I would definitely speak English the majority of the time, especially when you're husband is around. You can regulate other times during the day when it's time to speak Chinese/Spanish so he will learn that those are his secondary languages.

A. - My brother is 1/2 Cuban, and was brought up by his Cuban grandmother who spoke only Spanish and very little English. When he started school, he knew both languages and did very well at the English speaking school. He has been bilingual all his life with no problems at school. Also, I read in a baby magazine that teaching babies more than one language should be encouraged. They learn at a very early age how to distinguish one language from another and are able to keep them separate.

Actually, It has been shown that children who have learned multiple languages at home tend to be in the position of learning easier. More of their brain has to be used in order to process more than one language. You are giving your child a great head start in life by doing this..:) You would not be hindering your child's ability to learn, you will be expanding it. I strongly suggest teaching your child two languages at a time, because it can be a bit confusing...:) I say--go Mom!! and be sure that hubby supports you 100%. You are a great parent for giving your child this gift!

That is not true! Don't listen to other people,listen to your heart. Children learn so much faster than adults. Having two languages or more will only benifit him. It will make him stronger in school. Also, you don't want him to lose out on his culture or not know about where he came from. It is only Americans who feel one language is enough. When I lived in Europe almost everyone I knew had at least two languages, sometimes 3.
You can never teach a child too much!
K. Willard

The lady I use to babysit for moved to Italy and married a man who spoke Italian and English. They're nanny spoke Spanish, English, and I do believe Greek. The lady had another child and both children were taught these languages. The little girl I babysat, she doesn't have any problems in English at all. She is now 15 years old. But, you know... teach your husband so your daughter can use to both of you speaking in Chinese. But, I don't think its a bad idea. Don't forget sign language when have another baby... better communication there! heh. I know what my 9 month old wants. heh. Good luck on everything!

I was a pre chool teacher for 4 years..Before my triplets...anyway...It is great idea to teach your child other languages...They pick up very easily when they are younger...Also they will only teach english in preschool..Utilize what you can now...Good Luck...My husband speaks fluent spanish & teaches my children spanish and they now know a few words in Italian..

I say go for it. My neice and nephew learned English, French and German from a young age (just under 2 years old). Coming from a French Canadian mother, American father and the family lived in Germany.

Both kids are in honors classes and have also advanced a whole grade. They are now 9 and 11 years old and both parents happen to be teachers. I think there is more evidence to support teaching another language early on helps the brain to expand.

I've chosen to teach my kids American Sign Language as it is the only other language that I know. So far, so good. Bottom line, trust your motherly instinct. Only YOU know what is best for your kids.

I think being raised bilingual or even trilingual is a wonderful thing. I wish I could do that with my son. I do know a couple who are American (wife) and German (husband) and he spoke only in German to their daughter from the time she was born. When they sent her to preschool they put her in a Spanish class. Now, she is somewhat trilingual. She speaks German almost perfectly, speaks English perfectly and still speaks Spanish pretty well also. I would encourage you to continue speaking to your son in Chinese and start researching raising your children bilingual. There is a lot of research out there that supports what you want to do. I would also encourage you to teach Chinese to your husband. That is what my friends did and even though the mom is not fluent in German she can still have small conversations with her daughter in German. I personally think you are doing a wonderful thing!

I'm a Pre-K teacher and I think it is wonderful that you are teaching your son multiple languages. We start teaching spanish and some american sign language in pre k at my school. It has never caused any problem as far as I have seen. We have a student who was raised with parents speaking two diff. languages at home and she is now fluent in both. Her mother spoke Spanish and her father English. Hope this helps.

Hello,

I am a mother of 3 and my husband is spanish and i am from the United States. He speaks spanish and english and i speak english and i understand spanish but i do not want to speak spanish. We speak only english to our kids and we teach them a few words at a time in spanish often. When i was trying to teach my daughter spanish when she was 5 and my middle son was 3. My son would try to learn at the same time.
BUT he was counting his numbers like this.

One, two, three, cuatro, cinco, six, seven, ocho, nueve, ten.

When i heard him counting like this, I knew that teaching them spanish at that time was not good for them.

I feel like we live here in the United States and we need to learn how to talk in English FIRST and then after they understand English well and they can understand the difference between them both then i will make sure that they learn how to speak in Spanish as well.

My daughter and middle son are both in school now and school is not easy. They will need to know how to talk very well in ENGLISH.

If your child gets confused between 3 different languages then things might get harder on the child and then the child might not enjoy learning.

This is really all up to you and your husband on what you want to do, not all familys are the same.

Remember your son is only little once and trust me when i tell you this "they really do grow up to fast" so enjoy him while he is little and he has his whole life to learn and grow. NO RUSH.

I wish you the best.

i think its great and its been proven children learn second languages easily by the age of 5, if you lay a foundation and just keep him practicing he should be fine. i would however devote as much time to english as chinese personally tho i think its great because your son gets the best of both heritages, as for spanish you live in Fla I would keep up those lessons as well unless you just see him super struggling when he gets older.

I have no experience, unfortunately. I only wish I was fluent in another language to be able to teach my children. I have heard many benefits of teaching children another language at an early age, which other moms have referred to already. You are very fortunate to have that skill. Share it with your son!