# Bilinguals or Trilingual moms Tribe



## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Hola all,
I will love to add a new tribe of Bilinguals or/and Trilingual moms.
I will like to share tips in how to teach your kids 2 or more languages, help each other if we need info in how to pronounce or write words in other language, share favorite websites, review language videos, etc.
My first language is Spanish and I know English too, my husband only speak English but I think he knows more Spanish then what he makes me believe he does.
I want my kids to learn both language and if possible one more, but I am not sure how to add the 3rd., would love to hear your opinions, tips, etc.

Bienvenidas, Welcome all!!!


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## Renai (Sep 5, 2006)

Hello,

I'm an English speaker, fluent in Spanish, and my husband is a native Spanish speaker. We've homeschooled our daughter bilingually since kindergarten- she's now in 5th grade. She wants to add German to her repertoire.


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## FallenofTrack (Mar 15, 2010)

Well, I am not bilingual, but my boyfriend's native language is Spanish, so the plan is to teach our daughter Spanish. She is two now, and we just recently started saying things to her in Spanish. I know some of the basics in Spanish and I have also bought some bilingual preschool books and flashcards to start of. At this point, she knows some body parts, articles of clothing, and numbers 1-10. I wanted to do one parent, one language, but my boyfriend isn't putting as much effort into it, as I would like. I keep telling him that he needs to consistently speak in Spanish to her, so that she will have no choice but to try to comunicate with him like that, but he isn't doing it as much as I would like. I have also looked into some language programs that use multimedia to teach young kids. I am thinking about getting either KinderSpeak or Muzzy, so that she can learn from that, and also so I can watch and learn along with her.


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## Plaid Leopard (Sep 26, 2003)

I am American and DH is French. He only speaks French with the children and I am fluent in French, so speak French with DH and both languages with the kids. They are homeschooled, and although I would say that English is their first language, they learned/are learning to read and write in French. I was worried how I was going to teach them to read in English but the two oldest just figured it out on their own.
We lived in Germany for a while but the kids didn't pick up much German as they weren't in school and we always managed to find French and English speakers. They did understand a bit.
Then we spent just three months in Italy and they picked up a lot of Italian.
I would like them to start on another language. My daughter is really interested in learning Chinese and my ds said the other day that he would like to learn Arabic.

I think it is important to speak all languages consistently. I know my DH was frustrated in the beginning when the kids would only respond in English, but he continued to speak only in French and now the older kids are completely bilingual. My almost 3yo is just now starting to use French but he understands everything when DH speaks to him.


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## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Renai* 
Hello,
she's now in 5th grade. She wants to add German to her repertoire.









That is cool, why she decide German? Most girls I know (tween and teens) want to learn French. My cousing (she is 15) she learn English since young and now she is learning French. Her mom only speak Spanish, I give her extra credit for that.


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## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *FallenofTrack* 
I have also looked into some language programs that use multimedia to teach young kids. I am thinking about getting either KinderSpeak or Muzzy, so that she can learn from that, and also so I can watch and learn along with her.

I am having such a hard time finding any fun videos for my 2 year old (for Spanish) the best I have found is in Youtube but are very few. The other day I got the Dora cd in Barnes & Noble, I didn't put to much attention and I thought it was a DV like the show in TV but with more words, but it was just a CD, my daughter got so bored, which I don't understand because she loves Dora.
Btw, I wish Dora would speak more in Spanish, I have learn more Chines from Ni Hao Kai Lan that my daughter Spanish from Dora.


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## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Plaid Leopard* 
I am American and DH is French. He only speaks French with the children and I am fluent in French, so speak French with DH and both languages with the kids. They are homeschooled, and although I would say that English is their first language, they learned/are learning to read and write in French. I was worried how I was going to teach them to read in English but the two oldest just figured it out on their own.
We lived in Germany for a while but the kids didn't pick up much German as they weren't in school and we always managed to find French and English speakers. They did understand a bit.
Then we spent just three months in Italy and they picked up a lot of Italian.
I would like them to start on another language. .

Ok, I have a couple questions








-Did you teach them to speak English but how to read and write in French?
-Do you speak Italian or they got it on their own from other kids?

I was learning some Russian at one point and wanted to teach them what I knew but I had 2 problems with that. One, that I am afraid I will get them confused and 2, that even if I could understand some stuff my accent was awful, so I was afraid to teach them wrong.


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## FallenofTrack (Mar 15, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoviC* 
I am having such a hard time finding any fun videos for my 2 year old (for Spanish) the best I have found is in Youtube but are very few. The other day I got the Dora cd in Barnes & Noble, I didn't put to much attention and I thought it was a DV like the show in TV but with more words, but it was just a CD, my daughter got so bored, which I don't understand because she loves Dora.
Btw, I wish Dora would speak more in Spanish, I have learn more Chines from Ni Hao Kai Lan that my daughter Spanish from Dora.









I have found some videos on YouTube, as well. But like I had mentioned in my other post, I definitely want to try one of the multimedia learning programs, such as Kinderspeak or Muzzy. These programs start with the basics of the language and then add more concepts, so that kids can build on what they learn. My daughter also watches Dora and Diego. I have had her watch Dora just in Spanish, a couple of times, to see how she would respond to it. There is a "Nick in Espanol" feature that Optimum Cable does so that kids can watch the cartoons in Spanish. I also got a set of flashcards that teaches Spanish vocabulary and also how to say simple sentences using the vocabulary.


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## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *FallenofTrack* 
I definitely want to try one of the multimedia learning programs, such as Kinderspeak or Muzzy. There is a "Nick in Espanol" feature that Optimum Cable does so that kids can watch the cartoons in Spanish. .

I went to youtube to check for Muzzy, it looked good, but I only could find one in Spanish (they have other in other language)








If you do buy it, please let us know your review.
I am going to check if I have the Nick in Espanol.
Have you check El Perro y el gato (HBO Latino)? My daughter likes them.
I want to put the link for them but don't know how to. I mean, I have see other people that put links but they are like hiding in a word? Do I am making sense, lol.








I should have say that my English is not that good, but I think you notice that already, lol.


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## FallenofTrack (Mar 15, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YoviC* 
I went to youtube to check for Muzzy, it looked good, but I only could find one in Spanish (they have other in other language)








If you do buy it, please let us know your review.
I am going to check if I have the Nick in Espanol.
Have you check El Perro y el gato (HBO Latino)? My daughter likes them.
I want to put the link for them but don't know how to. I mean, I have see other people that put links but they are like hiding in a word? Do I am making sense, lol.








I should have say that my English is not that good, but I think you notice that already, lol.

Hi YoviC, I still need to buy one of the programs. My boyfriend is the one who works so it's up to him when we will be able to buy it. They are a bit expensive and our budget is tight right now, so I might have to wait a few more weeks to get one of the programs. Right now, I am trying to find free programs online, to start with. I just found a program called Visual Link Spanish. It's not a free program, but it does offer some free basic lessons to start with, so that potential buyers can see how the program works. I am going to do the free lessons for now, so that I can learn some more of the basics in Spanish and also teach my daughter what I learn, and then once we can afford to buy a program, I'll make a decision about which one to purchase. But it seems really good. We don't get HBO, so I haven't heard about el perro y el gato, but I'll do a search and see what it's about.

I understand what you mean about the links. It's easy to make a link, you just have to click on the link icon, in the toolbar above the comment box, then paste the url into the box that pops up. This is a link for the Visual Link Spanish http://www.spanishprograms.com/sp/ab...ish_course.htm


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## 2timestrouble (Aug 11, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *FallenofTrack* 
This is a link for the Visual Link Spanish http://www.spanishprograms.com/sp/ab...ish_course.htm

It looks good but it does is expensive.
I was thinking another good source is to get DVD from your husband country, that way they also get use to to accents and slang.
That was one of my problems when learning English, even if I could read, people would speak too fast and some would use slang, which you never learn at school, lol.


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## Bellabaz (Feb 27, 2008)

Hey all,

I am an English speaker married to an Italian and we live in France. We speak both languages with each other but only our mother tongues to our kids. Dh is more or less fluent in French. I am working on it and dd1 attends French pre school.

We have books in both our languages and use the library for French books. Any recommendations for Italian kids dvd's? We only find alot of american stuff tranlsated, but wanted something that was actually Italian. We like "i cosi", but can't find them on dvd. Finding english dvds is not a problem.


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## Bellabaz (Feb 27, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Plaid Leopard* 
I think it is important to speak all languages consistently. I know my DH was frustrated in the beginning when the kids would only respond in English, but he continued to speak only in French and now the older kids are completely bilingual. My almost 3yo is just now starting to use French but he understands everything when DH speaks to him.

This is really good to know. Our dd1 often responds in English to dh and we were getting a bit worried. Good to know things can work themselves out.


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## amrijane128 (Jan 6, 2007)

Hi mamas! I'd love to join, though I'm not sure if I qualify.







I'm a native english speaker, currently in college, majoring in Spanish. I'd love love love for my little ones to speak spanish, I just wish I could speak more fluently to them. My mother speaks spanish fluently, but it's been a hard time getting her to only talk to my daughter in spanish. DD (3.5) knows her animals, colors, numbers, as well as a few odds and ends (stand up, left, right, clothing articles, etc.) but I'm also very interested in more multimedia that would help out. I also wish Dora spoke more spanish!!


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## joanna0707 (Jan 2, 2009)

Hello








My name is Joanna, both I and DH are Polish and live in US. DS is 3 and right now he speaks mainly our mother tongue, which we speak at home. He is learning some English thru everyday exposure but his vocabulary is very limited. I'm planning on homeschooling him in English so I've decided it's time to work on his second language. I'm very careful with media exposure but I do let him watch 1-2 episodes of Caillou or Backyardigans a day, which I consider his English lesson, we also read lots of books in both language. I've also stared looking for a homescholing group in our area, his English will improve quickly once he starts hanging out with English speaking children on regular basis.
I do have some fears about homeschooling DS in English, I have a pretty strong accent and my grammar will never be perfect but I do believe he will do just fine, I will just have to make sure he gets exposed to "good" English a lot.

Both I and DH speak Italian, we plan on teaching it to DS in the future


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## quiero a mi bebe (Oct 26, 2007)

Hello,
I speak english as my first language and almost fluent in spanish, and my husband is the opposite, with spanish as his first and english as his second. Our dd is 5 and speaks english and understands most spanish and is just starting to speak spanish a little too. I want dh to speak to her only in spanish but mostly he speaks to her in english, although me and dh speak in spanish with each other. I taught her most of what she knows in spanish, #'s, alphabet, animals, body parts, etc. I do worry that I don't speak perfectly in sentences in spanish and I will teach her wrong.. DD just started french immersion kindergarten, and I worry a little that spanish will be forgotten, but I am getting on dh's case to speak only in spanish with her. She has books in english and spanish and I like tout movies on in spanish for her, but sometimes she doesn't like it. But we'll keep trying I guess.


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## FallenofTrack (Mar 15, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *quiero a mi bebe* 
Hello,
I speak english as my first language and almost fluent in spanish, and my husband is the opposite, with spanish as his first and english as his second. Our dd is 5 and speaks english and understands most spanish and is just starting to speak spanish a little too. I want dh to speak to her only in spanish but mostly he speaks to her in english, although me and dh speak in spanish with each other. I taught her most of what she knows in spanish, #'s, alphabet, animals, body parts, etc. I do worry that I don't speak perfectly in sentences in spanish and I will teach her wrong.. DD just started french immersion kindergarten, and I worry a little that spanish will be forgotten, but I am getting on dh's case to speak only in spanish with her. She has books in english and spanish and I like tout movies on in spanish for her, but sometimes she doesn't like it. But we'll keep trying I guess.

This kind of sounds like my story. My first language is also English, but I do know some stuff in Spanish, and that is what I have been teaching my daughter. My boyfriend's first language is Spanish, and at first, I was always nagging him to only talk to our daughter in Spanish, but he isn't putting in the effort to do that. He just goes right back to talking to her in English, and will only talk to her in Spanish if he is in a playful/happy mood. It is important to me that she learns Spanish so I was hoping that he would have taken it more seriously, but I guess it is going to come down to me getting one of those Spanish language programs for her, like i mentioned in previous posts.


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## mambera (Sep 29, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Bellabaz* 
This is really good to know. Our dd1 often responds in English to dh and we were getting a bit worried. Good to know things can work themselves out.









You know, I think it depends a lot on the child. I know a family where one (adult) child is quite proficient in their parents' native language and the other (also adult) child barely speaks it at all.

I think it can be problematic if the children hear the nondominant language but always respond in the dominant language. They may never learn to speak the nondominant although their understanding will be very good. I've seen this happen a lot, it really seems to depend on the individual kid and his/her inherent talent for languages.


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## Plaid Leopard (Sep 26, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2timestrouble* 
Ok, I have a couple questions








-Did you teach them to speak English but how to read and write in French?
-Do you speak Italian or they got it on their own from other kids?

I was learning some Russian at one point and wanted to teach them what I knew but I had 2 problems with that. One, that I am afraid I will get them confused and 2, that even if I could understand some stuff my accent was awful, so I was afraid to teach them wrong.


They naturally spoke English first, then started speaking French as they got older. When they were ready to learn to read we just did everything in French instead of English - alphabet, grammar, spelling, etc. I was a bit worried that it would be hard for them to learn to read in English but they just did that on their own - I don't know how!

We lived in Italy for three months. I don't speak Italian but we all kind of learned together while we were there. We had a couple of neighbors who would teach them words and let them watch Italian TV at their house. And the local shopkeepers would speak to them and teach them how to say different things like how to order an ice cream, or ask for the blue pen, or the big stuffed dog or whatever.


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## exigently (May 13, 2008)

our daughter (american, living in China) speaks much better Mandarin than we do! we often have to turn to her for translation







she's developed a prominent Shanghai accent also, which our neighbors all find inordinately cute. we have a Chinese nanny who does not speak english, so that's an invaluable language-learning resource.

another way of learning is simply through the desire to communicate with other kids - wee ones pick up on words pretty quickly when they have something they want to say! lark seems to have forgotten most of her Hindi, but she picked up playground-speak pretty rapidly when we were there.

we're trying to puzzle out ways to encourage language retention. our home vocabulary uses a few words of nepali and turkish (some which were 'important!' words, others which we used with great frequency). her word for 'hot' is still the Nepali 'taato', here/there are the Turkish 'nerada/burada' and so forth. using these key words in daily life sometimes triggers a spontantous outpouring of words we were sure she'd forgotten. sometimes words that mum and dad have forgotten









this is a less-popular option, but occasional viewing of movies in previously-learned languages seems to greatly encourage retention also. the realtime audio-visual seems to make comprehension almost effortless.


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## jesiyvonne (Sep 24, 2010)

Happy to find a post like this! I speak okej Swedish and will definitely be picking up more as the months progress to teach to my little one coming in March 2011! I am interested in any experience someone may have had with using a nanny who can fluently speak a second language (first speaker non-english) to immerse their child in a different language. Perhaps an au pair or the like? My husband and I are considering hiring an au pair from abroad next year. Feel free to quick reply or PM. Long stories welcome and enjoyed!


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## Neera (Jul 15, 2007)

Haven't read all the posts here but dd has picked up a lot of spanish from spanish programs on V-me channel. We have Direct Tv.


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## Franci (Mar 6, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jesiyvonne* 







Happy to find a post like this! I speak okej Swedish and will definitely be picking up more as the months progress to teach to my little one coming in March 2011! I am interested in any experience someone may have had with using a nanny who can fluently speak a second language (first speaker non-english) to immerse their child in a different language. Perhaps an au pair or the like? My husband and I are considering hiring an au pair from abroad next year. Feel free to quick reply or PM. Long stories welcome and enjoyed!


Hi.
I'm Italian, married to a Chinese naturalized american and we live in Monaco.
My child is 3 years old and his italian is very, very good. My husband was speaking Mandarin to him, but he was so behind that he was having issues comunicating with his dad. Now we hired a Chineses nanny. She has been coming 5 hours a day for 5 days a week for the last 2 months. Well, my son now is able to follow when she speaks and to make conversation. Still not at the same level of Italian and I doubt he will ever get there. And now he is also going to French speaking kindergarden. We tried in the past with Chinese but the hours and frequency was not enough.


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## MissE (May 12, 2007)

So glad to find this thread. I'm German, born and grew up there for 24 years. I'm now married to a US citizen, living in the US. We have two kids, I only speak German with the kids, no other language. They are still very young (2 and 3 years old) and I love to see them pick up more and more German. I'm proud to see my son trying to answer in german to my - also German -friends. He still has some issues with the basic grammar and words. If he does talk english to me (which is almost all the time with German words thrown in the mix) I say the sentence in German and then have him (and his sister) repeat it to me. They do really good. He can sing the ABC and count to 10 in German. I was also thinking about looking more into Muzzy or little Pim DVDs for them to pick up more of the language. We'll see how it goes.


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## jeffsdear (Aug 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Plaid Leopard* 
They naturally spoke English first, then started speaking French as they got older. When they were ready to learn to read we just did everything in French instead of English - alphabet, grammar, spelling, etc. I was a bit worried that it would be hard for them to learn to read in English but they just did that on their own - I don't know how!

We have had a similar experience. I taught my two youngest all in German. then they attended public school for two years, and lost alot of their fluency in speaking. Now they are back schooling at home, and I'm trying to help them regain some of that. My husband doesn't speak any German, so English is definitely the dominant language at home, and getting the kids to speak German now is an uphill battle.


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## Renai (Sep 5, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2timestrouble* 







That is cool, why she decide German? Most girls I know (tween and teens) want to learn French. My cousing (she is 15) she learn English since young and now she is learning French. Her mom only speak Spanish, I give her extra credit for that.









She wants to learn German because I told her stories about when I lived in Germany as a teen (my dad is retired military). She was really excited about learning a language of a foreign place I had lived in. I used to speak and read a fair amount of German, but have lost most of that ability. I've taught her only basics- counting, alphabet, simple phrases. I'm trying to find a program for her that will help with her desire to learn more German but it's not easy.


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## sapphire_chan (May 2, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *2timestrouble* 
I am having such a hard time finding any fun videos for my 2 year old (for Spanish) the best I have found is in Youtube but are very few. The other day I got the Dora cd in Barnes & Noble, I didn't put to much attention and I thought it was a DV like the show in TV but with more words, but it was just a CD, my daughter got so bored, which I don't understand because she loves Dora.
Btw, I wish Dora would speak more in Spanish, I have learn more Chines from Ni Hao Kai Lan that my daughter Spanish from Dora.









Have you seen Pocoyo?


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## Herbal Ummi (Sep 25, 2010)

I am so glad I found this thread. We are Americans who have lived in Yemen for eight years now. We all speak English and Arabic, but the children are truly bilingual, something I am SO thankful for. I also speak Spanish, and my eldest son speaks French and German.

It's interesting the way the smaller children will speak to each other in both languages. One will ask a question in English, and the other will answer it in Arabic. Or they know when they are out of the house, they HAVE to speak Arabic- they never even try English on people outside of the family...


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## Mosaic (Jun 20, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *FallenofTrack* 
My daughter also watches Dora and Diego. I have had her watch Dora just in Spanish, a couple of times, to see how she would respond to it. There is a "Nick in Espanol" feature that Optimum Cable does so that kids can watch the cartoons in Spanish.

We have the most basic of basic cable (~25 channels), but Univision has children's programming on Saturday mornings that include Dora and Diego in Spanish, among others. It's the reverse of the English version: 99% Spanish with some token English words thrown in.







We record them, edit out the commercials, and then can pop in a dvd any time. Telefutura has Plaza Sesamo on Sundays, too, I think, plus Reino Animal and other stuff. And in my area at least, you can get those channels with just an antenna!









I'm an English speaker married to a bilingual South American, living in the US. We speak Spanish at home with our 2 daughters (6 months and 4 yrs old), but I'm struggling to improve my grammar and vocabulary to stay ahead of DD... I feel like I will never be really "fluent"! We just started both girls at a Spanish immersion daycare (transferred from an English one), and have already noticed DD's Spanish coming more freely, increased vocabulary, etc. She's even picking up their accent.









But I could really use some tips on how to improve my *own* Spanish, since even my DH works in a bilingual unit at his office, so I'm the only one without any extra Spanish exposure during the day. FWIW, I studied it in high school, spent 3 months abroad (2 separate trips), and have been speaking to DD exclusively in Spanish for the last 4 yrs; but I really struggle with professional Spanish and more complicated verb forms.







Plus I always like more vocabulary.


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## MamitaM (Sep 10, 2010)

I'm an English speaking mama and hope to teach my son Spanish and he will of course learn French in school. I don't speak Spanish though so have no idea how to teach him. He's still to young to really know the difference yet,but I sometimes play Spanish music. I'd like to find some DVD's other then Dora for him.


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## east carolina (Apr 5, 2006)

I'm a bilingual Czech-American living in the Czech Republic now and raising my son to speak both Czech and English. DH is Czech, but is fluent in English. So far, DS is more comfortable speaking English though he was born here and his extended family speak very little English. He'll most likely be going to Czech public school next year, so I expect his Czech to really take off there. He hasn't said what other language he feels like learning in school. I love being bilingual (I'm actually trilingual English, Czech, French and once upon a time my Russian wasn't too shabby) and DS hasn't had any problems with it.


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## ltlmrs (Dec 17, 2009)

Anybody have experience with adding a third language that neither parent is fluent in? My mother and I speak & read to Ladybug (2) exclusively in our native language. Everybody else, including DH uses English. We'll be homeschooling and at some point we will want to throw French into the mix, which DH and I both speak though we're both pretty rusty. Later she will also be learning Latin & Greek as part of the formal curriculum (we're planning on a classical approach).

I plan on teaching her to read first in my language, since it uses a non-Latin alphabet. Unfortunately, our state has requirements that all instruction must be in English, so the goal is to teach her to read before she starts formal schooling, then do the core subjects in English. But, I'd like to introduce French pretty soon too, before we start formal schooling. Any ideas for doing this? Would even a little bit of exposure (like half a dozen words per week) be helpful, or should I just wait and make French a formal school subject?

Thanks!


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## joanna0707 (Jan 2, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ltlmrs* 
Anybody have experience with adding a third language that neither parent is fluent in? My mother and I speak & read to Ladybug (2) exclusively in our native language. Everybody else, including DH uses English. We'll be homeschooling and at some point we will want to throw French into the mix, which DH and I both speak though we're both pretty rusty. Later she will also be learning Latin & Greek as part of the formal curriculum (we're planning on a classical approach).

I plan on teaching her to read first in my language, since it uses a non-Latin alphabet. Unfortunately, our state has requirements that all instruction must be in English, so the goal is to teach her to read before she starts formal schooling, then do the core subjects in English. But, I'd like to introduce French pretty soon too, before we start formal schooling. Any ideas for doing this? Would even a little bit of exposure (like half a dozen words per week) be helpful, or should I just wait and make French a formal school subject?

Thanks!

Exposing her to french by the way of total immersion will be most beneficial in my opinion, do you know anyone who speaks good French, who will be willing to spend some time with you and DS on regular basis?


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## Carolina Kel (Jul 1, 2009)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sapphire_chan*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> ...


We love Pocoyo! I love the fact that it's easy to understand thanks to the white backgrounds and isn't visually overstimulating. It's easy to understand and well-written.  I ordered the box set from Spain because we really like the original Pocoyo. It was expensive, but worth it.

My husband speaks only English, and I am a bilingual Spanish-English, and it's great to be able to have a show that our son can watch with both of us. He watches the Spanish version with me, and the English version with DH. DH's favorite episode is Loula Huele Mal/Dirty Dog... he loves the Spanish version because he can now say "You smell awful" in Spanish to some of his more malodorous friends. 

DH and I have also decided that if our son does watch cartoons or animated movies that are just entertainment - ex. Ratatouille or Flushed Away - instead of educational programs like Sesame Street/Plaza Sesamo, we change the language track to Spanish. I also have no problems with him watching certain anime programs - as long as they are subtitled in English and have a Japanese language audio. We figure that if he's going to watch 'garbage' - he ought to get some benefit from it.


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## porttack (May 1, 2010)

If you are bilingual, speak English with your DH and child, and speak your native language with your parents, what does your child call your parents?


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## Ragana (Oct 15, 2002)

Hope it's not too late to post. I have only recently come back to Mothering after a long absence. My kids are now 11 and 7, and I first joined when pregnant with DD2! I'm enjoying reading the threads about pre-teens now! LOL

I speak Latvian and English natively and German as a foreign language. My profession is translation, and I work from German to English. I use Latvian regularly with my family and in my community volunteering and also speak it to my kids. It's very important to me that they speak my family's native language. DH speaks English natively, learned German as a foreign language and knows some Latvian, too. He speaks English to the kids. Both kids are also in Spanish immersion at school, although part of the day is in English as well, as the immersion program is just one track within the school. We have not actively taught the kids German, except for a few words, although DD1 was born there. I would say English is their strongest language. They do attend a Latvian program on Saturdays and definitely are fluent to some degree (albeit with varying accuracy as far as grammar goes!), but they frequently answer in English - the reminders are constant! That is why I try to stay very active in the community to give them more natural exposure to the language. It's very expensive to visit Latvia, but I would love to go for a summer to truly get immersed and bump up their speaking skills. I am hoping DD1 can continue with Spanish in middle school next year, as she is completing her 6th year now. Both of them enjoy Spanish. I wish we had as many great materials available in Latvian as are available in Spanish.

Looking forward to continuing this discussion!


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## betmina (Mar 1, 2011)

I speak Spanish and Czech natively, and some Slovak thrown in the mix as well. I attended an English immersion until 8th grade. My parents were born in Czechoslovakia and they immigrated to Mexico when they were young so I was born and grew up as a Mexican.

My SO is Ukranian, he's trilingual and speaks Ukranian, Russian and English.

My DSS's were born in Ukraine and when they moved to England with SO they were 6 and 3, they speak Ukranian and some Russian. My DD was born in Mexico but when I moved to England she was 8 months old, she's British, in her little 4 year old mind she's British and she uses English the most. My mother when she comes speaks Czech to her and I use some Czech as well. And even though DD and I are EU citizens through the Czech Republic we barely use the language. Its far more important to me that she learns Spanish, it's a widely used language and it will have more benefits for her in the future. And also my stepdad, the man that she calls grandpa, doesnt speak Czech so that's when she has to use Spanish. She will only speak Czech and Spanish when she has no other option or when I ask her to.

The 3 kids are in a French immersion school and DD's best friend since we moved here is German and I find out that the girl speaks German and DD English and they can perfectly understand eachother. Unleast if she doesnt speak it she understands it.

So it's an English,Spanish, Czech and Ukranian household. The kids speak English and Ukranian to eachother, Spanish with me and Ukranian with SO. Some Czech when my mum comes to visit and some random Russian aswell.

Quote:



> Originally Posted by *porttack*
> 
> If you are bilingual, speak English with your DH and child, and speak your native language with your parents, what does your child call your parents?


DD calls my stepdad "abue" or "tata" to my stepmom "nana" Both in Spanish.


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## Rainey Daye (Apr 30, 2010)

I am a native English speaker, but I learned Spanish fluently at age 4 when living with my family in Mexico and Romanian fluently at age 16 when living with my family in Romania. I also did two years of Spanish in high school (as my mom wanted me to get the correct grammar). My Spanish got rusty for a few years when we went to Romania and then I went to college, but a few trips to visit my family after college (who by that time were in Peru) helped me get back into it. Then my Romanian got a little rusty, but after a year living in Romania myself a few years back I felt more confident in it again.

Now though it will have been 5 years this summer since I moved back to the States and while I can practice my Spanish on family members (two of my sibs married Peruvians) and around town even (as Texas is RATHER Hispanic)...my Romanian is suffering. My husband has never traveled out of the US and has only taken one conversational Spanish class, so he really isn't a help with me practicing my other languages on him...in fact, he makes jokes about what I say when I DO say something in Spanish or Romanian...saying whatever silly English words most sound like what I said. For example, when I tell him in Romanian "Te iubesc foarte mult" (I love you very much)...he responds with "I think YOU'RE the best, farty malt!!"

I totally planned on teaching both Spanish and Romanian to our kids (of which we only have one so far)...but have a hard time actually putting that into practice...especially since our little guy isn't even speaking English yet at 19 months!! I do play Spanish and Romanian music for him and occasionally say some stuff, but am worried I might confuse him too much to speak if he hears 2-3 different words for the same thing. My main concern at the moment is just to get him TALKING. It also doesn't help that when I happen to say stuff in Spanish or Romanian to our little guy in my husband's hearing he does that whole little mishearing thing in front of our child!!

Ugh, sorry for rambling...but yeah...that's me at the moment....just trying to figure it all out!!


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## mariag (Feb 21, 2004)

I grew up bilingual (spanish/english) and my husband is an english speaker (always trying to learn spanish) I have always only spoken to the kids (3,5,7) in Spanish, while DH speaks in English (thought throwing out spanish when he can). So far they are all pretty balanced although the three year old still prefers Spanish. We live in the US so I feel like its always an uphill battle to keep up the Spanish. We homeschool and I am the one at home so reading and writing they are learning in both languages. I have found it really helpful to have a group of other families that we connect with (in whatever city we are in) that are in a similar situation. It has meant starting "playgroups" every time we move but I find it makes a huge difference for us. Always great to connect with other families.

FYI - I am a sometimes contributor to the website mulitilingualliving.com I don't want to plug myself but the woman that started the site has a German/English speaking family and has really put together a place with lots of great resources for families that are bilingual (trilingual....) in all languages. Worth a visit. I followed her site for several years before being asked to join the team.

looking forward to talking more and sharing experiences.

Maria


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## heybabyquepaso (Mar 5, 2011)

We speak English and Spanish in my home as well  My husband is from Chile and while I also speak fluently, we have heard that one way that works is if I speak English and my husband speaks Spanish. We are also using signing, as a common language between all 3 of us. I'm a little concerned about retention because the baby is around me more, but we watch a lot of Spanish TV at night and when he is old enough, I will encourage Spanish TV for him as well. So he hears it all the time at least. We also do things like read both the Spanish and English versions of books.

I'll keep my eyes out for bilingual playgroups for sure- that would be amazing. In the back of my head, I keep hoping we will move back to Chile for a while as that would mean total immersion, but the longer we get roots in the states, the harder it is.


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## mariag (Feb 21, 2004)

heybabyquepaso- if you can I would say that the most successful model I have seen for keeping Spanish long term is for you to do something like MLAF (minority language at family) or MLAH (minority language at home) If my husband were a fluent speaker, its what we would do. The drawback on each parent only speaking one language (I think) is that if you are not in a community where the minority language is easy to plug into the child doesn't hear much in the way of back and forth conversation. Plus, they don't have a place where everything is in Spanish. If you are in the US I would not worry even a second about English. The truth is that once your child hits about 3, and especially if they are in an English school, its going to become work to keep up Spanish speaking/understanding. I the early years it might seem like Spanish is going to be all he knows but I can tell you from experience that will not be the case long term at all. What part of Socal are you in? We lived in San Diego before and I can point you to some resources if you happen to be there. PM me if you want more info. buena suerte!


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## heybabyquepaso (Mar 5, 2011)

I wanted to check in and say that I have made a more concentrated effort to speak more Spanish since your reply  It's not my first language but I'm fluent enough, all though I admit I do worry that he'll have my accent! At any rate, we live more north by Ventura County but I will keep my eyes open for groups near us. We actually have friends at church who are speaking Spanish at home as well (the mother at least), so I look forward to our kids connecting because of it


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## mariag (Feb 21, 2004)

sadly I have no connections to ventura county but am hard pressed to think you can't hook up with some groups there. I am glad you made one connections and if nothing else maybe the two of you can start a Spanish playgroup. Check out libraries and even just search meetup.com and the like and see where it leads you. And don't fret about your accent, just build a community and I know you will do awesome.

best of luck,
Maria


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