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Raising Kids with many languages | ||
Tags: Children | Multilingual | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 25 of 61 27 September 2009 at 4:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
That reminds me of something I saw on TV once. It was a program about the myths in the educational sphere about dyslexia, and the truth about dyslexia that scientists had worked out a long time before. Dyslexia proper is caused by an underdevelopment in the part of the brain that distinguishes between phonemes. The documentary looked at several cases. One of the mothers told us that she'd followed all the advice -- read stories to your child, teach them songs and nursery rhymes -- but her daughter still turned out dyslexic. Only one thing: she had a thick French accent, and she'd learned English nursery rhymes specifically to teach her daughter. It's hardly surprising that her daughter had problems distinguishing English phonemes if she was being taught by someone who couldn't herself make those same distinctions. That's one of the dangers in teaching a child a language that isn't your own native language. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Belardur Octoglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5612 days ago 148 posts - 195 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Ancient Greek, French, Lowland Scots Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Italian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean | Message 26 of 61 27 September 2009 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
So I guess you have to be careful how early you start with non-native stuff. I wonder at what age it's safe then? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6343 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 27 of 61 28 September 2009 at 5:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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I do not have kids but I noticed that many people living in big cities in mainland China
speak with their parents in their dialect while growing up (e.g. dialects from small towns or villages), they speak with their classmates in the local dialect (e.g. Shanghainese or Cantonese) while in kindergarten and elementary school, receive their education in Mandarin, learn English in high school and some decide to learn an additional language in college. Most people I know whose parents are from different parts of China usually communicate with them using Mandarin so I don't know how it would work out if each parent spoke to their child in a different dialect. However, I do notice that expatriates (especially Americans) tend to send their children to American kindergartens/schools where they end up never learning any Chinese so having your kids grow up in a foreign environment isn't enough. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| andee Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 7078 days ago 681 posts - 724 votes 3 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Korean, French | Message 28 of 61 03 October 2009 at 6:51am | IP Logged | |||||
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The "One Person, One Language" (OPOL) method is pretty common and what almost everyone here has pointed to. There is also the method popular with immigrants - "Minority Language At Home" (ML@H) - where both parents speak the same language at home, then the community language outside. I guess this can be expanded upon to be OPOL at home where they are both different to the community language. This brings it up to 3 languages.
A few journals state that a child needs 30% of their waking time exposed to a language to acquire it.. so that means 3 languages is indeed possible. While 4 is theoretically possible if your child has classes or a carer that speaks another language (how well they acquire this fourth language I don't know??). The other option is a situational change like Katie mentioned of her friends. It's supposedly possible for one parent to speak a second language with the child if they're consistent with where they speak that language; like in the park or car or somewhere that is different. This is kind of the same thing as having a regimented class though since that's basically situational as well. Personally, it's a real challenge for us not to code-switch since my relationship has a lot of code-switching. So my wife and I are struggling sticking to just the one language each - but this will iron itself out... it's as much a learning curve for the parents as the children. The most important aspect is consistency. As long as you stick to your plan, everything will work out.... and ignore the advice of monolinguals! Bi/Multilingual children often speak later, but this is perfectly normal --- just be consistent! And I wouldn't worry if your kids code-switch. This is perfectly normal and the child will progress into uniform language usage. Much of the time it's said that mixing in-sentence is just a matter of limited vocabulary, natural development and experimentation. Edited by andee on 03 October 2009 at 6:53am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Glendonian Bilingual Diglot Newbie Canada Joined 5718 days ago 26 posts - 37 votes Speaks: French*, English* Studies: German, Italian | Message 29 of 61 04 October 2009 at 12:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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Mixing in-sentence goes away after about 6. At that age you've known for years that there are two discrete
languages, but you borrow words when you don't know happen to know them in one language yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| showtime17 Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Slovakia gainweightjournal.co Joined 6085 days ago 154 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch | Message 30 of 61 29 October 2009 at 4:38pm | IP Logged | |||||
I don't think there is much point in mixing in non-native stuff. I don't think the kid is gonna get much advantage from it than learning the language in school. Instead it would probably be more helpful in hiring a nanny who is a native speaker of that language. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| showtime17 Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Slovakia gainweightjournal.co Joined 6085 days ago 154 posts - 210 votes Speaks: Russian, English*, Czech*, Slovak*, French, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian, Polish, Dutch | Message 31 of 61 29 October 2009 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well I was raised with many languages. The first language my parents spoke to me was Russian. My dad is not Russian and does not have a native accent in that language, while my mom is Ukrainian and Russian isn't her native language, but she has a native fluency in the language. Then at around age two or three, the language spoken at home switched to Slovak, which is my dad's native language and my mom only learned it later.
Then we moved to Prague, where I went to Czech school and spoke Czech with my friends. During summers we visited my mom's family in the Ukraine, where they speak a mix of Ukrainian and Russian. (I found out this is called Surzhyk) So right from very early I was exposed to 4 languages. From early I was able to distinguish Czech from Slovak and speak Slovak at home and Czech with friends. Czech at this point was my strongest native language. I also spoke the Ukrainian-Russian mix spoken by my grandparents in the Ukraine. When I was bigger I consciously made the effort to not use Ukrainian words and instead just talk Russian, as to learn the language more properly. So I can speak Russian (but not at a native level and have an accent, althouhg not a bad one) and I can only understand Ukrainian and not speak it. When I was 10, we moved to the US for 5 years and at school I learned how to speak English at a native level, so that now when speaking everyone assumes I am American, unless I tell them. So it's not that hard raising kids in a multi-lingual environment, as long of course the people using it speak it a native level. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Belardur Octoglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5612 days ago 148 posts - 195 votes Speaks: English*, GermanC2, Spanish, Dutch, Latin, Ancient Greek, French, Lowland Scots Studies: Biblical Hebrew, Italian, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean | Message 32 of 61 29 October 2009 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Wait, in one post you say no non-native usage, then in another you say a "native level" - is that usage, accent, actually being a native speaker, or what?
From your own telling you never had a native around you for Russian - do you see that as good or bad? Did you learn Russian well, are you permanently damaged to not learn it properly, is it easier or harder due to the non-native exposure? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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