Raising trilingual children (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

Raising trilingual children
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28 messages over 4 pages: 1 2 3 4

beano
Diglot
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United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4623 days ago
1049 posts - 2152 votes

Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian

Message 25 of 28

23 March 2013 at 1:52pm | IP Logged

emk wrote:

This is a good point. My wife speaks French to our children, and I'm really glad I had done Assimil and a little
bit of French reading before the kids were born. This meant that I understood quite a bit from the first day,
and by the time our first child was old enough to understand my wife, I had 90+% passive comprehension of
everything she said to the kids. This makes it vastly easier to have a multi-lingual household.

Did you also listen to your wife speak on the phone to her family? I learnt a huge amount of German this way,
listening attentively and picturing the scenarios in my head.

Edited by beano on 23 March 2013 at 1:53pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6598 days ago
9753 posts - 15779 votes

4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, Finnish^C1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

Message 26 of 28

23 March 2013 at 7:14pm | IP Logged

Julie wrote:

It is possible to raise a child bilingually while being a non-native speaker of the language (correct me if your wife is bilingual) and I know a few successful cases like that. The thing is if you want your child to be a native speaker of Khmer and English, maybe adding yet another language to the equation is not the best thing to do. I would think twice about it, and add Chinese only if my partner was really proficient AND I could provide my child with regular exposure to native Chinese speakers (not just media).

Agreed. It might be a choice between the quality and quantity - ie whether you prefer your child to understand both Mandarin and English or to understand only English but also speak it at a native level.
There's also the issue that becoming literate in Mandarin would take a lot of effort, and your child may not even want to put it in. Which limits the media options as well. Even children born to Chinese couples seem to have a pretty high rate of forgetting their native language (just my impression, not backed up by any scientific info).

Edited by Serpent on 23 March 2013 at 7:18pm
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Emily96
Diglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 4429 days ago
270 posts - 342 votes

Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Finnish, Latin

Message 27 of 28

24 March 2013 at 6:18am | IP Logged

I'd like you to know that when I have kids in another 10 years or so, i will (or at least attempt to) raise them
trilingually, thanks to you inspiring me! Everyone discusses raising their children bilingually, but i have never heard
of anyone trying for three languages. Good luck and keep us updated with how it goes =)
2 persons have voted this message useful

js6426
Diglot
Senior Member
Cambodia
Joined 4521 days ago
277 posts - 349 votes

Speaks: English*, Khmer
Studies: Mandarin

Message 28 of 28

24 March 2013 at 11:53am | IP Logged

Emily96 wrote:

I'd like you to know that when I have kids in another 10 years or so, i will (or at least attempt to)
raise them
trilingually, thanks to you inspiring me! Everyone discusses raising their children bilingually, but i have never heard
of anyone trying for three languages. Good luck and keep us updated with how it goes =)

Thank you! Will certainly keep you updated! All we need now is twins, that would really be interesting!

1 person has voted this message useful

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