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Raising Kids with many languages | ||
Tags: Children | Multilingual | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tsneds Newbie Cyprus Joined 6954 days ago 23 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 57 of 61 07 March 2010 at 10:02am | IP Logged | |||||
My son goes to an International school in Japan,he is 3 and speaks Japanese as well as English. His mother and I are both from the United States. I read him a book in Japanese at bedtime and he has a play date with a Japanese friend at her house on the weekend for 3 hours where they only speak Japanese. My favorite book on the topic is The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Languagethe authors are both are Ph.Ds in linguistics. They're also the parents of young children themselves. They know how busy families can be and they offer second language-learning strategies for parents that are both useful and practical. They emphasize that learning a new language must be fun. Sing songs, read books, or count in another language each time you walk up the stairs. The authors also clear up a common misconception about how kids learn language. King and Mackey must recognize that if they'd come out with "The Bilingual Edge Video series" complete with puppets and pictures of farm scenes they probably could have made themselves a lot of cash. But they debunk the popular theory that young kids can learn another language by watching videos, TV programs, or by playing with bilingual toys. The authors insist that kids need to try out their new language skills on someone who will respond to them. This is their site: http://www.thebilingualedge.com/ 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| nescafe Senior Member Japan Joined 5410 days ago 137 posts - 227 votes  | Message 58 of 61 07 March 2010 at 1:47pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think: Children should learn their language(s) naturaly, and to arrange a multilingual environment just for making your kids multilinguals will be not realistic and maybe harmful to chldren's natural developments.
How many languages children speak would depend not only on their environment, but also on their personality, intelligence, etc. It will be better to think again why you yourself like learning languages. Some like learning language, others do not, and we can not expect our children to like learning language and being multilinguals. Our kinds will be different from ourselve. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 59 of 61 07 March 2010 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
Funny how all those kids in countries where multilingualism is the norm just happen to have the right kind of personality and intelligence then.... 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| nescafe Senior Member Japan Joined 5410 days ago 137 posts - 227 votes | Message 60 of 61 07 March 2010 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Haha, I am not raised in a multilingual environment, so I can not say nothing for sure about multilingual kids.
I just think language is very important, having more than one language is somewhat having more than one personality, or places to which one belongs. If a sensitive child speaks a language which all his friends do not speak, it will mean something to him. I am afraid that, especialy in the case his parents have tried to plant him a language intentionaly at very early age, the multilingualism can cause a pscychological problem in the kid's adolescence, for example in the relation with his parents. If a chld can learn multiple languages naturaly in certain environment, there will be nothing to worry about, of course. Edited by nescafe on 07 March 2010 at 8:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 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 61 of 61 07 March 2010 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's a bit extreme, but even if it was true, you would still effectively choose which personality to "wear" when you picked a language.
Any pushy parenting can lead to a socially isolated child, and language is no different in that respect. However, as long as a child has plenty of exposure to his peers in his preschool years, he will recognise that he has to speak a particular language with them. What happens in other contexts shouldn't affect that. Also, parents have to accept that the children may lose interest in additional languages once they start at school. There comes a point where you have to accept defeat and know that the child has still learned something useful. Edit: My mum stopped playing me French records a few months before I started at school. At playgroup, we sang in English, and in school we sang in English. I don't think any of my friends ever heard me sing in French. When I started learning French 7 years later, the accent was no problem. You can do a lot to develop a child's potential for language learning without ever teaching them a language. Edited by Cainntear on 07 March 2010 at 9:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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