Does exposure to 2 languages delay speech?

Question

Will exposure to two languages delay my baby's speech development? She is pretty bright (always early on crawling, walking) and already using signs to communicate but speaks 3-4 words at 14 months. Any recomendations?

Answer 1

Bright children have no problems with speech/language delay when in a bilingual home as long as the languages are spoken properly with no mixing of words or grammar.

For example, never say "Quieres milk?". It has to be, "Quieres leche?" or, "Do you want milk?" No "Dame tus socks"; it's "Dame tus medios", or "Give me your socks".

It makes it easier if one parent speaks one language with the child, and the other speaks the second language with him/her.

The parents should also speak both languages to each other (if possible) in order to provide mature models of speech and language.

Answer 2

If both languages are spoken regularly at home, then the child will pick up words from both languages, and should recognize the difference between them by around 2-3 years old.  It is actually easier to learn two languages as a young child than to wait until high school to start learning  :)

Answer 3

I teach preschool and have found that using two languages at home DOES delay speech, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. In the long run, your child will be bilingual and that's a great thing. Right now, I have a kid in my class whose parents speak English, Polish, and Ukrainian. He is two years old and does not say much -- maybe about 10 to 15 words and at that age, he should be putting two or three words together to make small sentences and communicate.

He is on track with everything else like motor skills and his physical development. But in my experience, it does make a difference. He will catch up, because I've seen it happen before. I've had a girl who spoke Chinese/English, a boy who spoke Spanish/English... they were both slow to speak.