How can I teach my child two languages?

Question

I have a month old son and would like him to learn both english and spanish. My wife is fluent in Spanish while she continues to learn english, and I am fluent in both languages.

What are the best ways to teach both languages?

What are the drawbacks?

I plan on speaking english only to him, while my wife will speak spanish. Is this a good idea?

Answer 1

talk both languages to him, say the sentance in english then spanish, it will be useful for all 3 of you!

Answer 2

Let him learn one language first, then teach him the second.  There is some evidence which supports the view that if a child has to learn two languages at the same time, he might be delayed in both!

Answer 3

Sounds like a good idea. Young children have an amazing ability to learn languages, your son will picked them both up easily by hearing them on a regular basis

Answer 4

Just you and your wife conversate in spanish and english. Your son will pick up on both languages very quickly.

Answer 5

Teach him one language at a time and stop this cruelty.

Answer 6

your childwill learn for sure if you are both speaking different laguages!

good job, they will need this for their future.

good luck!

Answer 7

Yes, 1 parent 1 language is a good idea.

Answer 8

well i have kind of same problem my husband is from another country and we want our daughter to learn both languages but i think English is the first one to learn if you're staying in united states because she or he need to know English better for school, and other language she or he can learn at home with you two.. Good LUCK..

Answer 9

Absolutely!  Children are like sponges.  They learn things easily.  They key to learning a language is immersion and constant exposure to it.

I speak several languages myself; all of them I learned as a child.  Don't listen to these others who think learning several langauges is a burden on your child.  They don't know what they are talking about.

Answer 10

no its a proven fact that children who know more than one language are better in school, and your child will learn faster if you are noth speaking different languages to him so you talk english and your wife speaks spanish to him, also switch it up too that'll force him to think harder and will be better for him in the long run ;) good luck

Answer 11

as a full blooded italian...living in america...SI' a wonderful idea for your child to be educated in 2 languages....however....living in  U.S.A.  it is  MOST important that he uses  ENGLISH as his  MAIN tongue...this way ,in adapting to society, as a whole , he can never have a feeling of " being outcasted" by people....please let me give you an example...my uncle....needed a new " bathrobe" and went to macys' and went up to a spanish speaking clerk whom after he asking  " in english " where the " bathrobes " were he was then led to the " BATHROOMS" so u see please allow your child NEVER to expierence such humiliation...as the same happened to me....i asked 4 a calzonie and when the cafe watresss looked at me like i was nuts...i learned that calzones..in spanish meant  YOUR UNDERWEAR!! I WAS ASKING 4 A PIZZA FOLDED IN HALF!!  

I crack up 2 this day thinking the poor dear thought I wanted pepperoni covered panties!!!

so you see i tried to make it light....but it could get nasty and its  NOT FAIR for our children of today to be down casted by our society....

BRIGHTEST BLESSINGS and congradulations on the birth of your son

best wishes

lil mama

Answer 12

Yes. If you live in the U.S., English will most like be his prominent language...however, he should be able to at least understand both languages and probably be able to speak both as well...

Keep in mind though that his speech will probably be delayed about a year if he is learning two languages...I know three kids, all who were bilingual since they started talking, and they are started to talk so that you could understand them very very late (2-4 years old). It's worth it though.

Answer 13

Yes.  Your child will learn both languages if you do this.  But don't be surprised if his language acquisition is slower than other children his age.  This is not a bad thing, merely a natural biproduct of his dual education (think learning to type and play piano at the same time).

Answer 14

The best way to do your best in making sure your child speaks more than one language to to make sure they are exposed to both.  Personally, I prefer immersion schooling for kids, but they might be expensive or hard to find in your area.

Your plan of having each parent speak a language in fine - IN THEORY. In my experience it is not enough because the child will hear the two of you speak and it's unlikely than when speaking to each other you will speak two different languages.

I recommend both of you trying to do both and going with a second language school. If that is not possible, enroll the child in activities where the other less used language is spoken as MUCH as possible.  If school is not an option you'll have a lot more work cut our for you. If school IS an option, someone else (the teachers) will do a lot of the work for you.

Good luck!

Answer 15

You teach your child two languages the same way you teach them one, talk to him! Read stories in both languages, play music with lyrics in both languages etc.

The only "drawback" to teaching two languages is that his vocabulary will be smaller in each language than a mono-lingual child. This is normal, so if anyone ever harasses you over it, ignore them. His vocabulary over all will be greater than a monolingual child though.

It has not been proven that one language per parent is a particularly good method. I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but it's not necessary. It's perfectly ok for you and your wife to use both languages. Kids learn which language is which as they go along. It's best if you don't mix the languages, but your child will at times. It's normal and he'll grow out of it as his language learning progresses.

Answer 16

There are virtually no drawbacks.  My sister's French teacher is doing the same to his child except he is learning French and English from his father and Spanish from his mother.  

There has been research showing that children who learn multiple languages very early in life are more successful in their education.  To teach him both ways of saying one thing, you should both be there to help him visualize the object.  For example, if you are showing him a cat, you should say "cat" and let your wife say "gato" to help him understand the cat has two different names.  

Good luck with your son, and I hope this helped.

Answer 17

The earlier you introduce Spanish to your child the better.  Although you won't see any results of this until your son begins to speak, it's best to introduce objects to him in both languages.  Just as you would tell your child "cow" and hold up a stuffed animal to him, you will need to use both the English and Spanish name for an object back to back.  Children, especially babies, have very short attention spans so, if you call an object by one name and then by another at a different time it will most likely confuse him.  He needs to understand that the object you are introducing to him is just one thing, but goes by two names.  Hope this helps.