How should i raise a bilingual baby?

Question

i havent had my baby yet but me and my boyfriend really want to raise our child blingual and arents sure how to go about it? should i talk to the baby in french and he speaks to baby in english..or will this just confuse baby when talking starts..

Answer 1

i speak 4 languages.  babies learn from hearing.  I learned by having things repeated in all languages.  you should both use both languages.  children learn really fast.

Answer 2

Raising your baby bilingual won't confuse the baby.  You'll be giving it a gift.  Studies in language development show that children who are raised to speak two languages do just as well later on.  Your child may speak a little later, but will learn to distinguish the two languages at an early age.  When my daughter was two, she went to a bilingual pre-school.  One day she sat down next to another little girl and when the other girl took her crayon she said, "No! es mio..."  No one needed to tell her the girl spoke Spanish.  Your child will learn that daddy  speaks to her in Enlish and you speak to her in  French.  

Answer 3

It sounds like a lot of fun and like it's good for the child.  It is also important to some families who's older members aren't bilingual.

It can, however, hinder the babies' language development.  Trying to comprehend one language is difficult enough for someone so young, not only grammar but just the vocabulary and pronunciation.  It is considering "hindering" at least until the age of three.  That is, a second language should not be introduced any earlier than age three.

Good luck with the bilingualism!  I think it is SO great that you want to do this!  There are so many ppl that can't even do it, a kid doing it is really cool.  I speak German and I would like to teach my kids German too; though it should really be Spanish I guess... :)

EDIT: there can be longterm benefits from (a child) learning a second language, but it's during infancy that it can be "language hindering"  To be more specific (how I read it in the study):  Children who are bilingual from birth tend to preform worse in language subjects (i.e. Creative Writing, English, etc) than children who were raised unilingual from birth.

Answer 4

The great thing about babies is they learn quickly.  If you both speak to the baby in your languages it will help the child to be bilingual.  Just be patient and maybe even start teaching your bf some french so that when the baby asks for something in French daddy can understand. :)

Answer 5

i'm billingaul, Learned the language of my country, then moved and learned another langauge

Answer 6

BRAVO...that ur wanting to raise ur child bilingual and culturally aware of who he/she is

speak in both languages....like when you said hello....say it in english and french...

babies/kids are like sponges...they absorb everything

i grew up and speak today...3 languages....english, spanish and portuguese.

not confused at all ;)