I plan on adopting a baby girl from China, how will her speech be affected?

Question

Will be between 9-18 months when we pick her up. I know children are really receptive to learning languages, and I'm assuming in the orphanage mostly Chinese will be spoken. I guess she might be a little behind in learning English right. I'll probably play a lot of learning games with her to get caught up. Anyone else share on experiences?

Answer 1

Behind in language a little??  How about NO English?  Expect it, and just take it from there!

It will take lots of time and patience!  Expect crying, frustration, sadness, and withdrawl.  She will be pulled from everything she knows, every sight that is familiar, every smell she loves, every person in her life, and cannot verbally communicate to anyone who understands her.

Don't overwhelm her.  Just let her be.  Not too much verbal language.  Just let her come to you when she needs to.  And give her some space to digest all this, too.  But remember, she is not used to ever being alone.  Soft, gentle holding, if she will let you.  And slowly, in time, start repeating things like "eyes", "nose" and all the normal baby stuff.  But don't force it.  She will be behind in every capacity.  Let HER determine the pace.

Answer 2

Your daughter may be just a little behind initially as she "switches" over from Chinese to English.  But it won't take her long to catch up.   She has only heard Chinese for the first part of her life, so she'll need a little time to get used to all the different combinations of sounds she will hear in the U.S.  But by the time she is three years old, people probably won't even realize that she wasn't born here - at least, not by her speech!

Answer 3

She probably wont have any problems with english.She'll

Catch on fast-escecially at a young age.

Answer 4

She wont know any English but she'll pick it up. A very warm and generous gesture towards your new daughter would be to learn some basic Chinese (Cantonese/Mandarin), mainly things she may have picked up/heard already. That will help give her some comfort and constitency when shes going through the shock of a complete change to her life.

Try and find out from the staff if they ever played/sang her any lullabies or other songs in Chinese, and try and learn one, or at least buy a tape.

Also, it would be a lovely gesture towards her heritage if you taught her some of her mother tongue. You could learn with her (learning with a baby wont be too hard!)

Think about it; the kid grows up bilingual which is good for development and career, the kid honors her heritage and sees yuo doing so too, and you learn another language!

Answer 5

Well, I have a child who was adopted from China at 12 months. She was the most verbal baby of our travel group of 9 families. Not a lot of words but babbling and making noises. She picked up English in lightning speed. She knew the alphabet at 15 months (could find each letter when they were in the tub) and could say every letter at 18 months. She spoke in sentences and asked "what's it's name?" ALL THE TIME. I would tell her and she repeated it. She is not the typical child. We have friends who have a daughter who was the same way in China, very babbly and talkative. Their daughter did not start talking with words until she was going on three years old. She grunted an mumbled what she wanted.

There is no magic potion or way to determine where you child will be. I have a friend through yahoo groups who adopted their daughter a couple months before I adopted mine. She told me after her second adoption that she truly believed I was lying about what my child said and did until she adopted her second who was just like my daughter. She is now a believer.

What I would suggest is lots or reading books especially the first words books. My daughter loved them and they were her favorite books. They show a picture of everyday objects and have the word written under the photo. We would look at each page and name each picture. My daughter would repeat it. We played with the foam letters in the bathtub. Each night as I put them in one at a time I would say what it was. Then taking them out I would say what it was. In three months time she could locate each letter in the bath when I was putting them away. Also I talked to her ALL THE TIME. I would talk about what I was doing when I was doing it. As I was feeding her I would say what each bite was. If I went to get the amil, I would say, :Let's go get the mail." and take her with me. I told her we open the mail box and look inside (as we looked inside) and then we get the mail out." I did this with everything. I didn't have a plan about it, but I am a single mother and it is just her and I so she was all I had to talk to most of the time.

Pointing to your eyes, nose, mouth etc is also a good game to play and it promotes eye contact and attachment.

Whatever you do, don't worry about it. She will understand everything you say in a couple of months. She will be able to start talking when she is ready. When in doubt seek out your local Early Childhood Intervention. I would do this anyway and have her tested for developmental delays, emotional delays and sensory issues.

Answer 6

she will pick up on english very quickly. she will go through a period of adjustment. but because she is a baby, she will adjust quicker then u can adjust with having a new baby.

i don't have experience with this.  but i do have a cousin who moved to america a few days before christmas 2006 and her kids speak english perfectly right now. she doesn't speak any though.

Answer 7

Join a group of other parents who have adopted from China.  Compare notes with them.  Also, get her started in early intervention with a speech therapist right away!  There may be some delays, but she can get caught up. Also, it would hurt for you to learn some basic Chinese/cantonese/mandarian language.  You can also use baby signs until she catches up as well.  

Babies learn from example, so learning games are a great idea!

Answer 8

Yes, she'll be a little behind, but it's a lot better than if you were adopting, like, a nine year old.

Answer 9

I am a chinese. but i really want to marry with a white girl and have a baby.?

Maybe Its a weird question to u.I am a chinese.I am 28 y.o. I am a journalist.For a long time,i just think white girls and women r so pretty.I have been strugglling to learn English after work.cos i have a plan.I am crazy for white girls and women.In our city i met couple of white girls,i just can't stop starring at them.They r so beautiful.i even want to have a mix baby with someone who can stay with me.That's all i want in my life.I even dont care she is a single mother (i like white baby) or a divorced woman.As long as she would like to spend the rest of her life with me.if u would, then we could be together. contact me.

Answer 10

my cousin adopted a baby from Korea.  she learned English right away and is now top of her class in high school.

Answer 11

She won't be that far behind! My brother was adopted from Korea at 3 years old (I was too, but at 7 months old) and he spoke fluent English a few months later.  Someone I know also has an adopted sister from China, she was about 2 or 3 when they adopted her. Now, only after about 5 months, she is speaking English very well.  I think it's great that you are adopting a girl from China! Good luck to you and your daughter!

Answer 12

Idiotic question.

Answer 13

I wonder if Joslin is speaking from experience? I can, and based on what I've lived through, I'd say she's a little off.

I was adopted from Korea when I was 3 1/2 years old. My parents spent a lot of time teaching me English in proper, full sentences. They stressed that they didn't point to a table and simply say "table." They would say, "This is a table." They would add descriptions and teach me the proper grammar as they taught me the language. My mom said it only took a month for me to learn English fleuntly. Today, I don't speak any Korean, but my English is perfect. I have no accent, and if you spoke to me on the phone and had to guess my ethnicity, you're first guess would probably not be Asian.

If you are adopting a child in the 9 mo. to 18 mo. age range, I don't think you have to worry about speech difficulties. That is a time when they are just learning to talk anyway, so it would be just as natural for them to learn English as any other language. It's not like they have years of experience, practice, habits, and preconceived notions that they'll have to struggle to overcome in order to learn English. With your love, encouragement, and support, your child will be just fine. I hardly think you'll need a speech therapist!

Good Luck to you!

Answer 14

O my gosh! that's great! I am an adoptive child, and have 3 adopted kids from china. i was saved from death you are doing a wonderful thing! OK, so you can't determine their accent if she can't talk. everyone is different. my 2nd child has quite the accent. I've grown  to adore it, although it gets hard to understand her. They do fine on learning English. she may pick up a few things she saw at the orphanage. Like, my 2nd used to wave and say Chinese things like 'balbay' meaning 'baby.' I suggest not worrying to much about it until kindergarten. Then get her enrolled in speech thereapy if she sounds funny. hope i helped.

Answer 15

No, she won't be behind other children, I'm teach my son 18 month old both Chinese and English together, I'm speaking Chinese to him, while his father speaks English. He doesn't seem like he fallen behind of kids at his age, he seemed much more ahead of them.

If people in school offer her to go to ESL classes, don't take it, she'll catch up in her age. They tend to treat students like idiots in there.

Answer 16

she will be fine!  she probably won't even have an accent!  congrats!!

Answer 17

since she is so yong english will really grow on her.  Younger children learn languages very quickly so hurry.  When she starts school if your still worried look into programs like ESL (english as a second language. )

Answer 18

At that age she probably wont have to much trouble picking it up right away. Especiall if she is closer to the 9 month range. If shes closer to 18 months she may know a few chinese words and it might take a bit longer for her to understand. but children at that age, usually only speak between 10 and 20 words. So dont worry about anything, just give her love and attention and she will very quickly become attached and recognize you and your family as her family.

Congratulations!!