I speak English with my son while my hubby Italian. what about when he is going to school? or doing homework?

Question

I'm American and live in Italy with my Italian hubby and our 2-year son. We are a bilingual family and we really enjoy it but I wonder if it will be a problem for us once my kid goes to school. He's gonna speak and do his homework in Italian and how could I help him with his homework and at the same time keep up teaching him English?

Answer 1

I ditto the other two posters.  He will have a great grasp of both by the time he starts school and it won't impede his English abilities, as long as you continue to speak with him.

Answer 2

Just do both.  U may need to learn some Italian too.

Answer 3

No he will be fine.  He will probably just follow the curriculum and will accel quickly because of this.  Small children have a great knack for picking up two languages.  I know a guy that lived this way, only french, and he is very very smart.  You are very lucky he will be raised this way, but rest easy knowing that he will probably understand grammar and spelling better than the others because of his bilingual abilities.

Answer 4

I speak Spanish and my husband English we try to stay as billingual as possible but do keep in mind that we live in the US our kids understand Spanish well but speak meanly English we don't want them to be confused when they go to school but want them to keep learning Spanish it's very difucult but if we keep at it they'll eventually be fluent in both languages because we make sure to keep billungual home, and try not to put any preasure on them we want it to be fun for them.

GOOD LUCK

Answer 5

i have a brother who lives in sweeden , he has a daughter who speaks sweedish and english, but she speaks and does most things at school in sweedish , .. as ur son gets older he'll be able to explain the problem he's having with his homework with  u in english... i remember last year we went to visit and my neice was teaching me how to speak sweedish... i was asking her what certain objects were called in sweedish ,she's is now 7 years old .. so dont worry , italian and english are like ur sons first language both put together

Answer 6

dont worry by the time he gets to school he will be able to speak and do his homework fine and speak in english fine...learning two languses at once while you young is the best way!!

Answer 7

Probably in school will be learning English and you can help there but now for a two year old i don't know maybe is difficult for him to speak two different languages at this age. You keep teaching him but maybe later when hi is older. Now is too small to speak two languages

A lot of people say that youngsters learn faster but I think he is too young to speak 2 languages

And before school he will speak the English and Italian so that  is advantage  for him.

My cousin is 2 years old and she can't speak well Macedonian her native language and not 2 languages. It is difficult for 2 years old kid

Answer 8

Do you speak italian? If so you should talk to him in both languages so he will be bilingual

Answer 9

I would speak to your son in English whenever possible.

I've hosted many exchange students over the years. Two of our best language learners where those raised in a bilingual family.

One was from Switzerland. He grew up with his mother speaking French to him and his father speaking German. He now absorbs languages like a sponge and I can't even keep track of how many he knows!

My other kid like that is from Finland. His mother spoke to him in Swedish and his father in Finnish. Another kid with phenomenal language skills!

The earlier your kids learn more than one language the better -- and I must say, having worked HARD to even function in another language -- I'm very jealous of their opportunity!