If someone were to come to the US from another country when they're 6, would they still be able to speak their

Question

native tongue later in life (like if they were adopted)

What if they were 5 or 6?

Answer 1

The child would need to use the language or lose most to all of it.

Answer 2

Although at 5 or 6 they would probably have an excellent command of their first language they would still need to hear/speak it regularly to retain it.  They may however be able to re-learn it as an adult easier than someone who had never spoken it.

Answer 3

As long as someone is around to keep teaching/speaking it with them, then yes.  If not, typically they won't remember how to.

Answer 4

They need to be around people who speak their native If their first language is nurtured, they'll retain it. We had a 3 and a 4 year old who were Spanish speakers in foster care. I substitute teach in an inner city school that is a Spanish magnet. Had we kept them, I would've tried to get them into that school.

Answer 5

i would think that as long as someone still speaks to them in their native language, they would still be able to speak it later in life

Answer 6

as long the parent continue to speak to them in their native tongue, but if you don't continue it they they probably will forget how.  I have a friend who was adopted from another county and she doesn't remember but she used to speak that other language.  When she met her birth mother they couldn't communicate they had another family member translate

Answer 7

Probably not. I have a friend who was adopted from Korea when she was about that age and really doesn't speak Korean at all anymore.

Answer 8

Only if someone were to speak it to them between then and now.  I was born here, but because my parents spoke to me in another languange, I can still speak my native tongue, but not as well as I can speak English even though English was my second language.