Will bilingualism delay a child's speech?

Question

Will bilingualism delay a child's speech?

Answer 1

No its good for the eduction of the child and they use both sides of the brain to greater intellectual effect.

Answer 2

It could in that it will slow down their language acquisition...if they are from a family or country where the home language has been Spanish, for instance, all their lives, yes they will slow down.  In fact, children entering school through a direct immersion situation will go through a silent stage where they are just listening. That is the first step in acquiring a new language.    What it will not do is cause a speech problem.

Answer 3

No that is why they have started immersion schools that will teach a child one language during the day and they will speak another at home. ie. Chinese at school and English at home.

Answer 4

Many children who have a primary language in the home other than English are often inappropriately diagnosed with speech delays. They are delayed in learning English more because of a lack of exposure than a disability or learning problem. To determine if a child truly has a speech delay as a disability they need to be tested in their native language. IF the child is age appropriate in his/ her native language then they do not have a speech delay disability and it is just taking a little longer for the English to catch up. Encourage the family to speak more English at home or if that is not possible to provide their child access to more environments with English such as a preschool, park and rec. program sports program etc.

Answer 5

hi! no it shouldn't delay is speech at all,its actually a good thing for kids to learn more then one language at a young age.

                    (miracle)

Answer 6

Both my daughters have been bilingual since birth (English and German). From my experience, they did have a slight delay in speech. After all they have to learn double the words! They didn't really start consistently talking in both languages until they were between 2-3 years old. And then it all just tumbled out and you couldn't stop them.

It also takes a bit longer for them to grasp grammar in two different languages. My 7 year old daughter knows both languages fluently but, still messes up the positioning of words and usage of past, present, future. Example: She will say "I'm nothing doing." Instead of "I'm not doing anything."

It comes with time, patience and correction.

Good luck!

Answer 7

I actually work in special education and have several children ages 3-5 in my room that are bilingual and do have speech delays.  It is important to have the child evaluated in both languages to make sure that being bilingual isn't the issue, because it often can be and then they won't qualify for speech services.  Sometimes children just need awhile to develop both languages, other times there is something more going on and that is what an evaluation will tell you.  Usually children pick up the language in the home the best and then learn the secondary language at a slower pace.  Depending upon the age and the length of exposure to the secondary language, there may or may not be an issue.  

I would look into getting an evaluation done instead of waiting and seeing what happens.  Early intervention is the key to speech delays if there is one!

Answer 8

no. it will not. in fact, it will improve the child's interest on languages

Answer 9

No absolutely not.  I have been raised to speak three languages   before I was 5 (English, Russian and Chinese).   Bilingualism  is very helpful in developing  the linguistic abilities of children in general. I also noticed that learning new  foreign languages for me  comes very fast  both in  theory and in practice compared to the average individual.