Would I be putting too much on my 2.5 yr old if I enrolled him in two different foreign language classes?

Question

My grandmothers church is offering Chinese and Spanish classes for toddlers. I want my son to learn a second language and I know that now is a critical time for language development and the best time to introduce a new language is at a young age. Chinese is the number one language spoken and Spanish is second. I want him to do both if at all possible. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I would see how well he does with one language and see if he seems interested....if he it really intrigued ask him if he would like to continue and then try the 2nd language. Good luck and Happy learning to your child!!!

PS. You are definitely making a good choice by having him learn 2 languages.......just don't push him if he doesn't seem interested. He can always learn a language when he is older. Even though it will be more difficult!

Answer 2

As I'm a native Chinese speaker, I would tell you to let him try Chinese ASAP. If you want him to learn it, I wouldn't suggest you to let him learn it too late. However, he really doesn't need all English, Chinese, and Spanish. If he doesn't like any of them, just tell him to drop it. (obviously, not English though)

It would indeed be overloading a kid if you ask him to learn three languages at the same time.

Yet, I would strongly recommend you to give him the pronunciation part. The most difficulte thing for Americans to learn in Chinese is neither grammar nor listening. It's speaking. It would be awesome if people can kinda introduce the pronunciation to him. When the kid is still growing, his tongue's function changes easily. Once he knows how to pronounce the basis, even he stops learning Chinese in a while, he can still pick it up quickly after all. (I mean, if at last he wants to keep learning Chinese.)

By the way, if the reason why you want him to learn Chinese is because it's the number one language spoken, I'll tell  you forget about it. First of all, in the United State, most people who speak Chinese are attempt to learn English as far as possible (meaning besides those who, for instance, work in restaurants and never have chances to learn it.) while lots of Spanish refuse even to learn English. Second of all, if you don't expect him to be a businessman, Chinese is really not as useful. In China, obviously, they all know Chinese-Mandarin. However, those who live in other countries mostly know English, since English is the language that everyone in the world should know. (even though we don't know English extremely well)  In addition, maybe after 20 or 30 years, Chinese would spread out worldwide, but it still won't be as useful. I said so because  I speak full Chinese-Mandarin (I've only been in the US for approximately 2 years), and I know how often I use it. Basically, besides when I talk to my mom and when I go to China Town, I don't use it in any way.

Answer 3

Maybe just one for now!

Answer 4

You are absolutely right! This is a critical time for a him to learn differnt languages! I do insist, though, that you learn a little too. only temporarely anyway. It is proven that if you speak that language in your household your child will develop that language faster. I do not think you are putting too much stress on you 2.5 year old kid. If you want a hard-working son in the future then i do suggest that you help him when he's young. But please take him on vacations or somewhere he can relax his mind at. That way he will not have many headaches from overflowing knowledge. I hope this information has helped you!

Answer 5

sounds like a good idea as that is a critical time for learning.

Try just Spanish though. Chinese will not be very useful unless he plans on moving to China. (chinese is technically the number one language spoken, but that is mostly because China has a huge population, not because it is a widespread language) To learn two lan guages at such a young age would be a great opportunity and probably really improve his language skills

Answer 6

I think you should go with one now and see how he does with that .. and maybe in a year are so go ahead and try another...

Answer 7

just for my own opinion,I think bilingualism at that  agewould be confusing,why not let him learn the other first and introduce the latter after.

Answer 8

ummm. he will just b learning english. so it would be evn harder on him.so i think u sould just stick wit one language.then when u think he's ready for a new langauge..... then u start or wateva..

Answer 9

At 2.5 yrs old, he is going through something called "the language explosion" which means that his brain is accepting the structure of his first language. I grew up in a tri-lingual home and I learned all three at the same time.   However, it was by using it with my different grandparents in a natural way. At 4 I started English and Russian in kindergarden. (I now speak 7 & learning #8 and I have a degree in Linguistics) If you are considering sending him to the church language program, I assume it's kind of a play and sing type of program without too much emphasis on formal language structure. Besides, at this age their attention span is fairly minimal anyway. I would suggest that you put him into both IF it's treated like a fun activity based type of program with lots of age appropriate content. If it is not, I would choose only 1. One more thing. Do not be surprised if he exhibits something called interlanguage (the mixing of all languages in one sentence - that's how the brain works) and if he backslides on his English for a while. Make sure that he has fun first and foremost. If at some point he starts to really not want to go then I would take him out at that time so he doesn't develop a dislike for the sounds of those languages which could be happily resumed at a later date. Good luck

Answer 10

woha..try  one

Answer 11

I agree if you do any language it should only be 1 besides English. He is still a child and needs to be one for as long as possible. Once they hit school the school system seems to forget that.

Answer 12

First of all, I'm wondering where on earth you live (other than China) where Chinese is spoken more than Spanish.  Spanish would be a better choice because it's second only to English as far as being spoken worldwide.

Also there are so many Chinese dialects I can't imagine it would be of great benefit to teach him one Chinese dialect.

In addition to that, Spanish is written with an alphabet very similar to the English alphabet, while Chinese is written with symbols that would never be practical to teach him if his primary language will remain English.  If you want to teach him Spanish this early on so he will someday be fluent, it's best that he can read and write it as well as speak it.  It would be difficult to ever teach him to read and write Chinese.

I would think, quite honestly, that it would be insane to attempt to teach a 2 1/2 year old boy two foreign languages while he's still trying to learn to speak his primary language.  One will be difficult enough.

Don't expect him to retain a lot of it... but to have him hear it now, learn some and get used to the syntax, sounds produced and pronunciations of those "un-English" sounds, and when he's a little older and picks up foreign language in school he will catch on much quicker because he was exposed at this age.

But for heaven's sake... don't push him.  It's great to expose him to the language... but at this age children pick up language naturally by being exposed to it... not by being "taught" in a classroom environment so much.  Please just let him be a curious toddler for as long as possible, exposing him to as much as you can but not jamming anything down his throat to try to make him into a genius.

Answer 13

Yeah go forward it will be an added quality and that may help him later

Answer 14

Easier to learn language at earlier ages. How is he doing on English?

Answer 15

great age for teaching multiple language.  Teach him many language as possible.  Still teaching him all those language now doesn't matter in the future if he is not going to use any.  Any language you learn, you have to use it in order to keep them.  If they don't use it in future, they will forget.

Answer 16

For a 2.5 year old English is hard to learn. I would think as an adult you would not do that to yourself. Spanish is a good second language to learn because it is widely used. So let him learn Spanish and forget about the Chinese unless it is food.

Answer 17

I would recommend just doing Spanish for now.  He should do very well.  My daughter watches Dora and Diego, and with a little encouragement from me with the little Spanish that I know, she speaks Spanish half of the time, and has since she was two.  Someone mentioned waiting a year before starting the third language, and I think that is a good idea.  If you try to do both languages at the same time, you might not be able to understand him. Everything he says will be a mix of English, Spanish, and Chinese. lol j/k

Answer 18

Don't do both.  That's too stressful for him AND you.

Answer 19

Where is Chinese the "number one language spoken?" I mean apart from China--seriously, I would like to know.

Answer 20

If i were you i would have  him do one language at a time. I would do this because most 2.5 years olds don't have much patience and get mad very easily.

Answer 21

English is hard enough, adding one extra language is fine, but both is just way too much.  It will definately stresshim out and maybe even confuse him.

Answer 22

I would try it.  See if he can handle it.  If not, pull him out of one and he'll still be in one.  Kids are sponges, and I think he could do it.

Answer 23

If those classes are very structured, it may be too much.  At that age, he should be learning through play.  Why don't you try them both.  You can always back off if it becomes too much.

Answer 24

He's still learning ENGLISH!!!  So it would be three at once!!!  Would you do that to yourself???