Bilingual / multilingual families, care to share?

[Anonymous]

My boyfriend sppke Italian and I spoke Spanish. They got English from the world and took French in school. We spent summers in Europe to help with accents.

They can speak all four.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take it your DC is not yet talking. That's when it gets real. What you're doing now is fine but not going to cut it in a year. If you REALLY want DC to be bilingual, the ONLY way is to have a rule, zero English at home. Take it from me.

+1 Drop the English now!

I have 2 teenagers and though not a word of English was spoken to them at home ever in their lives, English quickly became their dominant language once they started school. They are fluent in their home language, but are lacking in many technical terms, "school words" and formal grammar. Their writing in that language is not great.

Okay, Tiger Mom, just so you know, that automatically eliminates any potential career having to do with verbage/verbiage i.e.: lawyering. I know many of you equate that with the big bucks for your retirement. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

OP back. I've given it a lot of thought, and this is what we're going to do. I do want to be the one to teach dc English, so on weekdays (sahm time), I am speaking English to dc until first nap. Then afternoons in 2nd language. Evenings & weekends in 2nd language with dh. Enrichment activities in 3rd language whenever possible. I've decided that singing/music and books are not subject to the "rules". We sing and read in any of the 3 at any time.

When dc finally enters a bilingual school at 3 or 4 yrs, we'll just do 100% 2nd and 3 rd languages at home, no English.

If it sounds like I'm over thinking this, it's because I am. :o) just an idea for parents in this situation though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take it your DC is not yet talking. That's when it gets real. What you're doing now is fine but not going to cut it in a year. If you REALLY want DC to be bilingual, the ONLY way is to have a rule, zero English at home. Take it from me.

+1 Drop the English now!

I have 2 teenagers and though not a word of English was spoken to them at home ever in their lives, English quickly became their dominant language once they started school. They are fluent in their home language, but are lacking in many technical terms, "school words" and formal grammar. Their writing in that language is not great.

Okay, Tiger Mom, just so you know, that automatically eliminates any potential career having to do with verbage/verbiage i.e.: lawyering. I know many of you equate that with the big bucks for your retirement. Just saying.

This is OP, and I'm not sure what the last pp means in the post...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My father and step mom raised my half-brother both speaking the same foreign language. At about age 9 I noticed he wasn't saying all that much to them. They had the no English at home rule but the problem was with English school and English after-school babysitter, he just wasn't fluent enough to express himself at that age. So they dropped the no English at home and allowed him to respond back in English. That improved communication but alas he did not retain the 2nd language fully fluently. He still speaks it and it improves every time he goes to the foreign country but he's not 100% fluent. I've seen many families do it successfully however. You have ot watch your child and see.

My younger DC was born here but did not hear any English from birth until 3 yo - that is when we started him in half-day Montessori program. Outside of school we only spoke in our native language. Even in this situation he was fully prepared for K, did very well in all areas of study, and qualified for AAP (back when it was actually harder to get in). Now he is in his teens; English is dominant but he can read and speak in native language as well. He has an extensive English vocabulary and I expect that his SAT CR score will be very high.
I am with the posters that recommend building up the native language as much as possible. Picking up English is not a concern for most kids, barring LD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take it your DC is not yet talking. That's when it gets real. What you're doing now is fine but not going to cut it in a year. If you REALLY want DC to be bilingual, the ONLY way is to have a rule, zero English at home. Take it from me.

+1 Drop the English now!

I have 2 teenagers and though not a word of English was spoken to them at home ever in their lives, English quickly became their dominant language once they started school. They are fluent in their home language, but are lacking in many technical terms, "school words" and formal grammar. Their writing in that language is not great.

Okay, Tiger Mom, just so you know, that automatically eliminates any potential career having to do with verbage/verbiage i.e.: lawyering. I know many of you equate that with the big bucks for your retirement. Just saying.

This is OP, and I'm not sure what the last pp means in the post...

I think that PP misunderstood the above PP. She's thinking that the other poster meant that her child is lacking formal grammar and technical terms in English. But she meant she's lacking them in the "home", non-English language.