Nanny with very limited English

[Anonymous]

We recently hired a nanny who speaks very limited English. We are a bilingual family, and we wanted a Spanish speaking nanny to help our 16 month old learn Spanish. It turns out that she speaks and understands far less English than I initially thought. She has only been working for us for a few weeks, and our son has grown very fond of her. We're now at the point when I'd like to have her start going out with him and doing activities, but I'm afraid the language barrier will limit what she can do with him. I know we can get a new nanny, but we really like how she is with our son. Is anyone else in this situation? Any suggestions on ways to make things a little easier for her?

[Anonymous]

Does she express any interest in learning English? Is she fob or has she been here a while?

[Anonymous]

I think you're right to be concerned. If she were out with your son and got lost, could she ask for directions? Call 911 and explain the situation/her location? These are things to consider. If she would be willing, you could offer to pay for rosetta stone software and set it up so that she can use it during naptimes. If she is motivated to learn that would likely be a win-win. If she thinks there is no problem, then I would limit the places she takes your son to places where there are other people around and adult participation is less key (or could be figured out nonverbally) like music together classes, jw tumbles, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP here.

She's actually been in the country nearly 20 years. And she's been a nanny for awhile. She just doesn't seem motivated to learn English.

[Anonymous]

There's no excuse for being here twenty years and not being conversational of not fluent. She sounds lazy in that regard. Honestly I wouldn't want my kids around someone worn so little initiative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no excuse for being here twenty years and not being conversational of not fluent. She sounds lazy in that regard. Honestly I wouldn't want my kids around someone worn so little initiative.

Not learning English in the time she has been here doesn't signify little initiative. It has obviously been a conscious choice. Not everyone has the desire to assume a new culture when they relocate. And yet Americans expect everyone to speak English to them when they go abroad.

[Anonymous]

"Not learning English in the time she has been here doesn't signify little initiative. It has obviously been a conscious choice. Not everyone has the desire to assume a new culture when they relocate. And yet Americans expect everyone to speak English to them when they go abroad. "

Americans do expect that you assimilate to a certain extent and that certainly means learning some English after 2 decades and being young enough to be working age still. I think that is really strange and does show lack of initiative.
Any American that thinks others "should" talk English to them when they travel is equally wrong. I think most hope that others do though because most Americans do not know foreign languages and many others around the world do know English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no excuse for being here twenty years and not being conversational of not fluent. She sounds lazy in that regard. Honestly I wouldn't want my kids around someone worn so little initiative.

Not learning English in the time she has been here doesn't signify little initiative. It has obviously been a conscious choice. Not everyone has the desire to assume a new culture when they relocate. And yet Americans expect everyone to speak English to them when they go abroad.

Just because there are stupid obnoxious Americans who think everyone in the world should speak English when they travel abroad doesn't make it ok for someone living in the US for 20 years not to learn English. I don't expect someone in Spain to be able to speak to me in English but I do expect someone who is working as a nanny and living in this country for 20 years to at least be conversational in English. If you lived in France for 20 years would you not learn French? Would you just expect everyone to speak to you in English?

[Anonymous]

My absolutely wonderful nanny has been here for 11 years and speaks very little English. Not because she doesn't want to. It's because it's HARD! Not knowing any better, I thought English was easy to learn, especially since my Spanish is HORRIBLE after studying for 18 years. Anyways, she could call 911 if need be and can piece meal a convo with DH who speaks no Spanish. Aside from that Spanish it is! She speaks to me solely in Spanish, which has increased my ability 10 fold. Also, my DS who is now 6 can translate for us. She taught him at birth and now 6 years later if there's ever a time when I don't have the vocabulary or she doesn't understand me, my son bridges the gap. This is not for the faint of heart, however. It has worked for my family.

[Anonymous]

i would not worry about it. as long as she can call 911 (don't they have operators who speak spanish? seems like all the bank/credit card companies do). our nanny is able to speak english, not perfectly, but better than what you describe; however, she's been w/ us since DD was 6 weeks old. she'll be 2 1/2 next month when new baby arrives, and she understands and converses w/ our nanny in spanish.

it's been great to see her handle two languages.

[Anonymous]

Ha. You all think you're raising "bilingual" kids, but all you're really doing is shortchanging them on what is valuable time for them to be building a strong foundation in English (English spoken by educated, well-read people with strong vocabularies), and the Spanish they are learning is likely the equivalent to the "English" you'd hear in bumfuck, USA. Just so you don't have to pay a real nanny, and so you can brag that your kid speaks both pigeon English and low class Spanish! Aren't they special!

[Anonymous]

to the 22:15 poster--21:14 poster here:

i hate to break it to you but my 2 1/2 yr old was speaking in 9 word sentences at 19 months. just yesterday she turned to my husband and said the sun is going down but it's still light. it's twilight. both my husband and i read to her every day. she's been going to story hour at the library down the street w/ our nanny since she was 6 months old. and our nanny reads to her. today they went to the library and read 7 books. as soon as i got home she demanded that i read 5 more books. and then later tonight after her swimming lesson her dad read to her from her favorite beatrix potter book.

from 9 months to 18 months, she would force me to sit in the back seat with her and read her book after book whenever we drove anywhere as a family. we don't have ipads or any gadgets. when flying on planes or long car rides we either read to her or play nursery rhyme songs which she knows all the lyrics too. she also corrects us or the nanny when we use the wrong word. not worried. I have two advanced degrees a JD and a masters, my husband has 3 as well phD and two masters. further i find your assumptions about non-native speakers insulting. my parents came from east asia so my dad could finish his medical degree. my mom didn't speak any english but got a job working at harvard while my dad completed his degree. she never fully mastered english and couldn't help me w/ my homework, essays, etc.; however, i was a honor student for my entire childhood--including english.

b/t/w our nanny who came here only 8 or so yrs ago put all 3 of her children through college and they also speak Spanish to my DD. further a good friend of mine who is from cuba and whose father was a doctor there, has met them several times and has spoken with the entire family in spanish. he would tell us if their spanish is "low class." just b/c our nanny doesn't speak english very well you shouldn't assume it's just low class spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha. You all think you're raising "bilingual" kids, but all you're really doing is shortchanging them on what is valuable time for them to be building a strong foundation in English (English spoken by educated, well-read people with strong vocabularies), and the Spanish they are learning is likely the equivalent to the "English" you'd hear in bumfuck, USA. Just so you don't have to pay a real nanny, and so you can brag that your kid speaks both pigeon English and low class Spanish! Aren't they special![/


It's time you went back to school or have a long discussion with a speech pathologist about language acquisition. True bilingual children are able to retain both languages with little interference and have shown to have superior memorizing capabilities and a stronger wider vocabulary compared to monolingual children. The USA is one of the only countries where it's citizens are not encouraged to understand two, three or even four languages. My college educated family were all raised bilingual in Spanish and English by my sweet Guatemalan and Cuban grandparents. We have had the advance over most of our monolingual peers since being bilingual is important in our multicultural society.

Your hate and ignorance is holding you back.

[Anonymous]

20 years and no English?
I'm also a bilingual nanny and I think it's time for her to learn some English.

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

She's actually been in the country nearly 20 years. And she's been a nanny for awhile. She just doesn't seem motivated to learn English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha. You all think you're raising "bilingual" kids, but all you're really doing is shortchanging them on what is valuable time for them to be building a strong foundation in English (English spoken by educated, well-read people with strong vocabularies), and the Spanish they are learning is likely the equivalent to the "English" you'd hear in bumfuck, USA. Just so you don't have to pay a real nanny, and so you can brag that your kid speaks both pigeon English and low class Spanish! Aren't they special!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm a linguist and my DC's English is superb. You're clearly upset that you aren't bilingual. Instead of spewing hate on DCUM, why don't you take a class? BTW- I feel sorry for any child left in your inadequate care.