Learning Language Alongside Child
Hi,
I'm seeking advice for learning a new language alongside my child, who is 1.5 years.
As background, he's current learning English and Spanish, since my partner and I (along with our nanny) speak both to him frequently--and those are going very well. I'm interested in introducing a third language, which I have been meaning to learn for years now, to him as well--since I can see how easily he picks up new phrases and words at this age. I've been learning mainly through and app and can speak at a beginner level, but nothing too advanced. From a practical perspective, any tips for working this new language into our rotation without confusing him? To be clear, I don't expect he'd be fluent because I'm not and we don't have a current plan for him to be immersed in the new language, but I'm hoping for a light familiarity with the sounds such that if he picks it up in a few years he won't be starting from zero.
I'm open to your experiences with introducing new languages that you're not already fluent in, or please point me to people/resources that might be helpful. Thank you very much!
Parent Replies
We adopted a baby girl (now 19) from Guatemala. Before she arrived, we committed to ensuring she'd be bilingual in English and Spanish -- which she is. My husband had almost no Spanish experience; I'd had Spanish in grades 5-7 and remembered little (though more than I'd anticipated), and college French helped. I was in charge of the Spanish project. Here's what worked for us:
1) I read lots of kids' books in Spanish to her. Simple books read over and over, best way I can think of to teach Mom a new language! I sought out books originally written in Spanish, which often meant importing them.
2) I spoke Spanish with my daughter as exclusively as I could manage (simple Spanish, but that was OK given her age). She pushed me into speaking English with her at age 3.5 (reasonable), though we continued to read in Spanish together till high school, and we still switch into Spanish sometimes. Side benefit: my Spanish is still pretty good.
2) I took conversational Spanish classes and got one-on-one tutoring. The tutor also helped me translate a few kids' books into idiomatic Spanish.
3) I read adult books in Spanish, slowly with dictionary in hand. We also subscribed to Think Spanish magazine, which is a great resource -- maybe there's something similar for the language you're interested in.
4) We hired a Spanish-speaking nanny; I spent a lot of time with her and our daughter, and let her know that I wanted her corrections. Our nanny was one of the two people my kid invited to high-school graduation.
5) We enrolled her in Escuela Bilingue Internacional from PK through 8th grade.
Confusing the languages isn't much of an issue so long as you keep them separate yourselves.
I've read that for small children to really learn a language, they need to be exposed to it at least 30% of the time. You may find that a much smaller amount of exposure to a third language becomes frustrating for your child, a tantalizing taste that keeps real understanding out of reach at an age when there is such a powerful drive to learn to talk. You may need to commit more to the third language to really make it work.