Teaching A Baby 2 Different Languages At The Same Time?

haha yes...i am huge....132 pounds of dynamite with a 6 inch wick

no idea why you are so pissy to me?....its entertaining for everyone.....cant wait to hear what cums out of your mouth next

 

In my nieces case, her dad who is from the Netherlands spoke Dutch to her and her mo
Spoke English to her. It worked pretty well

 

Sorry, I feel the need to defend myself here.

I think it is very telling that since this guy has chosen to pick on me in the last few days, several people have sent me a PM saying things like "I've got that guy on ignore" and "Sorry he's picking on you, but at least he's leaving me alone".

 

Another flame war? Damn.

No, it's not gonna work that way.

It takes two people to have an argument.

 

Thank you Ash. Very informative. I'll let my sister know if she doesn't already. I think it's ideal to start them out early with 2 languages, but it's possible it can be too early.

 

It is never too early, but it helps to keep the different languages separated by parent.

 

Yes, I've always heard it's most ideal to teach a 2nd language at an early age. My sister was speaking english and spanish to her son immediately after he was born. So he spent his entire (2 year) life hearing two different languages from the same people. How old were you kids before you exposed them to a 2nd language?

 

They were also exposed to both languages from birth. It for us was just a natural way to introduce them to both English and French and I am glad that we did as they use both all the time.

 

I wonder about a 2.5 year old baby I know, who does not speak anything yet, and just makes noises....i wonder if she is deaf or autistic or something...She seems very bright in other ways.....i also know an almost 2 year old baby girl who is speaking up a storm, who is also very bright.....

 

He's two years old. At that age, it's still hard to say if one is developing fast or slow in the language department. I have two friends who had their firstborns around the same time. At two years old, the kid of one friend became more of a talker with limited walking skills while the kid of the other friend became more of a walker with not much talking skills. Now that they are about four years old, they are both walking and talking fine. Being bilingual myself and having had people around me from different parts of the world who became parents in foreign countries, I still don't fully buy this confusion idea, because young children are quite capable of learning multiple languages simultaneously from what I've personally observed.

 

I've always been told (and looking at the people I know it seems entirely right) that the best time to learn (multiple) languages is as a kid.

 

Eh he is only 2, he'll be fine.
In the long run, it'll only do him good.

 

My wife is German and i'm American. She speaks exclusively German to our son and I speak exclusively English to our son. At 2 1/2, he understands both languages well. We believe that this is the BEST time for him to be exposed to two languages.

I don't agree with a previous post that indicated that this could overwhelm or overheat a child's brain.

Don't underestimate a child's capacity to learn and DON'T compare one child to the other. Every child develops at their own pace.

 

Hubby and I taught our granddaughter to speak English when she had just turned three years old. Her mother and my son dropped her on us for an 8 hour babysitting with us not speaking Spanish and her not speaking English. Her mother wanted her to be bilingual. We babysat her alot when they were dating. When she was 4 she came to live with us for the Summer because her mother had been put to bed with the triplets' pregnancy. She's 14 now and doesn't speak or much understand Spanish, lol.

They didn't even attempt to make the triplets' bilingual. They know zero Spanish.

My daughter in law's twin nieces were raised speaking only Spanish until they went to 4 year old preschool. By Thanksgiving of that year they were speaking English very well. I would never have believed it.

Now, they are in kindegarden and they speak Spanish at home and English to people outside of their family.

 

They can handle it well before the age of four. They are language sponges at those ages, being able to pick up on subtle sounds better than most adults. I'd teach my kid three languages from the start. As long as the teacher is good, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

They start off slow then catch up.
My 5yo boy is Thai/English and way slow, at the moment he only replies (to either language) in Thai.

I'm not worried.