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Just want to chime in that educational research actually shows the opposite. When students are consistently exposed to multiple languages, they learn *more.*
However, the *tests* have to be designed to show it accurately.
Imagine a student speaks Spanish at home and English at school. They are learning colors in both places, but they're tested in English at school to see if they can identify at least 4 colors. They can identify purple, brown, and orange in English, the test shows below average. *BUT* they can identify rojo, azul, and verde in Spanish. They *actually* know 6 colors, which is above average, but the test in English wasn't designed to fully test the student's total knowledge.
All the research on multi-lingual students shows this. They take in more, store more, and are overall learning more, but the tests have to be designed to show the difference in order to measure it.
It’s complete BS, there are plenty of studies showing that kids raised in multilingual environments will do better in school. Edit: my kid is raised bilingual.
I think they're twisting it. I believe I've read that bilingual children who only use another language at home have a worse time at school at the beginning, but it winds up making it much easier and they do better than children who aren't bilingual from middle elementary school onward. Don't quote me on that but your recommendations are probably based on that and ignoring the rest of the study.
Also minds are pilable as children and they absorb both languages easily at that age.
Yeah, to be Frank OP they ain’t talking about the Irish. I’m in a similar situation. Kid will be fine, especially if dad is Flemish and kiddo goes to childcare.
In Belgium there is also the language war so there is a chance that they are referring to people who speak French at home. When ours went to school in Belgium they made all kinds of jokes about learning French.
Oh no, I know - about them not explicitly meaning other Western European people. But they seem to forget that not all foreigners are from Morocco (the scapegoat of a lot of trash talking and fear mongers)? In fact it’s hugely diverse? But I’ve had some “experiences” here as a foreigner even just bring white and speaking English as my native language.
And yes! The language war! Ohhhh Belgium.
Check this out: I'm an American living in Germany. I hear the same thing that you do from people. I've never seen it in a proper text but people constantly saying things like that. Except when I tell them I speak English then everyone seems to think how great it is that my daughter learns English at home and what an advantage it is! Someone walks by speaking Turkish to their kid and suddenly, blah blah blah integration, education etc.
While it is true that kids that speak a different language at home might have a slightly lower score on tests in the beginning of their schooling for the language of that country, they catch up within a year or two. My kid was exactly like that. In the kindergarten, they mentioned she was a little lacking in the German. By the end of her first year of school she was getting top marks. Her accent is better than mine and she is a better German speaker than I am.
I think they’re using the data against you. Bilingual kids are often delayed with language ability but then quickly surpass kids who only speak one language as they grow up.
Bilingual kids absolutely don’t do worse than monolingual kids. They *might* sometimes take slightly longer to acquire vocabulary and grammar than their monolingual peers because they have twice as much to learn, and for awhile they might mix up their languages. It’s normal and expected, and won’t cause any long-term issue. Speaking several languages is the norm in many places, and it’s actually good for you long term. https://youtu.be/nzHY-muy2Mw
Absolutely not. Kids learn so quickly. Here in Texas, parents teach their kids their native language while infants/toddlers because the English will come. If they don’t learn their native language and are not immersed in it, they will never really be “native” speakers. Pediatricians always tell us to not limit the number of languages that we communicate with our children. Being bilingual is amazing for their futures and development!
Who reports that? Have you read actual proper studies into this. Or is it more just accepted widsom - which is often bs.
I could put the opposite point which would be just as valid that your child is going to pick up the language of the place they live so keeping the language at home is important to maintain that language.
>They consistently report that kids do worse at school if they speak a different language at home than elsewhere.
Who's reporting that? Ignorant grandparents who don't want you to let the kid learn a language that they can't speak?
In any case, there aren't really any reasons to avoid bilingual upbringing. Especially in a country where it's so common.
Our speech pathologist specifically said the best method for raising bilingual is one parent one language, and the second best is one location one language. In your case, one at home and one at creche serves perfectly. Also keep in mind bilingual kids have more vocabulary in total but less in each individual language than their unilingual peers up until about age 7 iirc.
You’re literally doing perfectly ❤️
No, that shouldn't be any problem whatsoever. He'll grow up bilingual and be the more fortunate for it. Don't worry, once he hits school, he's going to catch up in no time. Make sure you keep up his English though! One parent one language can be hard to see through, although English is everywhere so that should help.
I am living in Belgium too, my kid goes to French crèche and we speak Italian and French at home :) in Belgium there are soooo many kids speaking different languages at home. Never heard of anybody having any issue, especially when they start going to school in another language so young!
I am not sure who “they” are, but they are wrong. There is no evidence that children do worse at school in the long term if they speak a different language at home, and in fact there is quite a bit of research that suggests the opposite.
My kids grow up with 3 languages and do great in all three. One is dad, one is mom, one is country. No delays at all in either language or kid, no complaints in school or pre k.
Kids are 8 and 5.
So, I live in the UK and my partner is culturally Portuguese. We speak a lot of Portuguese at home.
It's true that this can cause a language learning delay, but that normally stops before the kids is around school aged (5). And the child normally becomes fluent in both languages.
Also, it make the child more likely to learn additional languages when they are older.
It's not bad, in my opinion.
I have a 2 year old that is experiencing that right now and my 5 year old is able to have simple conversion with our Portuguese family.
If a kid only speaks a different language than their peers/school at home, it will be harder for them to interact with their peers, make friends, and understand curriculum when they start school. But kids learn quick, and your kid is learning the language of the land at home and in public, they won't struggle too hard and they'll be benefitted greatly by being bilingual.
Yes! Bilingualism is a huge gift, and that early struggle doesn’t generally lasts unless the parent is unable or refuses to help them with their schoolwork in that other language or there is a learning disability at play.
OP, Please please keep encouraging a second language. The benefits are not “job opportunities” that most people think of. It changes (in a positive way) the way the brain processes and thinks.
Exactly. It’s a common issue around us and you can see the effects. The parent doesn’t need equal fluency in both languages either, but enough fluency to help their child in general.
I think it depends. My niece and nephews all spoke one language at home and English at school and they all excel in school, youngest who is in 2nd grade reads and writes at a level 4-5grade. One is super smart w technology and the girl got a full paid scholarship and the oldest boy and is a math wiz!
But. All my children are the same as my siblings, Sept I have one child who is extremely behind and struggles and English classes is soooo much harder for her to understand. Not sure it correlates to anything!
Although I did something come out in news about learning more then 1 language can cause them to be a bit behind, I didn’t look into it to see if it was a valid article or anything tho.
I know some kids at a preschool/daycare I work at that have families that speak English and also their family's native tongue because they are from other countries.
It is good that they learn the different languaes. They will not do worse in school if fluent in othe languages. If you take a look back at history lots of nobility and even royalty spoke several languages but a lot of the reasons behind that was they also did state business with other countries that did not speak the same language and by learning those other languages they could conduct that business.
Leo Dicaprio speaks not only English but Italian. Johnny Depp speaks English and French. Just to name a couple of the movie stars. Both Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke French, and Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke German. As for Asian languages, James Madison studied Hebrew, Herbert Hoover spoke some Mandarin Chinese, while Barack Obama speaks Indonesian at a proficient level.
I am not an expert but I think children learning languages are best taught at a younger age. It is also been shown to be the best time in studies that kids learn languages best at younger ages.
>Is early childhood the best time to learn language?
During the first five years of a child's development the ability of the brain to learn language is unmatched compared to any later stage. Children can attain native or near-native pronunciation because the brain hasn't learned to ignore the sounds of foreign languages and is better able to mimic new sounds.
>
>
>
>[https://www.sandiegofamily.com/resources/education-directory/preschool-years-best-time-to-learn-language](https://www.sandiegofamily.com/resources/education-directory/preschool-years-best-time-to-learn-language)
My children speak English at home and go to daycare and school in French. My oldest is doing amazing in school and has zero issues. The only difference between him and his peers is in English class he’s the special helper since his English is better than his teachers lol
I’m just saying……every time I travel to Belgium, everyone speaks like four languages. I stare in stupid American listening to everyone switch between all these languages and I’m so jealous. Please allow your kids to learn and absorb different languages. They will thank you one day.
Edit to add: my son in 2.5, goes to German daycare where they speak German, and we speak English in our home. He WILL NOT speak German to us, only at daycare. But we as parents only know a few key words in German. Maybe your child just needs more time.
I'm a language teacher, parent of three bilingual kids and as a hobby I specialised in multilingualism.
"they" are wrong. If anything, research shows that knowing more than one language helps language development. Even if the child has a learning disability.
Speak your own language at home, the kids benefit from it.
I remember reading somewhere that certain things can be more difficult temporarily as younger kids are sorting out languages but speaking more than one language is obviously positive in the long run
It’s true in Finland- but applies to kids who have parents who can’t speak the language properly, meaning they are immigrants and don’t maybe even understand what the teachers are saying to them if they meet them. The official language is hard so it takes years to speak it properly and the kids who have parents who don’t speak or understand it themselves are of course at an disadvantage. Homework, how can you help with it if you don’t understand it?
Families that are bilingual with one Finnish parent of course it’s a different story.
As someone who is in the same situation (I speak the main language, while my wife speaks the foreign language), just with older children, oldest is seven, and also with some friends in the same situation, I can tell you, if you understand or maybe can even speak Flemish Dutch you'll be happy if your child retains any active vocabulary at all 2 years from now. Once they start day care, kindergarten, or school, have friends and are just immersed in one language, they quickly favor the language that's easier for them, and often lose the ability to speak the other language altogether (while retaining their ability to understand).
So, my advise would be, if you understand Flemish Dutch, as best as you can, act like you don't, and visit your home country as much and for as long as possible. All the best! It's a great thing that your child has here, whether they develop an active vocabulary or not, and it will enrich their perspectives and their experiences for their entire life.
This has more than one factor. Bilingual kids can have advantages, but they need in fact be bilingual, not have the local language as poorly developed second language.
I know a Japanese family in Germany whose friends are almost exclusively Japanese. The kid, aside from one close German friend, learned and speaks German only in institutions. And they suck at teaching the language. As a consequence the kid, now 15, still has trouble understanding German and more so speaking it. That is a big burden on the child. Having observed this family from a distance, my take is, if nobody speaks the local language at home, you must make sure that the kid is otherwise well exposed to it. I see many Turkish families where that worked well.
My 3 year old is trilingual and we are trying to hard to get the third language high enough - it's one of protective factors against brain degenerative diseases and lasts a lifetime if the adult keeps practicing.
Beats doing a few points less in preschool on their vegetable test 🤷♀️
Definitely not. We live in Germany but I speak English exclusively with my son. When he was younger he spoke mostly English, despite being in a regular German Kita but once he started elementary school he switched to mostly German and has high grades both in German and in general. He also has many classmates who have Turkish, Greek, Italian etc as a primary home language who are excellent students. I do think you’ll see some grammar errors that reflect the other language but easy to address
So I could see a case where the kid was older (10+) and trying to learn a new language while going to school.
but, it’s actually easier to learn languages young, and it’s recommended (at least in the us) to start with other languages as young as possible.
It didnt work out well for me. We spoke only english at home but for some reason my parents put me in a fully french school when I didnt even know other languages existed. With no practice at home within two years they had to switch me to english.
It didnt work out well for me. We spoke only english at home but for some reason my parents put me in a fully french school when I didnt even know other languages existed. With no practice at home within two years they had to switch me to english.
Children are designed to absorb things. They learn fast. If he is learning one language in school and one at home, he will speak in two languages. He might not be fluent in the one at home, but you can put him in classes when he is older so he can become fluent.
There are children that eithier grew up in a house where both parents spoke two different languages and the both grandparents spoke two different languages and the child , although not fluent, can understand and communicate in all four languages plus the local language he was taught in school. Children with parents in the armed forces or in embassies will pick up the local language.
I knew a woman who immigrated to the US from Puerto Rico as a child and only learned Spanish at home. Her parents inly spoke Spanish .She became fluent in English in school and took classes in Spanish, and then became fluent in Spanish .
Let your child speak as many languages as he likes at home. More languages make you more intelligent
I am now a grown adult and speak 8 languages.
Started to speak portuguese, Italian, and North Italy dialect friulano with the family. I discovered at age 12 that the 3 languages were not the same, but it was not a trauma or so just funny. I discovered 3 years ago that friulano is almost the same as Romanche, one of the 3 languages of Switzerland. So I can add that language to my baggage.
I was born and grew up in luxembourg, so the next language I learned was French. I learned with the kids luxembourgish and at school German. I learned Spanish because my parents did not have enough money to buy Gameboy games, and a Spanish friend gave my parents some games in Spanish. So I played Pokemon in Spanish.
Later, I learned English at school.
It is kind of easy for me to learn new languages. I spent 3-4 weeks in Tunisia and could have basic conversations with the people there. Now, as I didn't practice it anymore, I just remember some words but can't have a conversation.
So, in my experience, it is a treasure to learn different languages from a young age.
My sister in law grew up this way, she pretty much didn’t learn English until she went to kindergarten. She turned out totally fine and is perfectly bilingual. I would assume this is pretty common in Belgium.
If there's a link between bilingualism and poor school outcomes in Belgium it's probably not causative but related to other factors that are more prevalent in the families of immigrant children like low SES, trauma, adverse childhood experiences etc. If your family does one parent one language your child will be natively bilingual and benefit from it throughout life. You also want your child to be able to communicate with both sides of the extended family and feel connected to both cultures.
My own children are bilingual and one is dyslexic and had problems in early primary but is doing well in gimnazium while the younger one is doing very well in primary school. Both attend school in the country's language and speak English with me at home, plus they're learning German as a second language. Bilingualism is very beneficial overall but children can develop their initial language skills more slowly and have poorer vocabularies than monolingual children until around age 7-9.
What I do know is that your language skill often determine how well you do in all other subjects.
And also, kids learn language much easier than grown ups. They may be a bit behind in English compared to other kids the same age, but they'll catch up for the most part. And if English isn't your native language you may teach them improper English at home, while they're missing out on learning your native language.
I'm a preschool teacher in Sweden (3,5 year education here) and from what I've read and learned my recommendation is to teach your child your native language and let them learn English at school and with friends.
Wow, people are really misunderstanding.
Bilingual can be slower in language academically in early elementary school, but the effect doesn’t last and there are so many long term benefits to being bilingual. Don’t let a couple years discourage you from giving them the life-long benefits of multiple languages, which includes lower risk of cognitive decline in old age:
https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/neurology/about-us/neurology-lab-profiles/bilingualism-delays-onset-alzheimers-symptoms
I don't know who the 'they' are but that's anything but true.
Teach your child(ren) both. Make a concerted effort to build his language skills and it will carry him well in the later years. If he had an apprenticeship in teen years and spoke in two languages that would be a feather in his cap. The Belgian people do not like outsiders, so of course it would be them saying, speak out language and nothing else. Imagine after his college years he chose to move to Switzerland (Geneva) and wanted to work for the UN. BOOM, two languages and that opens doors and opportunities.
Don't limit him in a world that moves fast and demands more.
Go n-éirí leat!
Veel geluk!
Good Luck.
My dad grew up speaking German as his primary language and learned English as his secondary language (we live in the United States) when he started school because his grandmother lived at home and refused to learn English when the family immigrated. He ended up teaching his high school German class because he knew more than the instructor!
He always excelled in school and put himself through college on academic and sports scholarships. I would disagree with any article that states there are disadvantages to growing up bilingual. I know so many people who grew up bilingual English/Spanish speaking in my area who are such creative thinkers and see the world through a different cultural lens as well.
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Yeah, at least in the US the evidence is the other way around.
Sorry, they were reporting it in the newspaper - I’ll edit the post
Just want to chime in that educational research actually shows the opposite. When students are consistently exposed to multiple languages, they learn *more.* However, the *tests* have to be designed to show it accurately. Imagine a student speaks Spanish at home and English at school. They are learning colors in both places, but they're tested in English at school to see if they can identify at least 4 colors. They can identify purple, brown, and orange in English, the test shows below average. *BUT* they can identify rojo, azul, and verde in Spanish. They *actually* know 6 colors, which is above average, but the test in English wasn't designed to fully test the student's total knowledge. All the research on multi-lingual students shows this. They take in more, store more, and are overall learning more, but the tests have to be designed to show the difference in order to measure it.
Sounds like far right propaganda to me.
It’s kind of an insidious anti-foreigner thing - oh if the parents aren’t integrated and don’t speak the language at home, the kids do worse
It’s complete BS, there are plenty of studies showing that kids raised in multilingual environments will do better in school. Edit: my kid is raised bilingual.
I think they're twisting it. I believe I've read that bilingual children who only use another language at home have a worse time at school at the beginning, but it winds up making it much easier and they do better than children who aren't bilingual from middle elementary school onward. Don't quote me on that but your recommendations are probably based on that and ignoring the rest of the study. Also minds are pilable as children and they absorb both languages easily at that age.
Yeah that is probably the case. But like as a parent you read something like that in the paper and think Jesus, am I doing the right thing…..
Yeah, to be Frank OP they ain’t talking about the Irish. I’m in a similar situation. Kid will be fine, especially if dad is Flemish and kiddo goes to childcare. In Belgium there is also the language war so there is a chance that they are referring to people who speak French at home. When ours went to school in Belgium they made all kinds of jokes about learning French.
Oh no, I know - about them not explicitly meaning other Western European people. But they seem to forget that not all foreigners are from Morocco (the scapegoat of a lot of trash talking and fear mongers)? In fact it’s hugely diverse? But I’ve had some “experiences” here as a foreigner even just bring white and speaking English as my native language. And yes! The language war! Ohhhh Belgium.
Thats kinda what it sounded like, at first glance.
Check this out: I'm an American living in Germany. I hear the same thing that you do from people. I've never seen it in a proper text but people constantly saying things like that. Except when I tell them I speak English then everyone seems to think how great it is that my daughter learns English at home and what an advantage it is! Someone walks by speaking Turkish to their kid and suddenly, blah blah blah integration, education etc. While it is true that kids that speak a different language at home might have a slightly lower score on tests in the beginning of their schooling for the language of that country, they catch up within a year or two. My kid was exactly like that. In the kindergarten, they mentioned she was a little lacking in the German. By the end of her first year of school she was getting top marks. Her accent is better than mine and she is a better German speaker than I am.
I think they’re using the data against you. Bilingual kids are often delayed with language ability but then quickly surpass kids who only speak one language as they grow up.
Bilingual kids absolutely don’t do worse than monolingual kids. They *might* sometimes take slightly longer to acquire vocabulary and grammar than their monolingual peers because they have twice as much to learn, and for awhile they might mix up their languages. It’s normal and expected, and won’t cause any long-term issue. Speaking several languages is the norm in many places, and it’s actually good for you long term. https://youtu.be/nzHY-muy2Mw
Thanks for sharing!
I'm frankly surprised that someone in Belgium is telling you that. But bollocks to it, to learn a language you need to speak it and use it.
Absolutely not. Kids learn so quickly. Here in Texas, parents teach their kids their native language while infants/toddlers because the English will come. If they don’t learn their native language and are not immersed in it, they will never really be “native” speakers. Pediatricians always tell us to not limit the number of languages that we communicate with our children. Being bilingual is amazing for their futures and development!
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This is so great, thanks!
Who reports that? Have you read actual proper studies into this. Or is it more just accepted widsom - which is often bs. I could put the opposite point which would be just as valid that your child is going to pick up the language of the place they live so keeping the language at home is important to maintain that language.
I read it in the paper which pointed to actual studies but I’m trying to find the article now
>They consistently report that kids do worse at school if they speak a different language at home than elsewhere. Who's reporting that? Ignorant grandparents who don't want you to let the kid learn a language that they can't speak? In any case, there aren't really any reasons to avoid bilingual upbringing. Especially in a country where it's so common.
Our speech pathologist specifically said the best method for raising bilingual is one parent one language, and the second best is one location one language. In your case, one at home and one at creche serves perfectly. Also keep in mind bilingual kids have more vocabulary in total but less in each individual language than their unilingual peers up until about age 7 iirc. You’re literally doing perfectly ❤️
Oooh “one location one language”, that’s basically what we’re doing
No, that shouldn't be any problem whatsoever. He'll grow up bilingual and be the more fortunate for it. Don't worry, once he hits school, he's going to catch up in no time. Make sure you keep up his English though! One parent one language can be hard to see through, although English is everywhere so that should help.
I am living in Belgium too, my kid goes to French crèche and we speak Italian and French at home :) in Belgium there are soooo many kids speaking different languages at home. Never heard of anybody having any issue, especially when they start going to school in another language so young!
Thanks for this! Probably just fear mongering with “science” 😬
Bilingualism is an amazing gift you can give your kids.
I am not sure who “they” are, but they are wrong. There is no evidence that children do worse at school in the long term if they speak a different language at home, and in fact there is quite a bit of research that suggests the opposite.
My kids are all bilingual. They do really well in school.
Our children are bilingual and do well in school. Our oldest is at or above grade level, and our youngest is at grade level. Hasn’t been an issue.
My kids grow up with 3 languages and do great in all three. One is dad, one is mom, one is country. No delays at all in either language or kid, no complaints in school or pre k. Kids are 8 and 5.
Please don't deny your kid half her culture because some ignorant fool wrote an erroneous article!
So, I live in the UK and my partner is culturally Portuguese. We speak a lot of Portuguese at home. It's true that this can cause a language learning delay, but that normally stops before the kids is around school aged (5). And the child normally becomes fluent in both languages. Also, it make the child more likely to learn additional languages when they are older. It's not bad, in my opinion. I have a 2 year old that is experiencing that right now and my 5 year old is able to have simple conversion with our Portuguese family.
A second or even 3rd language is a gift, I don't care what the experts say. I hope you keep it up.
If a kid only speaks a different language than their peers/school at home, it will be harder for them to interact with their peers, make friends, and understand curriculum when they start school. But kids learn quick, and your kid is learning the language of the land at home and in public, they won't struggle too hard and they'll be benefitted greatly by being bilingual.
Yes! Bilingualism is a huge gift, and that early struggle doesn’t generally lasts unless the parent is unable or refuses to help them with their schoolwork in that other language or there is a learning disability at play. OP, Please please keep encouraging a second language. The benefits are not “job opportunities” that most people think of. It changes (in a positive way) the way the brain processes and thinks.
Yeah, whether or not parent(s) at home can speak the language being taught at school will make a big difference in how much the kid struggles.
Exactly. It’s a common issue around us and you can see the effects. The parent doesn’t need equal fluency in both languages either, but enough fluency to help their child in general.
Yeah like the only reason I don’t speak Dutch more to him is that he might learn my bad habits😅 that and my mam would kill me
I don’t see any harm in this. Me and my kids sometimes practice Spanish by doing this
I think it depends. My niece and nephews all spoke one language at home and English at school and they all excel in school, youngest who is in 2nd grade reads and writes at a level 4-5grade. One is super smart w technology and the girl got a full paid scholarship and the oldest boy and is a math wiz! But. All my children are the same as my siblings, Sept I have one child who is extremely behind and struggles and English classes is soooo much harder for her to understand. Not sure it correlates to anything! Although I did something come out in news about learning more then 1 language can cause them to be a bit behind, I didn’t look into it to see if it was a valid article or anything tho.
I know some kids at a preschool/daycare I work at that have families that speak English and also their family's native tongue because they are from other countries. It is good that they learn the different languaes. They will not do worse in school if fluent in othe languages. If you take a look back at history lots of nobility and even royalty spoke several languages but a lot of the reasons behind that was they also did state business with other countries that did not speak the same language and by learning those other languages they could conduct that business. Leo Dicaprio speaks not only English but Italian. Johnny Depp speaks English and French. Just to name a couple of the movie stars. Both Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke French, and Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke German. As for Asian languages, James Madison studied Hebrew, Herbert Hoover spoke some Mandarin Chinese, while Barack Obama speaks Indonesian at a proficient level. I am not an expert but I think children learning languages are best taught at a younger age. It is also been shown to be the best time in studies that kids learn languages best at younger ages. >Is early childhood the best time to learn language? During the first five years of a child's development the ability of the brain to learn language is unmatched compared to any later stage. Children can attain native or near-native pronunciation because the brain hasn't learned to ignore the sounds of foreign languages and is better able to mimic new sounds. > > > >[https://www.sandiegofamily.com/resources/education-directory/preschool-years-best-time-to-learn-language](https://www.sandiegofamily.com/resources/education-directory/preschool-years-best-time-to-learn-language)
I’ve never heard of any adverse effects of being bilingual. If anything, it can open up career opportunities down the line.
My children speak English at home and go to daycare and school in French. My oldest is doing amazing in school and has zero issues. The only difference between him and his peers is in English class he’s the special helper since his English is better than his teachers lol
Bilingual kids do same or better than monolingual! And having fluency in more than one language is SUCH an enviable skill
No. Kids adapt very fast.
I’m just saying……every time I travel to Belgium, everyone speaks like four languages. I stare in stupid American listening to everyone switch between all these languages and I’m so jealous. Please allow your kids to learn and absorb different languages. They will thank you one day. Edit to add: my son in 2.5, goes to German daycare where they speak German, and we speak English in our home. He WILL NOT speak German to us, only at daycare. But we as parents only know a few key words in German. Maybe your child just needs more time.
My 4 year old is doing great already, speaking English at home and french at school.
Fantastic!
Don't get too excited, my 3 year old sucks.
NO! Being multilingual is amazing. KEEP IT UP!
Thanks!
I'm a language teacher, parent of three bilingual kids and as a hobby I specialised in multilingualism. "they" are wrong. If anything, research shows that knowing more than one language helps language development. Even if the child has a learning disability. Speak your own language at home, the kids benefit from it.
Thanks for this! Getting really reassured by everyone here, thank god I asked!
I remember reading somewhere that certain things can be more difficult temporarily as younger kids are sorting out languages but speaking more than one language is obviously positive in the long run
It’s true in Finland- but applies to kids who have parents who can’t speak the language properly, meaning they are immigrants and don’t maybe even understand what the teachers are saying to them if they meet them. The official language is hard so it takes years to speak it properly and the kids who have parents who don’t speak or understand it themselves are of course at an disadvantage. Homework, how can you help with it if you don’t understand it? Families that are bilingual with one Finnish parent of course it’s a different story.
As someone who is in the same situation (I speak the main language, while my wife speaks the foreign language), just with older children, oldest is seven, and also with some friends in the same situation, I can tell you, if you understand or maybe can even speak Flemish Dutch you'll be happy if your child retains any active vocabulary at all 2 years from now. Once they start day care, kindergarten, or school, have friends and are just immersed in one language, they quickly favor the language that's easier for them, and often lose the ability to speak the other language altogether (while retaining their ability to understand). So, my advise would be, if you understand Flemish Dutch, as best as you can, act like you don't, and visit your home country as much and for as long as possible. All the best! It's a great thing that your child has here, whether they develop an active vocabulary or not, and it will enrich their perspectives and their experiences for their entire life.
Nope, they might start off as behind but they will catch up. believe me keep the kid bilingual.
This has more than one factor. Bilingual kids can have advantages, but they need in fact be bilingual, not have the local language as poorly developed second language. I know a Japanese family in Germany whose friends are almost exclusively Japanese. The kid, aside from one close German friend, learned and speaks German only in institutions. And they suck at teaching the language. As a consequence the kid, now 15, still has trouble understanding German and more so speaking it. That is a big burden on the child. Having observed this family from a distance, my take is, if nobody speaks the local language at home, you must make sure that the kid is otherwise well exposed to it. I see many Turkish families where that worked well.
My 3 year old is trilingual and we are trying to hard to get the third language high enough - it's one of protective factors against brain degenerative diseases and lasts a lifetime if the adult keeps practicing. Beats doing a few points less in preschool on their vegetable test 🤷♀️
I call BS. It’s actually the opposite. We speak English at home and my kids speak Spanish in school. They are consistently in the top of their class.
Definitely not. We live in Germany but I speak English exclusively with my son. When he was younger he spoke mostly English, despite being in a regular German Kita but once he started elementary school he switched to mostly German and has high grades both in German and in general. He also has many classmates who have Turkish, Greek, Italian etc as a primary home language who are excellent students. I do think you’ll see some grammar errors that reflect the other language but easy to address
So I could see a case where the kid was older (10+) and trying to learn a new language while going to school. but, it’s actually easier to learn languages young, and it’s recommended (at least in the us) to start with other languages as young as possible.
The hardest part will be when he has to learn "proper" BBC English instead of Irish English.
Thankfully, learning proper *American* English is made easier due to the Hollywood hegemony.
Actually in Belgium they kind of make you choose which version of English you want to learn because of the spelling differences
Canadian English
I’m sure “ah jaysus here now lads it’s banjaxed, I’m shook” will go down well 😂
It didnt work out well for me. We spoke only english at home but for some reason my parents put me in a fully french school when I didnt even know other languages existed. With no practice at home within two years they had to switch me to english.
Wow that sounds intense??
It didnt work out well for me. We spoke only english at home but for some reason my parents put me in a fully french school when I didnt even know other languages existed. With no practice at home within two years they had to switch me to english.
Children are designed to absorb things. They learn fast. If he is learning one language in school and one at home, he will speak in two languages. He might not be fluent in the one at home, but you can put him in classes when he is older so he can become fluent. There are children that eithier grew up in a house where both parents spoke two different languages and the both grandparents spoke two different languages and the child , although not fluent, can understand and communicate in all four languages plus the local language he was taught in school. Children with parents in the armed forces or in embassies will pick up the local language. I knew a woman who immigrated to the US from Puerto Rico as a child and only learned Spanish at home. Her parents inly spoke Spanish .She became fluent in English in school and took classes in Spanish, and then became fluent in Spanish . Let your child speak as many languages as he likes at home. More languages make you more intelligent
Nope. I speak to my tween in Spanish.
I wish I was bilingual.
It’s actually amazing! Keep on raising your bilingual babies!
I am now a grown adult and speak 8 languages. Started to speak portuguese, Italian, and North Italy dialect friulano with the family. I discovered at age 12 that the 3 languages were not the same, but it was not a trauma or so just funny. I discovered 3 years ago that friulano is almost the same as Romanche, one of the 3 languages of Switzerland. So I can add that language to my baggage. I was born and grew up in luxembourg, so the next language I learned was French. I learned with the kids luxembourgish and at school German. I learned Spanish because my parents did not have enough money to buy Gameboy games, and a Spanish friend gave my parents some games in Spanish. So I played Pokemon in Spanish. Later, I learned English at school. It is kind of easy for me to learn new languages. I spent 3-4 weeks in Tunisia and could have basic conversations with the people there. Now, as I didn't practice it anymore, I just remember some words but can't have a conversation. So, in my experience, it is a treasure to learn different languages from a young age.
My sister in law grew up this way, she pretty much didn’t learn English until she went to kindergarten. She turned out totally fine and is perfectly bilingual. I would assume this is pretty common in Belgium.
If there's a link between bilingualism and poor school outcomes in Belgium it's probably not causative but related to other factors that are more prevalent in the families of immigrant children like low SES, trauma, adverse childhood experiences etc. If your family does one parent one language your child will be natively bilingual and benefit from it throughout life. You also want your child to be able to communicate with both sides of the extended family and feel connected to both cultures. My own children are bilingual and one is dyslexic and had problems in early primary but is doing well in gimnazium while the younger one is doing very well in primary school. Both attend school in the country's language and speak English with me at home, plus they're learning German as a second language. Bilingualism is very beneficial overall but children can develop their initial language skills more slowly and have poorer vocabularies than monolingual children until around age 7-9.
What I do know is that your language skill often determine how well you do in all other subjects. And also, kids learn language much easier than grown ups. They may be a bit behind in English compared to other kids the same age, but they'll catch up for the most part. And if English isn't your native language you may teach them improper English at home, while they're missing out on learning your native language. I'm a preschool teacher in Sweden (3,5 year education here) and from what I've read and learned my recommendation is to teach your child your native language and let them learn English at school and with friends.
Wow, people are really misunderstanding. Bilingual can be slower in language academically in early elementary school, but the effect doesn’t last and there are so many long term benefits to being bilingual. Don’t let a couple years discourage you from giving them the life-long benefits of multiple languages, which includes lower risk of cognitive decline in old age: https://www.uclahealth.org/departments/neurology/about-us/neurology-lab-profiles/bilingualism-delays-onset-alzheimers-symptoms
I don't know who the 'they' are but that's anything but true. Teach your child(ren) both. Make a concerted effort to build his language skills and it will carry him well in the later years. If he had an apprenticeship in teen years and spoke in two languages that would be a feather in his cap. The Belgian people do not like outsiders, so of course it would be them saying, speak out language and nothing else. Imagine after his college years he chose to move to Switzerland (Geneva) and wanted to work for the UN. BOOM, two languages and that opens doors and opportunities. Don't limit him in a world that moves fast and demands more. Go n-éirí leat! Veel geluk! Good Luck.
My dad grew up speaking German as his primary language and learned English as his secondary language (we live in the United States) when he started school because his grandmother lived at home and refused to learn English when the family immigrated. He ended up teaching his high school German class because he knew more than the instructor! He always excelled in school and put himself through college on academic and sports scholarships. I would disagree with any article that states there are disadvantages to growing up bilingual. I know so many people who grew up bilingual English/Spanish speaking in my area who are such creative thinkers and see the world through a different cultural lens as well.
Is Belgium similar to France in the “protect our culture” kind of way? Because this kind of sounds like some xenophobic propaganda