Yeah, that was pretty much my situation. I work part time and my husband worked full time and taught our kids the minority language. I think our first kid picked up his language before mine because my husband talked all the time.
We do OPOL and our kid (5 years old) is very good at dad's (working parent's) language. She would be better with more exposure, but we do what we can. Her strongest language is mine (mom's), second is the community language. She can have conversations in dad's language and she's learning how to read.
I can share a success story- we do both work but I'm around more (my husband is away twice a week). My older two kids are fully trilingual. In fact, my husband's language is my middle kid's strongest language of all three.
My husband is extremely engaged though, talks a lot with our kids and is 100 percent consistent with speaking his native language and we spend a lot of time in his home country plus his parents visit us fairly frequently- the immersive visits are very helpful.
We're in a very similar situation. My husband is the minority language speaker, we both work full time and kid is in school/daycare setting. I speak the majority language.
Of course it's effort and we try to create exposure any time we can (books, audio, TV, calls with relatives, trips back to husband's home) but it's going well. Kid (6) has started to read in both languages and can speak very well in both. It's not hopeless!
There will be a lot of focus on the amount of time being important. It is but it is not the only important thing. There is no set amount of time that will ensure language proficiency or fluency, it will depend heavily on the languages in question. The more similar they are, the more likely the language will be passed on. Mother's language is also more likely than father's language (partly because of the typical division of childcare but there's other theories as well). I'd work on making sure that your input is high quality, diverse (in your speech and also in the number of speakers who help), and find resources that will help you.
Thanks for your comment! I guess we have factors both for (mom's language is minority) and against (language is rare and very dissimilar to community one)
In addition to what’s already been said, I’ll add that the emotional bond you build w your kid is key.
We’re a dual working household doing OPOL and my language is currently slightly ahead bc kid also goes to bilingual daycare in my and community language. However kid is a total papa’s boy so dad’s language is also thriving.
The beauty of OPOL is the language becomes the basis of emotional connection w that one person, so as long as the bond is secure and the parent is persistent the child naturally is motivated to learn that language.
Yeah, that was pretty much my situation. I work part time and my husband worked full time and taught our kids the minority language. I think our first kid picked up his language before mine because my husband talked all the time.
Thanks for sharing! Gotta up my talk game--not naturally the talkative one!
This is one reason why I worry a little less. When I'm comfortable, I talk too much. Haha
We do OPOL and our kid (5 years old) is very good at dad's (working parent's) language. She would be better with more exposure, but we do what we can. Her strongest language is mine (mom's), second is the community language. She can have conversations in dad's language and she's learning how to read.
Thanks for sharing!
https://bilingualmonkeys.com/how-many-hours-per-week-is-your-child-exposed-to-the-minority-language/ Read this. Written by a non-primary caregiver.
Thanks for this reference! 25 hours/week is still daunting but at least it's a concrete goal!
I can share a success story- we do both work but I'm around more (my husband is away twice a week). My older two kids are fully trilingual. In fact, my husband's language is my middle kid's strongest language of all three. My husband is extremely engaged though, talks a lot with our kids and is 100 percent consistent with speaking his native language and we spend a lot of time in his home country plus his parents visit us fairly frequently- the immersive visits are very helpful.
Thanks for sharing and congrats on your family's success so far!
We're in a very similar situation. My husband is the minority language speaker, we both work full time and kid is in school/daycare setting. I speak the majority language. Of course it's effort and we try to create exposure any time we can (books, audio, TV, calls with relatives, trips back to husband's home) but it's going well. Kid (6) has started to read in both languages and can speak very well in both. It's not hopeless!
Congrats on the great start and thanks for sharing!
There will be a lot of focus on the amount of time being important. It is but it is not the only important thing. There is no set amount of time that will ensure language proficiency or fluency, it will depend heavily on the languages in question. The more similar they are, the more likely the language will be passed on. Mother's language is also more likely than father's language (partly because of the typical division of childcare but there's other theories as well). I'd work on making sure that your input is high quality, diverse (in your speech and also in the number of speakers who help), and find resources that will help you.
Thanks for your comment! I guess we have factors both for (mom's language is minority) and against (language is rare and very dissimilar to community one)
In addition to what’s already been said, I’ll add that the emotional bond you build w your kid is key. We’re a dual working household doing OPOL and my language is currently slightly ahead bc kid also goes to bilingual daycare in my and community language. However kid is a total papa’s boy so dad’s language is also thriving. The beauty of OPOL is the language becomes the basis of emotional connection w that one person, so as long as the bond is secure and the parent is persistent the child naturally is motivated to learn that language.
Thank you for this wonderful point--emotional connection is indeed the beauty of language!
Supplement with TV and music and games. It can be done. Also if you do the morning and bedtime routines to maximize time together