Good Wolf

I've heard the same thing. I thought it was a pretty accepted theory.

It is however a fact that the younger you are the easier it is to learn and that includes languages. I don't think it is demanding as long you don't force feed it to them. Casual lessons should be enough for them to obsorb it, and speaking it fluently yourself will get them doing so as well.

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jtee

I work with a French guy and his 4 year old daughter speaks 3 languages (at 4 year old level). She only started learning English with the past 12-15 months and is nearly as good as a native speaking 3 year old. She intuitively understands context, and can flip between languages without hesitation. She can talk to me and English, and turn to her dad and ask him a question in French without even thinking about it. Very very cool to see 4 year do effortlessly.

etceterae

I'm (naturally? Is that the word? I grew up speaking two languages...)bilingual and studying Spanish, my third language. I'm having a perfectly fine time, though admittedly learning a new language when you're 12 and going forth on that can be rather difficult. So teach them early, but make sure that when you talk to them, everything you say is in one language, not Spanglish, Chinglish, or Frejapanois. Then they WILL get confused =]

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Shari Nielsen

It would be great if they started the kids (those in public schools) w/ a foreign language class as early as first grade and kept it going into high school rather than starting in high school.

What do other countries that teach their kids English at an early age do? Anyone know?

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Geoff L

We (boy 4yrs and girl 7 yrs) live in a Mandarin environment (Taipei, Taiwan). They are fluent in Mandarin and close to fluent in English. But this is because I spend a lot of time with them and rarely speak to them in Mandarin. Their mother only speaks Mandarin to them and when we are all together over dinner or such I try to keep things in English.
What I would like to add is that it isn't as easy as it sounds unless you already have an exsisting environment which is based on a second or third language as this kind of langauge aquisition is through natural assimilation. If there are grandparents or other family members who spend enough time with the children then this is quite easy. As the single source of English it takes discipline (especially as I can express myself pretty much as easily in Mandarin as English) and a great deal of time. As well as creating enough opportunities for them to be exposed to a variety language through other sources: movies, books, podcasts, friends who also speak the additional language, travel and now a tutor for my daughter 3hrs a week.

jtee

Thanks Geoff.

Geoff L

You're welcome.
I forgot to add a reply to Shari's post. English language learning is a major subject here, as it is in all of East Asia (Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan) and is one of the 3 main subjects for elementary aged students (the others being Chinese and Math). My daughter studies English in her school twice a week. The cirriculmn is well thought out, has a CD. But it doesn't come close to giving students any real language ability unless they are especially talented in language studies. A problem which vexes the education programs in all of East Asia.

ZionsRodeVos

I started teaching my first child, Willem, 3 languages. English, Spanish, and German. I stopped teaching him German before he turned 2 because I believed he was learning Spanish slower than English and because since I don't speak German fluent and didn't think I could find enough resources to supplement my lack of knowledge in the language. But up until that time he knew words in each of the languages.

My 4 children know Spanish and English but it has been an effort on my part to speak mostly Spanish with them and then to get them to want to reply in Spanish.

When Willem was 4 he lived in the Dominican Republic for a few months and that gave his Spanish a much needed boost. He is 12 and a half now and uses his Spanish with students at school because he doesn't think his teachers can know what he is talking about that way. Willem knows both languages the best out of my children.

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Robert

Geoff L

Hi Robert, Yes, I think your experience mirrors mine and what I see in other biracial families in Taiwan. That unless an extra effort is made in the areas I mention above the acquisition of a 2nd language is difficult if only from a single source within the family.

gerrr

Like Geoff said. We're raising an English/Japanese speaking child and we have many friends in the same boat whose kids have had varying degrees of success. It's not as easy as it sounds and it takes discipline. The key is that the child must be regularly be in an environment where they HAVE to speak the less common langauge. It's about necessity. I can think of a few examples where the children speak Japanese all day and Japanese exclusively with one parent. The other native-English speaking parent speaks a lot of English with them but can also speak Japanese and often does. The kids can understand a lot of English but they don't speak it and are not 'bilingual'. That's a pattern that we could easily fall into but we're determined to have an English-only house. Hopefully that will do it.