Do any parents who have raised a bilingual child have any tips during the process?

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:41:09 -0400

My wife is a native Korean speaker who speaks English very well. I'm a native English speaker who speaks Korean fairly well. Our daughter is pushing 2mo old and so far we have been speaking to her with both languages. She has an American name and a Korean name, so when we use one name vs the other we speak in that language. Any tips that have been successful for other parents during this phase?

Response by Capt Brandon Charters made Sep 20 at 2016 10:43 AM

Capt Brandon Charters — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 10:43:42 -0400

MAJ(P) Private RallyPoint Member - As one of the best bilingual Dads I know, I think you'd have some great insights here, brother.

Response by CSM Chuck Stafford made Sep 20 at 2016 11:36 AM

CSM Chuck Stafford — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 11:36:43 -0400

Just keep at it -- her brain is a sponge at this point and she will mix the languages at first, but by the time she enters school, she'll be able to sort that there are two separate and distinct languages. Biligualism is a great skill and asset in this 21st century

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 20 at 2016 1:21 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:21:30 -0400

Just keep doing what you are doing. It's amazing how their brains can sort things out. My daughter is almost 4 now and speaks English and Japanese.

I would say you and your wife use only your native language when you speak to her. One reason to keep this divide is she may start to favor one language over the other. For example living in the U.S. she may start to favor English and will start talking to your wife in English. She just needs to know to talk to Mom in only Korean. Also by sticking to your native languages it will avoid her picking up any bad pronunciations/accents/etc.

Don't worry if she falls behind in a particular language. Last year I was gone for 9 months and my daughter's English ability was lagging behind her Japanese. After just a few months of me being home, her English had caught back up.

Having kids TV shows in both languages will help too. I was amazed how much english my daughter had picked up just from cartoons after I returned from a long underway.

Before you know it she'll be switching languages without any difficulty, it's truly an amazing thing to see!

Response by PO1 Brian Austin made Sep 20 at 2016 1:43 PM

PO1 Brian Austin — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 13:43:28 -0400

As others have said, keep doing what you're doing. Young children are sponges and will soak it up. All 3 of mine can speak Tagalog. Additionally, my daughter learned to be conversational in Japanese through watching Anime cartoons, along with 2 yrs of DOD school in Japan. She has a serious aptitude for language. I learned very quickly to watch my language around them, especially my daughter...lol. Young children can be very amazing when it comes to learning.

Response by MAJ(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 20 at 2016 10:06 PM

MAJ(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:06:54 -0400

I think you are doing the right thing. The first 5-8 yrs of a childs life are the easiest for them to absorb knowledge especially languages. They are not constrained by accents and certain habbits of speaking, so it is easier for their tongues to adapt to how new languages are spoken. Keeping both languages active in the house is important, but it becomes harder when one language becomes more dominant because of where you live or the people that suround your child. In my case, after I remairried, I know have 5 kids between 13 and 9 in my house. 3 are native Spanish and 2 are Native English, while my wife and myself are both fluent bilingual as natives for Puerto Rico. We now live in the mid west and because English is what my kids are imersed in between schools, friends and where we live; in our house we try to use as much Spanish as possible to keep them proficient. I believe my kids have balanced each other out and now speak both languages in our house regularly depending on what they are doing. I think you are on the right track LT, keep it up, and your daughter will thank you when she is older.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Sep 22 at 2016 11:01 AM

CSM Darieus ZaGara — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 11:01:53 -0400

My wife (German) and I spoke our native languages to our chuldren, it did not confuse them and they are bilingual today. Each of them also attended schools from each country earning high grades always. Don't worry they are smarter than you or I. Good luck!

Response by MAJ Raúl Rovira made Jan 2 at 2018 10:49 AM

MAJ Raúl Rovira — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 10:49:01 -0500

I've had a lot of sucess in speaking only in Spanish to my kids. My wife speaks in Hungarian to the kids. This way they associate a language with a parent. You can do something similar with English and Korean.

Good luck and enjoy.