Babies and languages

regulus · 19 Sep 2006 at 18:55

Kroegen said:
I speak German, dad is, english, and Spanish

Were you able to speak German and English from a young age? When did you start learning Spanish?

Vixen · 19 Sep 2006 at 19:01

While my mum was working in Canada this summer she visited the house of one of her Canadian colleagues. He was French Canadian and his wife was Chinese, so their children all speak French, English and Chinese. They speak French with their father, Chinese with their mother and English with everyone else.
I work with a guy who was born in Spain to an English father and French mother, so he has always spoken Spanish, French and English in the same way.

robmiller · 19 Sep 2006 at 19:02

The earlier the better, from what I've read.

"Indeed, children in the first 5 years of life have such a remarkable facility for language that they can effortlessly learn two structurally quite different languages simultaneously... without evincing the slightest signs of stress or confusion." (Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue p16)

spirit · 19 Sep 2006 at 19:55

very very possible, i know people (mainly dutch) who can speak 4/5 languages fluently.

regulus · 19 Sep 2006 at 20:16

spirit said:
very very possible, i know people (mainly dutch) who can speak 4/5 languages fluently.[/QU]
Many people can, but it's usually languages that shares the same background (Germanic, Slavic, African etc etc).

panthro · 19 Sep 2006 at 20:20

Psyk said:
Yes I think it was Haka, it seems to ring a bell (and not just because it's the name of a local chinese take-away).

hahah

On the high street next to M&S.

I dont see 3 languages being a problem as long as they are staggered.

robmiller · 19 Sep 2006 at 20:20

regulus said:
spirit said:

very very possible, i know people (mainly dutch) who can speak 4/5 languages fluently.[/QU]
Many people can, but it's usually languages that shares the same background (Germanic, Slavic, African etc etc).

Click to expand...

It doesn't have to be, though, especially if they start learning at an early age. Young children have an inbuilt affinity for language-learning and find even the trickiest syntactical oddities easy to swallow

Freefaller · 19 Sep 2006 at 20:56

Yes it is very possible. Binlingual babies/toddlers are more common - but subject them to a 3rd language daily they'll pick it up. I used to speak greek fluently as a 5/6 year old - but unfortunately owing to lack of practice it is now attrocious. However my French is still 100% fluent and my english is ok... I do speak fairly decent Spanish, and can get by in Arabic.

Even if they don't become fluent, if their brains and voices get trained to speak the language they will be able to pick them up much more easily later on in life. Or pick up languages in general. I find it quite easy to absorb myself in a culture and rattle off a few sentences/words enough to have a very abridged conversation... I do put in the effort though as I enjoy cultures/languages.

You'll be giving your kids such a huge advantage in life - it has also shown to help cerebral development - which is strange as I'm not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed...

Oh and good choice about the French wife