Bilingual babes

We live in Israel and, although between us we speak English at home, the childminder has always spoken to Maia and Tal in Hebrew. They definitely understand both languages very comfortably (following instructions etc). They also started talking at around the right age, mostly english words, but a few hebrew ones as well. The thing is that they seem to have slowed right down in language acquisition just when I thought they were about to take off verbally. They do have a few two word sentences like "come mummy" and even a couple of three word phrases - if you can call it that: "no, no bath" "no, no bed". But mostly they seem to be stuck using the same few words creatively for everything without developing further. They still spend a huge amount of time babbling nonsensically to us and to one another and it seems to me that they think they're using words, but really it's just gobbledegook with the odd word thrown in: "blah blah yabber car blah blah buddledeboo teddy blah blah yabber".

Is this how children ordinarily acquire language? Should they be saying more? Has anyone else noticed their children having a bit of a delay if they're bringing them up bilingually (on top of being twins)? Will they suss that babbling is not intelligible language? (this latter is probably not helped by DH and I pretending to understand and trying to respond to their jargon).

Mostly I think they're fine. I guess I'm just being neurotic and impatient.

 

this is my fear as well. we have spoke mostly english with the girls with a couple of spanish words that we have used consistently and that they use. we are moving to puerto rico this year so i'm a little nervous about how that will affect their language development. we are just now starting to be able to communicate and i'd hate the thought of that stopping but i'm sure in the end they will be fine. it's important to me that they have a basis in english as when we go to puerto rico, they will mostly be surrounded by spanish speakers. i'm really excited to have my girls grow up bilingual. i think it is such a special gift.

 

I have read that this slow-down is typical. Because they have to acquire everything twice, it seems like they have a small vocabulary compared to monolingual peers, but they don't. They have a much larger vocabulary when you add up all the words from both languages. They'll just burst forth a bit later than a monolingual peer would.

 

What your kids are doing is very normal and healthy. Just so you know I grew up bilingual and have a Masters in Linguistics. (concentration is 2nd language aquisition) Studies show tha bilingual children often end up with a much stronger vocabulary later in life than their peers (usually in the more dominant language) and also have higher reading skills. They will rarely fall behind in school and having a second language ingrained in their brain will help with higher vocabuary encoding which will lead to advanced reasoning skills. At this young age it is not uncommon to seem like they are behind, but when you figure out their vocabulary in both languages they probably have a higher number of words.

With that being said, there are children, and I was one of them, (though my sisters did not have this problem) that had a difficult time seeing the difference between the languages and it caused some confusion. It became very evident when I started school and had to learn to read and write in both languages. (I attended bilingual schools) Due to my difficulties, I was placed in a special English group. (the teachers thought I had a learning disability) My Mom knew I was just struggling with accomodating both languages in my head, and so she spent every day during summer vacation working with me in English only. By the time I started 2nd grade, everything had settled in and I was placed in the highest reading group. My Mom knew it was not a disability, but just an issue of my mind being able to process both languages equally and distinctly. This is not common, but it does happen sometimes.

Raising your children to be bilingual is a gift, one I wish we had chosen for our family but familiy issues made it impossible. Keep it up, they will do well! If you have any questions, feel free to PM me!

 

My babies are younger but when my kids go to my in laws house they speak in spanish to them. Alex always asks for her cup as a baso...she won't say cup. i'm interested if they are going to just be confused by trying to teach 2 languages. I guess I will have to wait and see.

 

We are English speakers living in Ecuador. English at home - Spanish at preschool and with friends.
They did have significant delays in both languages, but Jacob has caught up. (He's now known as JabberJaw Jacob. :lol Aaron is still delayed in expressive speech although he is probably a little advanced in receptive speech. Language acquisition starts by listening and absorbing, then actually speaking. They have to absorb, sort and understand 2 languages. It's not uncommon for the expressive part to be delayed.

 

I was raised bilingual and am raising my girls bilingual. I've read a couple of books about it and it seems that one of the important things is to be consistent with who uses what language. I only speak english to the girls and dh only greek. I think that might help them be clearer about which words go with which rather than mixing up the languages (which i know will happen anyway but maybe less so). Given that live in Greece so they hear Greek at day care and most social contacts I try to make sure their books and music are english.
I think research says bilingual children are expected to speak later. Don't worry. they'll figure it out. Just try to be consistent.

 

Spanish and English here..

 

I have a 5-year-old and newborn twins. My husband speaks Arabic and French. I encouraged him to teach one or the other to our daughter, but he had his fears and didn't end up doing this.

My daughter now attends a French immersion school. Our plan is for DH to speak to the twins only in Arabic and for them to learn French in school. We'll see how it goes - he seems really committed this time, so it's working so far.

I've definitely noticed this language delay. My mother-in-law stayed with us for about a year and spoke to our daughter in French and Arabic. She was 2 when my mother-in-law left. A few weeks after there was only English in the household she shot ahead and started speaking like crazy. Could be a coincidence, but it seems like the events were likely to be connected.

I also have friends who has a 3-year-old who they are raising with English, French, and German. She hardly spoke a word before she turned two, and they were a bit scared. She babbles on in all 3 languages now, though. The start was slower, but when she took off she really took off.

 

I am a foreign language professor and was raised bilingually. The slow-down is completely normal and typical.
The most important thing you can do is be consistent. That helps to avoid confusion between the two languages. It should either be:
one parent, one language (i.e. you always speak English, DH or other primary caregive always speaks other language) OR one language at home, one language in outside environment/school. This way the kids learn that one language is appropriate in one context or with a specific person, and another language is used in a separate environment or with a different person(s).

The reason for the slow-down is assumed to be that children are getting twice the language input (imagine learning two words for every one thing or concept at the same time.) They are also getting input about two different sets of grammar rules for the different languages. It takes a bit longer to process all of this information and sort it out (although we are not entirely sure how this happens in the brain.)

But, after an initial delay, and if you are consistent, the child will "catch up" and hit the ground running as fluent as his/her peers in BOTH languages. Essentially the bilingual child has twice the vocabulary as a monolingual child. This is really, really good for their brains. Studies have shown that children exposed to more than one language in the early developmental years tend to perform better on standardized tests. And obviously, being multi-lingual in our increasingly global world is another great incentive to do this. Bilingual children also have an easier time picking up additional languages in the future.
Keep it up!

 

Thank you for your great responses. It's very reassuring to know that they'll catch up and that this slow down is something normal. We spent the whole of September in England, all in English, and just at the end it seemed as if they were launched for take-off linguistically. But then we returned to Israel, they started Hebrew daycare and just slowed so much they almost stopped.

For some reason I'd never really thought about them having to "absorb, sort and understand two languages" etc. Also because they're usually only exposed to Hebrew out of the home (I think our system is called Minority Language at Home) I don't get to see the extent of their Hebrew vocabulary. Even if I did I'd probably struggle to understand it. I'm glad our little ones will be bilingual. I think it's so cool, especially as I'm so challenged myself when it comes to other languages - after 3 years here my language is still fairly dire.

 

Kelsey and Eske both started speaking very late and speak more German than English which upsets me quite a lot. I thought being with them most of the time would have had more influence on their language skills. Having read a book on bilingualism I now know that the language they grow up around is much more dominant. But I'm not going to give up !

They now speak both languages well. They can say 7 word sentences in English, and their German is even better. Unfortunately they answer a lot of my questions in German at the moment - but I am never giving up !!! As an English teacher with a good reputation in a small town it is really important to me that they speak both fluently. I would have loved to have been brought up bilinguallly. Instead it took me about 12 years to become really fluent in German.

Keep at it. It really is a gift.

 

We speak Spanish and English, and marginally Mixteco.

I wanted to recommend a great resource to you. The Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network There is also a forum on ivillage for bilingual families, I used to use it but don't have time to anymore.

 

Thank you Meximeli, great resources. I'd researched it all whilst pregnant, but my general fuzzy-brainedness (no I don't plan on teaching the girls that word...) at the time means I'd totally forgotten that I'd researched it. So thank you for your links and reminding me to use the internet as a resource.

QUOTE(hellybelly @ Jan 14 2008, 10:25 PM) [snapback]572357[/snapback]
Unfortunately they answer a lot of my questions in German at the moment - but I am never giving up !!!


I was told by a friend, who's successfully raising her children to speak Russian that her key was to repeat what they said to her in Russian even if they respond in Hebrew (the language their father speaks and their school speaks). She never forced them to speak Russian, but just echoed their Hebrew response. It seems to have been very effective.

QUOTE(hellybelly @ Jan 14 2008, 10:25 PM) [snapback]572357[/snapback]
Instead it took me about 12 years to become really fluent in German.


So there's hope yet for me as I still can't understand the Radio, three years after moving here...

 

QUOTE(jcs @ Jan 12 2008, 07:48 PM) [snapback]569896[/snapback]
OR one language at home, one language in outside environment/school. This way the kids learn that one language is appropriate in one context or with a specific person, and another language is used in a separate environment or with a different person(s).


This makes me feel much better. I think it's really hard to do the one parent one language and the other parent the other just because my spanish is not good enough to always understand what's going on. When we move to Puerto Rico, I think speaking English at home and just having the girls constantly exposed to Spanish outside will be the best for our lifestyle. Thank you for this advice. I was really worried about how to do this.

What do you think will happen when we go to Puerto Rico and they mostly hear Spanish all around them? Will they stop speaking English to us at home? Most of dh's family speaks English as well so I'm wondering if I should encourage them to speak ONLY Spanish to the girls or is it ok for them to respond to them in English? Thanks for your help.

Sorry to highjack your post li li

 

Just keep thinking how many doors will be opened to them if you keep up two languages! I think language is so important. German and English are so dominant in Europe I really want to make it work for them.

I actually learned German for ten or eleven years at school and university and it was only when I moved to Germany that I became really fluent! But it is a really difficult language compared to English. It's definitely easier to learn when you are living in the country.

I'll have to try repeating the sentences they say in German in English li li, it's a great idea that I really haven't thought of !

I only have one English friend here in our town, and her youngest kid refuses to speak English to her and he's nine. That's enough motivation for me to keep at it.

 

I've read all the literature that says you must be consistant you mustn't mix languages--but I think you CAN be much more laid back and it will work out fine. I'm also a foreign language teacher (English as a foreign language) and spent several years before becoming a mother studying the topic and reading all the books I could. But I've also lived in an area where the majority of the population is bilingual--in MIL's home town. They are bilingual in Spanish and Mixteco. They switch back and forth between the langauges all the time. Recently I've started reading a lot of anthopological studies of speakers of minority languages and most of those studies find the opposite is true than a lot of the literature in English aimed at parents of bilingual children.
My personal philosophy is that I won't speak a language some of my listeners won't understand, it's just plain rude. Strangers is one thing, but if there is a language everyone in the room speaks we will use that. So sometimes we speak Spanish at home, sometimes we speak English at home (both DH and I are bilingual in English-Spanish, MIL and nanny are bilingual in Spanish-Mixteco). I speak to the girls in either of my languages depending on who else is present and I encourage the other people in their lives to do the same.

 

Just a follow-up response to children only responding in one language, not the other - this happened with my brother and me as well. We started with German in the home and in Germany and then moved to the US when I was 3 and he was 2. My parents kept up the German at home, and we were immersed in English at pre-school, friends' houses, etc. Pretty soon we started to refuse to respond in German - I remember quite distinctly it was a "peer" issue with me. I was embarrassed that we were not like the other children, and wanted to speak English, not German at home. Just keep it up, be consistent, once they are older, they will thank you for it. As long as they continue to hear it at home from you, and are occasionally exposed to it with family, trips to US/UK, wherever, they will be able to maintain it. Parents are often surprised how well their children can speak the second language when their environment requires it. (I have a Japanese friend whose 5-year-old daughter routinely breaks out the Japanese when she is alone with her grandparents who cannot speak English, but the rest of the time refuses to use it at home.) When I was older, I also learned how to read in German and read tons of German books in addition to English books during my elementary and middle school years. Give them the foundation and stick with it, they will absorb it.

 

I've seen this happen too, one with my co-worker who is Irish, who usually speaks to his sons in Spanish, when they are here in Mexico, but they spent a month every year in in Ireland. That and music/movies were just about the only English they heard, but consistantly since birth. Now one works at a large international hotel in Mexico City--a job he got because of his English and the other is at university in England. Most of the literature would imply these two shouldn't be able to speak English.

The other is my BIL and SIL. GrandMIL died when my husband was 2, she spoke only Mixteco and took care of the children while MIL worked. GrandFIL was bilingual and continued to live with my husband's family until his death 5 years ago. BIL and SIL were 7 and 5 when GrandMIL died. They can both understand Mixteco, BIL can activily participate in most conversations, SIL usually responds in Spanish, most Mixteco speakers she has contact with are bilingual. DH only knows and uses social pleasentries and words realated to meals. BIL and SIL had very limited contact with the langauge after the death of their grandmother, as their mother perfers to speak to them in Spanish (she wanted to protect them from the discrimination she experienced as a child.)

 

QUOTE(double-or-nothing @ Jan 15 2008, 07:34 PM) [snapback]573669[/snapback]
What do you think will happen when we go to Puerto Rico and they mostly hear Spanish all around them? Will they stop speaking English to us at home? Most of dh's family speaks English as well so I'm wondering if I should encourage them to speak ONLY Spanish to the girls or is it ok for them to respond to them in English? Thanks for your help.

Sorry to highjack your post li li


Firstly don't worry about 'highjacking' the post - you're asking a good question and in any case the great responses here have already given me good answers to my questions.

I think that it's easy to slip into children hearing their parents speak the 'home' language whilst responding to their parents in the majority language. I'm not an expert in languages, but I see it here a lot (Israel is a country composed of people from all different backgrounds). It's harder to ensure that your child speaks as well as understands the home language, although perfectly possible it seems to need a bit more planning and determination from the parents. As pp mentioned, teaching your children to read and write in English will help to cement the language as they'll be able to independently read to themselves if the books are available.

What I do know about, as a psychologist, is that which language a child uses, how fluent they are in that language and their degree or lack of accent depend both on what pp have already mentioned above but also on two factors: the age of the children when you move (it seems that with exposure after around age 6 or 7 children only become near fluent in the second language); and their identity: will they view themselves as Puerto Rican or as Americans living in Puerto Rica (slightly silly question given Puerto Rica's semi-autonimous status, but you know what I mean)? This in itself is influenced by your and DH's identity. Also factors such as whether you 'just' speak English at home or whether the culture - children's books, TV, DVDs, music - is also American. Although linguistically it's great if your child can view themselves as bicultural, it's also important that they don't have too strong a sense of being 'different' or 'outsiders' or not fitting in...

As an aside to this, I have an English friend who lived in Italy from the age of 11 to 19 with her English family. She attended a regular Italian school and her Italian is perfect. BUT her accent is still 100% English when she talks Italian. She says this is because her family viewed themselves as ex-pats living temporarily in Italy rather than viewing the country as their new home and somehow this is reflected in her accent.

What an essay, sorry! Meximeli's web links are an excellent source of information.