What language do I teach my baby?

Question

Hello! If anyone out there is bilingual or has a bilingual family please help me! My bfs family only speaks spanish(i live with them and will continue living with them while my baby grows up) so he will learn spanish but should we teach him spanish first and then he can learn english at school? (That sounds weird to me a baby born in the USA doesn't know english)😅 or do i have them speak spanish to him and my bf and i only speak english to him? Is it possible for a baby/toddler to learn to languages at once??

Answer

I would teach him both. It’s okay if in the home the primary language is Spanish but he needs to know English. You don’t want him to go to school and know barely any English and the teachers have to teach him the basics. I 10000000000% agree he should know both but I think you guys should be teaching him both not relying on the school system to teach him the language.

Answer

I’m from Montreal, Canada,  probably the biggest city with most bilingual population in North America. Most of my friends speak at least 2-3 languages fluently, I speak 4 and so does my husband. That being said, all of my friends that have kids are raising them bilingual, our kid will be at least trilingual or multilingual. Here is what I learned from watching my friends kids: it’s okay to use two languages at home, they will mix languages at first but once they reach 4-5 years old they will learn to separate ( I know two couples that use French and Spanish at home, Spanish is easier than French though). If you use one language with your kid, stick to it, don’t mix languages, the child needs to learn that mom is language “A”, dad is language “B”, etc. Kids brains are like spounges, they learn everything so quickly ( I’m from a mixed family myself so I know). You can definitely do 2 languages at home, both Spanish and English are easy, so don’t worry about confusing the child. Also, kids in bilingual homes may start to speak later than their peers, but that will all work out in the end. Good luck!

Answer

I'm bilingual as well as my brother. My children are bilingual. Nieces and nephews are bilingual. Spanish first then English.

Answer

My husband and I have debated on this. We have decided that we will teach Spanish first then English because for some odd reason schools frown upon students speaking Spanish with others. I got suspended many times for speaking Spanish with my Spanish speaking friends. It’s Ridiculous tbh. Plus in school they teach English so why not do Spanish first.

Answer

There are different "methods" to teach children more than one language. Some of the most popular are opol (one parent one language) or situational (e.g. always speaking one language at home and the other outside of the house). There are quite a lot of resources online about simultaneous bilingualism in children if you are interested.
I personally try to teach my children both languages from the outset to give them as much exposure as possible. I try to always speak L1 to my son (and encourage my daughter to do so) both in and out of the house as that is the language he will not be learning in school and then Dad and the community speak L2

Answer

Spanish first! English he will eventually learn so quick and catch on to

Answer

If you speak to him in both he’ll most likely learn both and speak in both mixed. Like start in spanish and end in English. What language do you and your boyfriend talk to each other in?

What language do I teach my baby?

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