I'm South-African, and my wifes Hungarian. My mother tongue is English, but I also speak Afrikaans, German, Zulu, Hungarian, and Spanish. My wife says we should only teach our 22 month old son Hungarian and English, at the moment. The problem is that: we live in Hungary, therefore our child hears this language every day, and I'm an English teacher, so I don't think he'll have a problem with Hungarian or English. The question is: should we also teach him the other languages that we speak?
Family - 17 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I would do it, but not all at once.... it is hard to learn multiple languages without knowing one at least reasonably well.
2 :
i would teach him one at a time, or he may get confused, but yes, if you can teach your child different languages, that's great.
3 :
You are in a better position to answer than anyone else. What would life be like if you could not speak those languages?
4 :
both my children are bilingual french and english and im gearing up to teach them spanish kids do great with language
5 :
Teach him your main language her main language and English and prolly spanish
6 :
Maybe you should try and expose the child to various languages. The earlier you expose/teach them to other languages, the better chance they will of understanding the languages and speaking them fluently... I am not sure however if the child may be overwhelmed with all these different languages... Maybe you can ask a Psychologist
7 :
It is pefect to start teaching your baby now, it is so much easier and they will pick it up faster, my parents spoke to me in many different languages when i was small, and now i am fluent in them all. The older ya become, the harder it is to learn a new language. So teach you kid new and many languages,. Good luck with it and have a nice life.
8 :
Of course! Teach your child as many languages as you can. 1) One reason being that your child will be more valuable on the job market as an adult. 2) In college, they can test out of language classes. 3) Babies learn languages BEST when they are young. Don't just do a few now, then hold off for the rest later. It will be harder for the child later. Do it now. Studies have shown that babies ARE able to differentiate between languages even at this young age. I would love to be able to speak more than just English.
9 :
be careful...cause ur about to freak the poor child out and end up with basket case for a son. I pity the little dude to have such a dimwitted dad as urself
10 :
As this age, it's very easy to learn new languages. You should focus on 2 main language, than start to introduce another once the first two are well known. It can't hurt to know all these language... Too many at once may be overkill tho.
11 :
yes absolutely children learn best when they are young i would start out with a base language but once they have a solid understanding then you can teach them the rest he should be able to communicate in one or two first so that you can explain the other languages but yes absolutely i wish someone had taught me something other than English when i was younger it can be so hard later on in life to learn new languages.
12 :
Absolutely. Simply because it will work out his brain. Which is good because it keeps it working. Also, languages are quite easy to learn as a child because you're not accompanied with failure. You don't even acknowledge failure as a child. So i would defenitely teach the different languages. Spanish especially because it's a common language in the US and Mexico and obviously, Spain :) And don't you want to be able to talk to him in all your languages especially if he can understand and talk back? And it can be really beneficial in terms of education later on as well as travelling around the world
13 :
yes you should teach him other languages but not at this age of course because by that way he won't be able either to learn English nor Hungarian.........a person is lucky if he speaks many languages it will help him a lot trust me
14 :
I think it is awesome. I have been told that they pick it up so well at a young age.
15 :
I don't see any harm in it. I was brought up with Spanish father who spoke Spanish and English. My mother is Irish and speak Gaelic and English and french. My Nanny was Swiss so she spoke four languages French, German, Italian, Plus Russian. Introduce the child to different words in these languages that you know. It great that you have encourage your child to these languages remember children pick up languages quite fast
16 :
I think its a good idea to speak diffrent languages and they do say that children catch on to things better than adults maybe you should wait until the baby is a little older and then introduce him to another language one at a time so he does not get confused.
17 :
Definitely teach him. Language acquisition becomes much, much much harder after childhood, thanks to changes in the brain. If your wife is worried about him getting confused, just try to be careful about when you switch between languages. Make sure he hears coherent strings of whatever language you're speaking at a given time. That is, speak Hungarian, or Zulu, or English - not, say, Hunglish or Zurman.
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