Raising a child bilingually

[guest2013-1]

You'd be a much happier man if you could start a family and have your own kids. You have any idea how much joy they give you?

Unfortunately I'm not asexual

 

[HavocXphere]

Some very conflicting advice here! Some say focus on a primary language first, others say the child's brain is able to take it all in.

I think both approaches have some merit. Kids aren't really fragile in this regard, so neither choice will be a disaster - its more of a question of which is optimal & which is your preferred style. You can always back off if its not working. Just monitor the kid carefully compared to its peers development wise to check that you're not adding confusion & chaos with the lang thing. Just ffs do the monitoring discreetly...you don't want to add pressure by the kid knowing your watching.

Regarding the accent - don't focus on this. Without living in France you won't get the accent right. All of the European languages spoken in SA have some SA influence & getting rid of that is 100% impossible. Promise. Its kinda like saying you can live in SA without picking up *any* SA culture...its just not happening. Rather aim at speaking a clean but slightly accented French - that is entirely possible.

 

[Skerminkel]

Surely the alternative is Cape Flats Afrikaans. Which I wouldn't think would be any better an option.

Kaaps is awesome and a recognised dialect of Afrikaans. English, on the other hand, you either have to speak like the pom queen or the prom queen. Otherwise you are a second class speaker.

 

[zippy]

Any of you done this?

If a child grows up being exposed to more than one language at the same time, do they learn the two languages simultaneously or should there be some sort of method to the madness from the side of the caregivers?

I grew up with 2 languages. English and Afrikaans. Now I can only speak fluently in English. However I can understand Afrikaans and still swear like a trooper in Afrikaans

Learning a language is one thing. Using it often is another.

 

[Humberto]

Are there any studies which prove that children really do learn languages more easily?

I read a post by a linguistics researcher on a piano forum where (s)he stated that, hour by hour, adults learn languages faster than children.

This relates to learning how to play a music instrument. Many music teachers say that small children learn faster while others say that, hour by hour, adults learn faster but have less time and commitment to practise.

 

[cerebus]

Unfortunately I'm not asexual

I can't even imagine what you intended to imply.

 

[guest2013-1]

I can't even imagine what you intended to imply.

Really? I thought it was pretty simple. An asexual creature procreates by themselves. Like a tape worm that copies itself or whatever. Implying that you don't require a partner to do so. Implying that I don't (and don't expect to ever) have one.

 

[blunomore]

Really? I thought it was pretty simple. An asexual creature procreates by themselves. Like a tape worm that copies itself or whatever. Implying that you don't require a partner to do so. Implying that I don't (and don't expect to ever) have one.

Why so glum ?

 

[Pe-Killer]

The problem my sister has with her kid now, is that she is learning English with all the tv she watching and Afrikaans cause that’s our 1st language. This is great but at 2 years old the kid is struggling to tell the difference between the 2 languages. So she doesn't know what words is Afrikaans and which are English.
Sometimes she will mix it all up Afrikaans and English everything in one sentrence.So it might be better to learn one language properly then learn a second and third.

 

[bin3]

Not to side track too much, but here is how I understand it

From birth to about 2-3 years old, the human brain is able to capture a huge amount of phonemes. As you grow older, the brain filters out all irrelevant sound and rhythms and you are left with your 'First Language (s)'. Now, after this, it is much more difficult to pick up the native nuances in different languages and dialects, which is why most people that learn a language after 7 years old, will talk with an accent.

Saying this, you want to expose your child to as much different languages as possible from as early an age as possible.

Our results suggest that bilingual infants’ brain responses to speech differ from the pattern shown by monolingual infants. Bilingual infants did not show neural discrimination of either the Spanish or English contrast at 6–9 months. By 10–12 months of age, neural discrimination was observed for both contrasts. Bilingual infants showed continuous improvement in neural discrimination of the phonetic units from both languages with increasing age. Group differences in bilingual infants’ speech discrimination abilities are related to the amount of exposure to each of their native languages in the home. Finally, we show that infants’ later word production measures are significantly related to both their early neural discrimination skills and the amount exposure to the two languages early in development.

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/08/baby-talk-the-benefits-of-bilingualism/

 

[noxibox]

The problem my sister has with her kid now, is that she is learning English with all the tv she watching and Afrikaans cause that’s our 1st language. This is great but at 2 years old the kid is struggling to tell the difference between the 2 languages. So she doesn't know what words is Afrikaans and which are English.
Sometimes she will mix it all up Afrikaans and English everything in one sentrence.So it might be better to learn one language properly then learn a second and third.

This is not a problem. It's something that sorts itself out.

Not to side track too much, but here is how I understand it

From birth to about 2-3 years old, the human brain is able to capture a huge amount of phonemes. As you grow older, the brain filters out all irrelevant sound and rhythms and you are left with your 'First Language (s)'. Now, after this, it is much more difficult to pick up the native nuances in different languages and dialects, which is why most people that learn a language after 7 years old, will talk with an accent.

Everyone talks with an accent regardless. It's just a different accent. In regard to picking out the nuances of another language recent research has found that adults can improve their ability. The prime advantage of learning early is that you do it at a period when you don't notice the time and effort that goes into learning.