Is anyone else in this situation? DH is a native Spanish speaker and his English isn't awesome (A2- level, more or less). I am a native English speaker and speak Spanish fluently. I wanted to do OPOL, but DH is convinced that since our kid's entire reality outside the home will be in Spanish, we should all speak English at home. What have your experiences been? Any good resources to share?
*** Please excuse the typos, my phone hates me***
Married September 14, 2013
TTC #1 August 2014
1st Pregnancy September 2014 - Chemical Pregnancy
2nd Pregnancy October 2014 - July 8, 2015 Due Date!Stick bean, stick!
Post by maritimemama3 on Jan 21, 2015 19:12:29 GMT -5
I don't know what OPOL means, but we speak a combination of English and French with DS. His dominant language is definitely English, but he recognizes almost as many words in French.
To be honest, you'll fall into your groove when the baby gets here. I had planned on ONLY speaking French to DS, but it just wasn't realistic with my DH speaking very little. What's important is that your baby will be exposed to both languages from day one. Studies have shown that babies can recognize the difference between languages, and can recognize grammatical rules, way before they reach one year old.
Post by migdaliarose on Jan 21, 2015 19:20:29 GMT -5
elenetxu where region do you live in where Spanish will be the primary language outside of the home? I am jealous and want that kind of reinforcement for my future attempts to have this LO learn/speak Spanish.
I am Hispanic and speak Spanish pretty fluently but I speak English much better and that is my most comfortable language. My parents speak Spanish primarily with each other and English with me and my sisters, so Spanish is something I had to work hard to make my own. I wouldn't even call myself a native speaker, but I really really want to share this important part of my heritage with my children. DH is not Hispanic and can understand/speak a little Spanish (he had a few years of Spanish in school), but we really can't hold a conversation together. So I want to do OPOL (one person, one language), where I speak exclusively Spanish to the child and DH speaks English. I wish we could both speak Spanish to reinforce it all of the time since they will get English so easily from the rest of the world and school, but that's just not possible. So as error-filled as my Spanish is, I'm going to really try.
I'm thinking of also sending this LO to a Spanish immersion day care until starting school so that it can be reinforced. This baby's going to need more than me to make it work.
I don't have any experience with this (I'm a FTM) and also no resources, so I'd also love to hear what others have to share.
Post by foolofatook on Jan 21, 2015 20:08:38 GMT -5
I speak Spanish. DH speaks English exclusively. I've tried to teach him -- nothing doing. DD speaks limited Spanish, but not for want of my teaching. We don't speak it at home so she doesn't have the immersion, but I try with bilingual programs on TV or my tablet, speaking words in both languages, and having her around native speakers as much as possible.
English is both of our first language but I also speak Assyrian. I'm middle eastern and its a dead language.. really. I see no use for it. but I am going to talk to my baby anyway. It does wonders for brain development. Hubby speaks spanish pretty fluently so I'll make him do that too.
Post by wineandcake on Jan 21, 2015 20:58:54 GMT -5
DH is only English, his attempts at French are just sad. My family speaks English, but I went to French school and am bilingual. I try to speak French at home to DS, and I know the teachers at his nursery school speak French as a first language so he gets some exposure there. We live in a small community and it is 50/50 French and English. I want him to at least understand basic conversation, DH wants to learn as well which is really nice. We're going to put him in French immersion school from the beginning.
Post by krissybeck on Jan 21, 2015 21:00:52 GMT -5
DH is a native Spanish speaker but he is fluent in English. We speak English to each other, but I understand his Spanish. I want our child to be fluent in English and Spanish. His two children from previous relationships speak English and Spanish fluently.
My first is truly bilingual. My husband and I speak English at home, mostly, but all extended relatives and the outside world speak Chinese (shanxi dialect and mandarin). His school is also a 50/50 mix of teaching in English and mandarin, but his friends mostly speak mandarin in play.
This has been a great balance for him. He was slightly slower to speak than kids learning only one language, but he was learning all those baby words in two languages simultaneously (my mother-in-law plus a nanny spent a lot of time with him in his first 2 years). Now, both English and mandarin can be considered his native languages and he is currently learning reading and writing in both. This leaves space in school to study a third language as a subject starting in upper elementary school. We plan to aim for the same level of bilingual fluency with number 2.
My first is truly bilingual. My husband and I speak English at home, mostly, but all extended relatives and the outside world speak Chinese (shanxi dialect and mandarin). His school is also a 50/50 mix of teaching in English and mandarin, but his friends mostly speak mandarin in play.
This has been a great balance for him. He was slightly slower to speak than kids learning only one language, but he was learning all those baby words in two languages simultaneously (my mother-in-law plus a nanny spent a lot of time with him in his first 2 years). Now, both English and mandarin can be considered his native languages and he is currently learning reading and writing in both. This leaves space in school to study a third language as a subject starting in upper elementary school. We plan to aim for the same level of bilingual fluency with number 2.
DH and I are planning to exclusively speak Lithuanian in the home- LOs relatives and a lot of friends will also only speak it. There is a saturday school available 3x/month that we are planning to send LO to to properly learn grammar and interact with kids their own age. We figure(and from friends' experiences) that they will naturally pick up English on the playground, in school, etc.- then we will teach English grammar once they're old enough to differentiate between the two languages.
PS- i think having a bilingual child is amazing and opens so many opportunities in the future
My first is truly bilingual. My husband and I speak English at home, mostly, but all extended relatives and the outside world speak Chinese (shanxi dialect and mandarin). His school is also a 50/50 mix of teaching in English and mandarin, but his friends mostly speak mandarin in play.
This has been a great balance for him. He was slightly slower to speak than kids learning only one language, but he was learning all those baby words in two languages simultaneously (my mother-in-law plus a nanny spent a lot of time with him in his first 2 years). Now, both English and mandarin can be considered his native languages and he is currently learning reading and writing in both. This leaves space in school to study a third language as a subject starting in upper elementary school. We plan to aim for the same level of bilingual fluency with number 2.
That is incredible!
It really has been fun to watch his language develop. He could translate words and phrases from a very young age, so he was always aware that they are different languages. I think his grammar in each language is not as strong as someone who only speaks one language (he will still sometimes add -ed to make a word past tense in English, even when it's irregular, for instance) but still, I think he has done great!
By the way, I really tried to love tit your post and it just doesn't work. Sorry.
I REALLY want my children to be bi/trilingual. H and I both speak English, and he is a native Thai speaker. I took many years of Spanish through high school and college so I plan to use Spanish (I need to brush up on my speaking though) and I've been learning Thai but I am still very far from conversation status. H is half Puerto Rican but doesn't speak Spanish since he grew up in Thailand.
He doesn't really seem to care if our kids learn Thai and it kind of bums me out, but I'll keep pushing for it.
Neither MH nor I speak Korean, but it's pretty much all my MIL speaks and I definitely want this kid to be able to speak to his grandma. She's already teaching my niece some Korean, so I assume she'll do the same for our little guy. And I definitely want to look in to some classes for him so he has somewhere else to practice. MH has forgotten all of his Korean and I know he regrets it. I think we have a great opportunity to give our kids another language and I want to take it for sure.
My niece already speaks some words in English, some words in Korean, and some words in Spanish (my SIL's first language) and it's so cool!
There is a mom in my playgroup who does OPOL. She is Russian and speaks Russian exclusively to her son. Her husband only speaks English. When we are at playgroup she speaks English to us but Russian when addressing her son. He is 3 now and speaks both fairly well.
Like Mei said you should expect a delay in his speech at the beginning but he will catch up. I think if his primary language is Spanish it would benefit him most if you both spoke English at home and Spanish when out.
My step mom (of 20 years) moved here from Mexico. When she met my dad she barely spoke English. She and my dad have two daughters together who amaze me. They can literally bounce back and forth from Spanish to English like it's nothing. At home my dad always spoke to them in English and my SM always in Spanish. My DD stays with them once in a while and my SM is teaching her some Spanish and she is also in a Spanish class at preschool. I know she will never be as bilingual as my sisters but I am glad she will be able to communicate with Spanish speaking individuals in some capacity as we live in Houston and it will be to her benefit career wise some day. I also love that she will be able to understand my SM and her extended family. I say speak English at home OP so that your LO learns both languages fluently!
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