Bilingual?

SereJane · May 2011

We just watched a documentary in my ESL class called "Speaking in Tongues" about bilingual education. It raised some interesting points, for example, research shows that learning two or more languages by age 13 increases brain capacity.

When FI and I have kids someday I want to teach them to be bilingual in Spanish and English. I need to refresh my Spanish from the three years I took it so that I can communicate with them. FI is Filipino so we want to teach them some Tagalog as well.

Would you, will you, or do you have/want to have bilingual children?

MandK9 · May 2011

Yeah, I've been telling FI that for years. I'm not bilingual, but I'm proficient in Spanish. I will make sure my kids know at least 2 languages, hopefully more than that. If it's such an easy thing for them to absorb, it would really be a shame NOT to.

littlestowl · May 2011

Living in Houston, H and I had a talk and decided we wanted our kids to pick up a second language, especially if we're still in Houston.

I took French in high school and loved it and wish I would expand on what little I know. I'm very envious of people who can fluently speak another language.

DodgersBride · May 2011

I am bilingual and so is FI. Our children will also be bilingual. I would to refresh my reading and writing in my second language.

number55 · May 2011

I am bilingual and kicking myself because I could have been at least tri-lingual with a little effort.

I speak English and French fluently...I lived in France for three years in high school and used to teach French.

I will only be speaking to our children in French and DH will speak to them in English. They will go to French Immersion (half time in English, half in French) for school unless they have special needs that make it more detrimental to do so.

I fought so hard against my parents when it came to learning French because I was lazy and it was hard. It was one the best decisions they ever made for me. It got me my first office job and my teaching job/career. I love it.

SereJane · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_bilingual?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0fdea6db-d11c-4f51-8b85-9ba27b982269Post:3c694abe-adc5-4eae-94ae-666faca9bd02">Re: Bilingual?</a>:
[QUOTE]I am bilingual and kicking myself because I could have been at least tri-lingual with a little effort. I speak English and French fluently...I lived in France for three years in high school and used to teach French. <strong>I will only be speaking to our children in French and DH will speak to them in English.</strong> They will go to French Immersion (half time in English, half in French) for school unless they have special needs that make it more detrimental to do so. I fought so hard against my parents when it came to learning French because I was lazy and it was hard. It was one the best decisions they ever made for me. It got me my first office job and my teaching job/career. I love it.
Posted by number55[/QUOTE]

I think that's so awesome. My cousin's wife is Norwegian. She speaks to their boys in Norwegian and he speaks to them in English. It's so cute to see them running around saying phrases in both languages!

number55 · May 2011

Oh, and about being tri-lingual - I wish my father had only spoken to me in Polish and that they had sent me to Polish school on Saturday mornings. I also wish I had taken more time to learn Italian when I lived there for 6 months in grade 9.

I took 1st year Spanish in University. I am not nearly fluent, in fact I kinda suck, but I did pretty well when we were in the DR. That's mostly because it is similar to French though. I wish I had taken 2nd and 3rd year Spanish though.

[Deleted User] · May 2011

I wish I was. I know some spanish, but I'm too lazy to learn another language. If I did, it would be Latin. Useless, but I just want to. I also want to become more fluent in Cherokee. I can recognize words and sounds, and write some, but not enough to hold a decent conversation.

number55 · May 2011

Most language acquisition skills are at their peak before the age of 8 so it is best to introduce new language early. I have plenty of friends who speak to their children in a language other than English from birth, while the partner speaks English. The child learns both languages at the same time and does fine communicating his/her needs. I figure, what's the harm in trying it at least.

SereJane · May 2011

I want to do Rosetta Stone or something and then spend a month or two in a Spanish speaking country so my conversation skills are better. But for our kids I want them to be fluent in the academic language of both Spanish and English. And as a teacher I hope to be able to better connect with students who speak Spanish.

I really wish I'd taken opportunities I had to learn Spanish better

SereJane · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_bilingual?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0fdea6db-d11c-4f51-8b85-9ba27b982269Post:6122407f-f2d2-4817-8b46-bcc858eda72f">Re: Bilingual?</a>:
[QUOTE]Most language acquisition skills are at their peak before the age of 8 so it is best to introduce new language early. I have plenty of friends who speak to their children in a language other than English from birth, while the partner speaks English. The child learns both languages at the same time and does fine communicating his/her needs.<strong> I figure, what's the harm in trying it at least</strong>.
Posted by number55[/QUOTE]

Exactly. Really, I can only see benefits. It's not going to hurt the child and could definitely help them.

Anysunrise · May 2011

I had 13 years of French in school, but I stopped taking it when it stopped being mandatory (after 9th grade). If you kept taking it all through high school, you'd get your bilingual certificate, and our elementary schools at least had the option to do French immersion, which is just all the same courses, but taught in French. I think it was from 1st to 8th.

SereJane · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_bilingual?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0fdea6db-d11c-4f51-8b85-9ba27b982269Post:13680cee-f782-4dd7-a854-f9ca8b83123d">Re: Bilingual?</a>:
[QUOTE]I had 13 years of French in school, but I stopped taking it when it stopped being mandatory (after 9th grade). If you kept taking it all through high school, you'd get your bilingual certificate, and our elementary schools at least had the option to do French immersion, which is just all the same courses, but taught in French. I think it was from 1st to 8th.
Posted by Anysunrise[/QUOTE]

Do you wish you'd kept taking it or look back and think "meh, not a big deal"?

SarahPLiz · May 2011

I'm hoping we can have bilingual children (English and Romanian) who have also been exposed to French, which is my second language. My sister started a french immersion program in kindergarten and was fluent by 5th grade. She know also studies Spanish, Chinese and Latin, and it come easy to her. I bought DH a Romanian nursery rhyme book so he can already start speaking to the baby in Romanian, since we don't speak it at home. I understand a little bit, but my pronunciation sucks, and I'd rather not butcher such a nice language.

OutOfTheBlue612 · May 2011

I don't know if I really count as bilingual or not. My second language is Latin. It's not like I speak it or anything, but I studied it for many years and am quite adept at reading it.

FI is bilingual. His parents sent him to a German immersion pre-school and elementary school. He was fluent as a child and continued taking it through middle and high school to cement the formal grammar. He also got a BA in German along with his Biology one because and I quote, "it was so easy I had to."

We plan on teaching the children to be bilingual in English and German. He will talk to them in German and I will talk to them in English. Once they reach the age where they are learning to read and write, we will introduce Latin. If they become proficient in Latin as children, it should be rather easy for them to pick up any romance languages that they later decide on.

Interesting tidbit: Neither FI or I have any German in us.

Anysunrise · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_bilingual?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0fdea6db-d11c-4f51-8b85-9ba27b982269Post:f4e1ecd9-4aec-43d0-acec-4080478a4eef">Re: Bilingual?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Bilingual? : Do you wish you'd kept taking it or look back and think "meh, not a big deal"?
Posted by SereJane[/QUOTE]

<div>If I had stayed in Canada, totally. Now that I'm in the US though, who the hell speaks French around here? I did take a semester of German though, and that was super fun. I'd have totally taken it again if they had offered it, but it was just the intro course.</div>

ricksang · May 2011

I am not having kids but I am getting Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish. I think in America it's important to learn AT LEAST Spanish as a child.

cardmonsta · May 2011

I speak a ton of Spanish, so I'd like to impart that on the kid(s) we may have. It's a really beneficial language to have under your belt.

Girlie1030 · May 2011

I stayed with a family in Germany who had two boys under the age of 8 and both were fluent in German and Spanish (dad was from Germany, mom from Mexico) and the older of the two already had a good grasp on English as well. I speak very little Spanish and I wish I had continued it beyond the two mandatory years in HS.

A funny side note, while I was staying with that family in Germany, the mother wanted me to cook something from Arizona, so I made fry bread and the boys put both guacamole and yogurt on it - both cultures were well represented in the food as well as language.

mica178 · May 2011

I speak some Spanish (I read and understand the spoken language a lot better). H is half-Cuban and is fluent in Spanish. We plan on raising our children speaking both languages. In my perfect world, they'd speak Chinese too, even if I don't (I do speak a tiny bit of Thai). Mandarin would be great since the kids would be half-Chinese, and it's practical too in this changing world. If the potential, theoretical future children were trilingual, they'd be able to speak with at least half the world, that's pretty darned good.

smilygrl17 · May 2011

Spanish was my first language (I was born in DR) but when I moved to this country I lost most of it. My brothers (younger) don't speak any and my father never spoke to us in Spanish. Even though we have spanish speaking relatives sometimes there is a language barrier. I recently just got a job where I need to utilize my Spanish, and I wish I knew more of it now. Especially in the world today, knowing another language is essential. In certain places that might be Spanish or that might be French, or even Mandarin. I think teaching future children another language is a benefit to them for sure.

SereJane · May 2011

Any-that's so true! It's not too practical here in the States!

CS- No way! That's awesome

Did you call your older brother Kuya? If you have one. FI wants to have our kids call each other Kuya/Ate etc to keep up what he grew up with

SereJane · May 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_bilingual?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:0fdea6db-d11c-4f51-8b85-9ba27b982269Post:60db8e63-e32c-4500-922c-9765d2dbbb6a">Re: Bilingual?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Bilingual? : LOL, I call my older cousins "Kuya" and "Ate". All of my sibs call me "Ate"; I'm the oldest. I want my future kids to call each other Ate and Kuya too. =)
Posted by Champagne Supernova[/QUOTE]

I think that is so cool, no lie. I wish I had that! I'm boring ole Finnish :p
FI calls his older brother Kuya.
I think it's really cool we have that in common CS :) And i sound like a big dork now!

katiewhompus · May 2011

Neither one of us is bilingual but I would love for Berry to know another language. I grew up speaking English and Arabic fluently (well, fluently for a 9 year old) but lost the Arabic when we moved back to the states. I learned Spanish in high school and can somewhat function with Spanish speakers around me but am abysmal at speaking it myself.

We are planning on using sign language with LO from the get go, then she can decide a language if she wants to learn one. Hopefully she will pick Spanish though because I can't speak French to save my life!

nda_roxybabe · May 2011

Ideally, I'd like to become fluent in french and raise our children where I speak only french to them (untill they're school again or w/e) and T speaks only english to them.
Now, I just need to learn some french...

Denise91980 · May 2011

I would love for my kids to speak several languages if they could. I think it is great. Especially in my field because I feel for some of these Spanish-speaking families that I have difficulty communicating with. TBH, I feel they don't get the same attention from me or other crisis counselors because it is so difficult. My sister's kids know English, Spanish and Farsi. I think it is awesome.

Blueyed228 · May 2011

I spoke Greek until I was 5 years old. That was when my Yia-Yia died and I would get super upset if anyone was speaking Greek around me. So they stopped.

Had she not passed so young, Im sure I would be fluent.

My sisters H is Greek as well and he speaks to her kids in Greek and she speaks to them in English.

I would like my kids to learn Greek, Italian or French.

reils · May 2011

FI is French and speaks both French and English. If we have children I will speak to them in English and FI will speak to them in French. They will attend a French immersion or full-on French school.

Brandiewine11 · May 2011

Fi's family is German and he speaks it relatively well. I really wish I had another language. I'm working on German with Rosetta Stone. I'd like FI to speak German to our children. Also, all the American cousins in his family go to stay with some of the Germans for a year in high-school, and vice versa - kind of like our own family exchange program, so I definitely want our children to do that.

covejack · May 2011

My kids are fluent in French, they've been speaking in school full time since kindergarten. They can pass in Spanish too. I speak some French and some Spanish. I plan to work in Mexico later in life, so I'm studying Spanish most.

Hey question about Tagalog, is there spanish incorporated into some of the expressions? I've heard my Tagalog-speaking colleagues say "como estas" to each other...

kimheartsscott · May 2011

Scott grew up bi-lingual and is now tri-lingual. He plans to teach our kids Mandarin and I would like to pick some more of it up (I know 2 phrases).

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