A few months ago, before opening this vlog, I read an article about bilingual children in a magazine. I will translate and summarize some sentences:
In each form of bilingualism […] it is better for the child to start by learning just one language. He should start learning the other at the age of 4 to avoid problems such as stuttering or a loss of words (from Insieme, “il lungo viaggio delle parole”, January, 2008, p. 96).
I have often read articles about bilingualism like the one quoted above. There are also many posts on the web where it is claimed that bilingual children speak later or they know one of the languages better. Obviously, I can only speak about my own experiences, but this description does not match that of my daughter. My husband and I are a bilingual couple, in the sense that I am Italian and I also speak English, my husband is English, but he also speaks Italian. Our daughter, at the age of only 2, speaks both Italian and English. She understands the differences between the two languages and when she speaks with her father in English and I ask her, “What are you talking about?”, she repeats the dialogue in Italian. She can tell stories in both the languages and she talks on the telephone with English and Italian relatives.
When did we start? Immediately… even before her birth! My husband started to talk to her before she was born:
“Hi sweetheart!! Daddy is waiting for you!!”
During my pregnancy I had the opportunity to meet and talk with bilingual couples. I trusted them and their advice was: “Start immediately !! If you are a bilingual couple each parent speaks his or her own language, as if you had to teach him a single language!!”
I will continue the argument in my next posts….. Meanwhile look at our bilingual “Old McDonald’s Farm” video!!!
Barbaraland 
aprile 5, 2008 at 4:39 PM
Great post- especially because it is in English! I agree that there are not very many convincing articles about bilingualism. Is your daughter aware that she has greater linguistic gifts than her Italian counterparts? Does this create problems at playtime?
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aprile 8, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Hi Taze! thank you! Maybe my daughter is too small to be aware of the luck of speaking two languages. Above all, English is the language she uses to comunicate with her father. I have not seen any problems during playtime. If you want to know whether she is treated differently, I have not seen this kind of problem. She knows perfectly Italian and often her little friends do not speak very well because they are still small. So for the moment no problems!!! 🙂
aprile 25, 2008 at 10:12 am
Love the site! My wife is Italian and wants to teach our son her language. I’ve been worried that the kid will get confused. Does your husband speak Italian too? I only speak English and will not be able to talk to babykins if he speaks to me in the other language.
aprile 25, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Hi Fred!! Welcome!! Don’t worry for the confusion!! Children are very good at learning, especially if he is very small. My husband speaks Italian, but he always speaks in English to our daughter. At first, we pretended not to understand when she talked to us in the “wrong” language (English for me and Italian for my husband), so now she translates, or better she repeats in both languages what she is saying. I did not have time to translate my new post about bilingualism, but I will give you the link for Antonella Sorace’s guide for bilingual parents. I found it very interesting and it is in English.
http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~antonell/generalpublic.html
http://www.lsadc.org/info/ling-faqs-biling_child.cfm
giugno 2, 2008 at 1:25 am
I have made it my passion to teach children a second language at an early age. My sister-in-law and I run a children’s company called Professor Pocket dedicated to producing bilingual audio CDs that children will both learn from and enjoy. It is a myth that raising your child bilingually makes it more difficult for them to learn English as a first language. I am originally from the Dominican Republic and both Spanish and English have always been spoken equally in my home.
Research shows that children can distinguish the differences among multiple languages from birth. In fact, exposing children to additional languages early on builds a basis for proficiency later in life. In addition, bilingual children often show superior problem solving and math skills, increased overall school performance, and better cross-cultural understanding. They also have an easier time acquiring their 3rd, 4th, etc. languages.
giugno 2, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi Paula! Thank you for your contribution. I have just visited Professor Pocket site. It looks very interesting! Bye, Barbara
agosto 20, 2008 at 2:47 PM
HELLO EVERYBODY
MY HUSBAND TALKS GERMAN AND ENGLISH I SPEAK SWEDISH AND ENGLISH WE LIVE IN TURKEY WICH WE KNOW THE LANGUAGE TURKISH.
WE TALKED TO OUR CHILD IN TURKISH SHE IS 2 YEARS OLD NOW.
WE STARTED TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH FEW DAYS AGO…
I ALSO WANT HER TO LEARN SWEDISH ITS A MUST CAUSE IM SWEDISH CITIZEN…
WE ARE LITTLE BIT CONFUSED..WHEN TO TEACH WHAT…CAN YOU GIVE US SOME GOOD ADVISE
THANK YOU SO MUCH
ottobre 11, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Hello,
My name is eriselda and i have a 20 months year old son. I am worried about him because he’s not really talking yet. He says mama daddy but he doesn’t really says anything more. We are Albanians but he goes to a daycare which is English all day. I don’t know when is he going to start talking?? should i continue with both languages?
thank you
ottobre 12, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Hi Eriselda:
I’m just a mother like you, talking about my experiences. In my opinion, every child learns at their own pace. The important thing from what I have learned is not to mix the languages – each person should speak only one language with the child. In your case, it may be better to speak your native language and let the school and the local environment teach English.
Best wishes.
febbraio 21, 2009 at 2:01 am
Hi Barbara,
I quite agree, there are a few tips I can share, you find them on my blog, “Four Golden Rules to raising bilingual children”.
I actually get upset when I see parents denying their children the easy access to a second language and all that comes with it, family and culture.
Un beso a a niña,
Katja
marzo 2, 2009 at 7:11 PM
hi barbara.im really happy to got familiar with u.i was searching some materials about the effect of language1 learning on bilingual childrens.accidently i found this page.i read alot of email that were sent u.im a iranian girl and my major is english translation.i have a course to name research and i want u help me in finding this topic.im look forward to hear from u.thanks a million.
agosto 31, 2009 at 12:52 PM
I was raised in a bilingual home in the US learning Spanish from my mother, who is Mexican. My husband speaks beautiful Spanish that he learned in school (has a master’s).
It was hard for us to switch to Spanish when our babies came…(they are 5 and 7 now). Really hard. We read to them, sang to them, and tried our hardest to switch our habits. Needless to say they heard a lot of both languages from both of us. They know a TON of Spanish, have nice accents, and are showing an interest in learning.
Our silver bullet has been music. We have written songs about the daily routine that we sing all the time. They sing the song about setting the table now, or the one to remind us to hold hands when we cross the street. Having these songs has helped remind us to switch to Spanish, and over time we’ve gotten more consistent, and it has also brought fun into the language experience. They say fun, repetition, exposure and relevance are keys to language acquisition.
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