I’m ultra keen that my two children will speak at least two languages. There’s a certain irony to this statement as my own language skills are appalling. I can speak English and string a few words together in French, but that’s my limit.
There’s an international element to my family. One side of it is spread all across the world. No single language unites us but French should, by rights, be the one thing we can all speak.
On the rare occasions I see my overseas family, I am forced to rely on the bilingual French/English speakers to translate for me. This experience generally leaves me feeling very embarrassed and it’s made me realise how important it is to speak more than one language.
I always wanted my children to start learning French while very young and Helen, our oldest, started having lessons as a young three year old. My wife needed some convincing this approach was correct. She thought Helen would get confused as the little mite was still getting to grips with English. Thankfully Helen took to the language and slowly but surely she’s picking up a good vocabulary.
I was also inspired by my nephew’s impeccable language skills. His French father spoke to him in French, my sister, a fluent German speaker, always spoke to him in German and everyone else spoke to him in English. By the age of three the kid was trilingual.
I married a Scot whose foreign language skills are worse than mine so we’ve not had this luxury. We do, however, regularly listen to French music, do French language flash cards and there are French language posters in the house. We have a very long way to go, but the foundations are in place.
The sad thing is there’s no support from Helen’s school. They don’t study foreign languages until they’re much older. In my experience, all primary schools take this approach with their reception-aged children.
Compared to reading and writing, learning foreign languages may not seem important. This could be the case, but I’m a firm believer that you have to start your kids young if they’re going to get them to speak more than their mother tongue.
What are your experiences of teaching your child more than one language? Do you consider it important or think of it as a luxury?
8 thoughts on “Teaching children languages; important or a luxury?”
I really enjoyed reading this and hearing what you’re doing in order to try to bring up your kids to speak several different languages. Here in the UK, it unfortunately seems that teaching young kids foreign languages is sometimes perceived as a middle class luxury (i.e. something seen as aspirational by well-to-do parents). I’m probably going to be a bit biased as someone who’s taught foreign languages for over a decade, but I see these sorts of attitudes as being very unhealthy. There’s so much to be gained from learning a language in terms of skills that go well beyond being able to communicate with people from different places. There’s flexibility, cultural awareness, social skills, and I could go on for quite a while but I’ve just remembered that I’m not speaking at a university open day.
When it comes to kids, there are a lot of myths about dangers of bilingualism that seem to be spread that are largely based on outdated notions about its effects that have been disproved by countless studies. In practical terms, I think that it’s great that the internet makes access to materials in foreign languages a lot more simple.
Here are some links to blogs that discuss raising kids in French and English:
http://www.littlebilingues.com/
http://bloggingonbilingualism.com/
http://trilingualmama.com/
As I’m fluent in French, I’d love to teach our son to speak it at some stage. My wife and I are currently raising him bilingually in Welsh and English. At the moment, I’m speaking Welsh to him and my wife is speaking English. In a few years’ time, we might well see if we can find a way of adding in some French.
What an incredibly detailed response! Thank you Mr Ervine. I will certainly be checking those websites.
I think it’s very regrettable that languages are seen as a middle class luxury. I think once you’ve had exposure to languages and seen the benefits of speaking different languages then you quickly lose any such pretensions.
Thanks again for commenting.
Agree with you. Sadly, UK seems to lag behind in this regard. I took Boy to France for a week when he was little and left him mornings in French Bilingual Monetssori (whilst I did the museums and cafes), not sure he learned that much, but felt it was important that he was comfortable around French…kindergarten not too bad as there was a french club and french TA, but French in his current school a bit disappointing and looks like one of those things I am going to have to pick up on.
I plan to follow in your footsteps at some point and head over to France so they can spend some time with some of my French relatives. I think that’ll be a sure-fire way for them to pick up some of the language.
This isnt something ive given much thought to. Neither me or the Mrs speak other languages with both our focus being on sporty or practical activities for the girls. Something for the school to address and I dont think we would bother if they didnt.
I’m definitely with you here, it may sound stupid but my 3 yr old has picked up a handful of Spanish words just from watching Dora the Explorer!
At a young age they are like a sponge, absorbing everything , esp new languages
Good luck!
Ah yes, Dora. I could never get my eldest into Dora. Shame because Spanish is without a doubt easier to learn than French.
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