Join Chontelle Bonfiglio, mom of two bilingual boys, for a Q&A all about raising bilingual children. Chontelle's children speak English and Italian and are learning Spanish. Ask Chontelle about how to introduce another language to your children, what speech looks like in a bilingual two year old and more!
What activities did you do to encourage the second language with young children? I find it difficult to speak Spanish with my daughter because I use English so much. I definitely want her to speak it though.
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Chontelle B.
Hi Edith, |
Hello! My husband and I only speak in English to our children. We asked our full-time nanny to only speak in Spanish to our kids, but I find that she speaks to them in both English and Spanish. We keep trying to remind her to speak in Spanish to the kids, but I'm not sure why she still mixes the two languages.
How important is it that she speaks only in Spanish to the kids (instead of mixing some English with the Spanish)? Thanks
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Chontelle B.
Hi Becky, |
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Becky My kids are 14 months and 3.5 years old. My nanny has been with them both full-time since they were born. |
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Chontelle B.
Children absorb more than we think. If she has been with them since birth, I am sure they have a sound knowledge of the language. If she sticks to speaking Spanish with them, they should be able to grow up fluent speakers. Good luck! |
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Becky Thank you! |
I have two year old twins. My mother is Colombian and that entire side of my family speaks only spanish and i want to my kids to be bilingual the way i am. My mom lives with me and the kids (I am single) and she only speaks spanish to them. Their nanny speaks to them in english, and i switch back and forth, although i would say i speak to them the majority of the time in English out of habit. The problem i am having is they only speak english. They understand spanish perfectly but can't or won't speak it. For instance if we have a picture book and i say in spanish, where is the dog, they will point to it. But if i say to them what's another word for dog, or how do you say dog in spanish they look at my blankly. i don't know how to get them to speak spanish, and having grown up with a lot of first generation kids of all backgrounds, I know it is very common for kids to grow up understanding a second language but not speaking it at all and i'd like to avoid that. Any tips?
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Chontelle B.
Hi Catalina, |
Hi! My husband is German and I am American. We both speak both German and English. Recently we've moved from Germany to the USA and are concerned about helping our 5-month-old daughter learn German. (I also dont want to lose my German abilities!) We speak German when we are alone but when we are with family here we switch to English. How confusing is this for our child? Should one of us ALWAYS speak one language and the other ALWAYS speak the other language?
Is it okay to speak only German at home and then with family we switch to English? I'd rather not speak German when we are together with family because I feel like it's rude (family only
Speaks English).
Thank you!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Katie, |
Thank you, Chontelle! Chontelle will answer all of the questions asked today. Bilingual Kidspot is filled with wonderful information about raising bilingual and multilingual children. Check it out to learn more: https://bilingualkidspot.com/
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Chontelle B.
Thank you for having me! If anyone would like to see daily information and news on bilingual parenting, come over and follow me at https://www.facebook.com/bilingualkidspot/ |
Hi Chantelle,
Firstly, thank you for your help.
I speak Hindi and my American husband doesn't. I've been struggling to find hindi resources to teach our 3 year old. There's almost nothing online. The problem is that English is my first language, although I speak Hindi, the first words that come out of my mouth are in English. Also, I think in English and translate in my mind to Hindi. So, it's not a natural process. However, I want my kids to learn my native language. It's very important to me. Should I schedule some time daily? How do I go about this? Any resources would be super helpful!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Nina, |
My husband is Gujarati and he speaks Gujarati and Hindi (and English). I only speak English but I'm also a stay at home mom who is with our 6 month old baby. We are not around family as we live far away. My husband wants our son to learn Gujarati (as do I) but there are very few resources for this language (I did manage to find a couple of DVD's with simple words and some books...but I don't read it so it is hard). I think it will be much easier for me to learn Hindi with him since this is a more universal language. However his family speaks Gujarati at home. Any advice for the non-speaker main caregiver to try to teach the baby both or at least one language?
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Chontelle B.
Hi Nikke, |
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Nikke This was very helpful. My husbands spends all of his time after work at home with our son and I will remind him to start talking to him in Gujarati. We do video call his family every other day and they usually speak in Gujarati. I have tried to find people in the local community but haven't been able to connect yet but I will work on that. Again thank you for your comments. They were very helpful! |
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Chontelle B.
You are very welcome. I would love to hear your progress :) |
My husband is German and I am American. I have two older children from a previous relationship who are 7 and 10. We also have a 3 year old and a 4 month old. My husband would really like all the children to be able to speak German especially the younger two. I speak very little German but can understand a good bit. How hard will it be for the older children to pick up the second language? We speak mostly English at home with the occasional German when my husbands family is visiting. My husband does try to speak only German with the baby and sometimes with our toddler. We have recently started using some language learning games on the iPad so that is helping with the toddler while the older ones are at school.
We have had our daughter in a weekly parent/child French class for about a year and a half. The structure is great in that they do songs, circle time, and an art activity. I do not speak French or any other languages (just a little Spanish in school that I don't really remember) so I am wondering how to keep the learning going throughout the week. I have looked into bilingual books but since I don't know how to pronounce the French words it hasn't really worked for us. I think I need something where I can see and hear the translations. Do you have any recommendations for these types of resources or any other advice? Thanks!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Paula, |
My husband and I only speak English fluently. I took French in school, but know very little. We would like our 2.5 year old to learn Spanish. What's the best way? Do videos like Little Pim work well. Do we need to commit to learning too, so that we can practice with her? --Thank you!
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Chontelle B.
Hello Tameka, |
Hello,
My husband and I are French. Our little one is 17 months and she is going to a bilingual daycare (English / Chinese). (We will stay in USA 2 more years and then come back in France or move in another country, we don't know yet)
She can say a few words: maman, papa, bye-bye and "voir voir" (au revoir), no, wouaf wouaf (dog), bébé and baby, cake, bateau (boat in French)... She can understand when we speak French and she seams to understand English and Chinese too.
The problem is we don't know if at home we have to teach her words in French or English (we don't speak Chinese).
Any tips?
Thank you!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Gwen, |
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Gwen Thank you so much for your message and advices Chontelle! |
Hi, my son is 5 and is fluent in French, Turkish and English. I only speak to him in French while my husband speaks Turkish and he learned English at preschool. My concern at this point is about teaching him how to read. He started showing great interest and can now sound out individual letters to make up words. I try my best to teach him both french and English alphabet/pronunciation through phonics. However, I'm worried about what will happen once he enters kindergarten in the fall. How can I support him in learning to read/write in both French and Turkish languages? Should I look into additional classes that will focus on each language specifically? I just would like him to be able to become fully proficient in all the languages he speaks. Thanks for any advice!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Laetita, |
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Laetitia Thank you so much for taking the time |
Hello Chontelle,
We're very grateful that our daughter is being exposed to at least 3 languages at this point (she's 8 months old). She gets Spanish from her nanny and grandparents, portuguese from her dad and other grandparents and english from friends and relatives around. It's clear that her dad speaks only in portuguese to her (unless others are around, then he adjusts to english or spanish). But I'm still not sure which language I should speak to her. I'm fluent and comfortable in all 3. At this point I've been mixing quite a bit, but I've read you should choose 1 and stick to it. What are your thoughts? Is it ok for me to mix and go back and forth regardless of having others around? Would love your input, thank you!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Claudia, |
Hi, i have a 3 year old that speaks english and i want her to learn spanish too since that is my native language, her dad only speaks english and we were worried that teaching her a second language would confuse her but now i regret that decision because i feel like now we are behind.
So my questions are;
Is starting to talk to her in spanish at age 3 more difficult or a bit late?
At what age should parents start introducing multiple languages?
How long do they usually take to learn a new language?
When is a good time to inteoduce a third and a fourth language?
Help 😣
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Chontelle B.
Hi Jessica, |
Hi! I am American and my husband is Italian. It's extremely important to us (especially him) that our child grows up learning both languages perfectly. I don't speak much Italian but starting to learn a little more. So he would like when the baby is born to start speaking Italian right away to him. So my question is... do we only speak Italian and home and teach him English outside the home or I only speak english and my husband only speaks Italian? I've heard this can slow down how fast the child speaks but is it the best way?
Thank you!!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Jennifer, |
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Jennifer Thank you Chontelle! So when you say he should speak only Italian even outside the house do you consider even when we are with friends and family? Even though they only speak English? |
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Chontelle B.
Hi Jennifer, |
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Jennifer Ok I understand now. I was just wondering if we were with my family and he is only speaking Italian to them in front of or child, that it could get old very quickly as there would be no conversation. When we are in Italy with his family and friends then I should continue to only speak English even though his family and friends don't speak any English and I don't really speak Italian very well? Or to clarify it's only when I am speaking with our child I continue to always only speak English. The reason I ask this is because it's very important to my husband that I learn Italian and he wants me to start to only speak Italian to him so then I learn faster and I'm able to communicate better with his family when we are visiting however I don't want to confuse our son with me going back and forth. |
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Chontelle B.
To clarify, it is only when speaking with your child. In general conversation with my husband's family, I speak Italian. This is how I learned Italian, speaking with them, I never knew how to speak it before my children were born. |
My twins are 2, just starting to talk. I predominantly speak English because my husband does not speak Japanese. What is the best thing to do when we are all together, and would it confuse them if i switched primarily to Japanese when the three of us are together now? I ask because i realize that they dont understand Japanese at all at this point and would like for them to be bilingual.
My husband also soeaks a third language that i do not speak. Is it best for him to introduce the language now or wait?
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Chontelle B.
Hello Tosh, |
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Tosh He speaks Twi, which is one of the languages in ghana. There are little to no resources so it would be difficult for me to learn. I think i will focus on Japanese...thank you. |
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Chontelle B.
Hi Tosh, |
Hi! I speak Madarin and English while my husband speaks Cantonese and English. At home we only talk in English. Grandparents are helping to take care of the baby right now and they only speak Madarin and their local dialect. Our baby is still quite young (1.5 months) so we are not careful with what language we speak around him. But when should we start to be more careful with what language we use to talk to him so he doesn't get too confused? Also I would like him to speak English and Madarin. What would you recommend us to do at what age? Thank you!
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Chontelle B.
Hi Cindy, |
Hi,
I have a 3-year-old whose daycare, now preschool has been exposing her to Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic since she started there at 3 months. I speak a mixture of English and Hindi with her. I also know Spanish and Portuguese and sometimes speak with her in those languages if her babysitter is a native speaker of those languages. My husband speaks only English. As you can see, lots of languages going on in her world. Here is my question: I recently started actively finding babysitters that speak Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic to help reinforce the exposure she is getting at school. Is that beneficial or confusing?
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Chontelle B.
Hello Namrita, |
Welcome, Chontelle! Chontelle is here to answer all of your questions about raising bilingual children. Curious how to begin introducing another language to your baby? Need tips on balancing multiple languages being spoken at home? Chontelle is here to help!
Chontelle lives in Italy with her two children. Due to timezone differences, it may take her a bit of time to respond to questions asked later in the day.
Hi Chontelle,
We are raising our daughter as bilingual. I do my best to only speak to her in Russian, and my American husband can only speak to her in English. She is 14 months. So far it seems like she can understand and follow instructions in both languages, but she only has three words at this age. Mama, Dada, and Aya (her name).
My question is when can we expect to hear her speak more? I read that bilingual toddlers tend to speak a bit later than others.
Also, I would love to know if we are going about this the right way (by my speaking only my language and my husband his). Of course, when we are together, I have to communicate with him in English, so she witnesses that as well.
Any dos or donts that I should know about?
Thanks so much for your expert advice!
-Maria
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Chontelle B.
Hi Maria, |
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Maria Great advice! Thank you so much. I am glad to hear that we are on the right track :) |
mother language or the second language or both together?
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Chontelle B.
Hi Ghusoon, |
Hello! I'm trying to raise my kids (3 yo girl, 5 mo boy) bilingual, as I was raised the same.
My parents both speak Thai and growing up my grandmother lived with us (who didn't speak English) so we had a 'speak only Thai when home' rule. My sisters and I spoke English to each other as much as we could but at home to our parents and elders it was always Thai. We also went to Thai Sunday school so we learned how to read and write.
I speak Thai to my children but my husband does not speak the language. He knows a few words at best but it being a tonal language, it is difficult for him to learn the proper pronunciation. So he speaks English to the children, I speak Thai to the children and he and I speak English to one another.
I've spoken Thai with them since when they were in utero. My daughter went to daycare when I returned to work at 3 months, so her exposure to the mother's tongue was in the mornings, in the evenings and on the weekends. She understands everything I say but doesn't always respond back to me. If I give her the choice between two things (in Thai), she'll choose with the Thai phrase. But she rarely responds to an open ended question in Thai. We recently hired a Thai nanny to help out in the evenings and we've noticed a slight improvement in willingness and/or ability to speak in Thai. I think it's because she sees that its more than just mommy speaking.
When I ask her to speak Thai to me, she sometimes asks me to tell her how and she'll repeat but she doesn't seem to come with stuff on her own. Is it possible for me to get her to speak Thai more? Am I too late?
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Chontelle B.
Hi Sarina, |
I only speak English and my daughter, who is 15 months is learning Spanish from my nanny who only speaks to her in Spanish. You mentioned there are some Spanish activities or play group. Are there any in Boston? Are there toys that you recommend for children that have Spanish and English? Are there resources you recommend for parents to learn the language.
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Chontelle B.
Hi Michele, |
I am Puerto Rican and my husband is an American of Dominican ascent. We would really like to teach our 14 month old daughter Spanish fluently; however; we are concerned that 1. It will confuse her or delay her at school/with making friends 2. That it would delay her speech development.
Our questions are:
1.Should each of us just speak one language to her? i.e. Myself always in Spanish and my husband in English.
2. , when and how should we start with reading/writing in each language?
3. How do you manage interactions at the playground, school, etc amongst kids that do not speak the same language as your kids?
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Chontelle B.
Hello Laura, |