Bi-lingual, Tri-lingual, Where’s MY-lingual!?

Could just be a growth spurt? She might surprise you with a full conversation in Spanish in a few months? Do you ever revert to English? Maybe she knows that she can get you to change? (They can be so clever!)

I don’t have a solution for you but I empathize. I’m French and I’m the only person trying to speak French to my son and he’s definitely not bilingual yet. I grew up bilingual so I feel a lot of guilt for not being as successful with it as my parents were.

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I keep trying to reply but I don’t know if it’s posting. I would love to work on French with my kids as well let’s chat! I used to go to a French meet up. Where everyone spoke French.

I am trying trilingual as well but she understands me/ us but will only respond in English! LOL.

My toddler is 2.5 and she also favors words! She can say many words in English and Portuguese but no sentence yet. Any suggestions?

How old is your child? My kids are nearly 9 and 11 and my nine-year-old is finally speaking more Spanish. He attends a Spanish immersion school here. That has really helped. Maybe we can start a community of Spanish and French speaking kids. I’m American, my kids dad is a native Spanish speaker, but I also spoke French to my kids as much as I could. I’m learning as much Spanish as I can and sometimes my kids speak To me in Spanish now. I think the fact that our whole culture is not bilingual enough as part of the problem. We can make our circles as bilingual as possible! Right? Vamonos, let’s try it. I’m in Massachusetts and have been to meet up‘s that are only in Spanish or only in French. That was fun and helped my kids also. They’re not that hard to start online. Maybe we can all start one in our communities! Best of luck!

I speak 3 languages as well. My third language I did not speak a word of until I was 4. My parents had no idea I’d absorbed so much of the language and then I was speaking it constantly.

Me and my husband don’t respond to him unless he says it in Spanish. For example he loves when we count 1-10 in Spanish and he says again we tell him que ? And he says it in Spanish aha

We’re trilingual in our home with Swedish, Slovak and English. When we read to our son, we read the same story in all three languages. Our pediatrician recommended that because even though the baby doesn’t have language recognition yet he still knows the plot of the story supposedly it’s supposed to get him to pick up the languages quicker. Time will tell, he’s only 9 months old.

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I like this idea ! I’m going to try. Thanks for sharing

Sometimes the kids that’s parents speak more then 1 language at home take until 3-4 years old before they can communicate effectively

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My mother spoke both Welsh and English to me, I knew all my colours and shapes in both languages by the time I was 18 months old.....no issues with my communication

I’m trilingual. My kids are bilingual. But they don’t speak my languages. I sometimes wonder why I never taught them. However they understand some words here and there. I need to learn their language though. Lol

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This reminds me of my bff, her mom speaks Tagalog and English, her dad just English.. and my bff speaks Spanish and English. Lol I don’t know where she got the Spanish from.

Hey! My hubby is French and Im Mexican so great to find someone in the sinilar struggle! Our 21 MO is speaking a bit of three languages (+English), however he mostly says Spanish over French and I think it is because I spend more time with him than dad and also dad repeats the words that I say in Spanish more than I do in French which I think helps reinforce Spanish. I am trying to learn French so that our son can start picking it up as he hears us speak. Dad is also trying to learn Spanish. We also do a lot of bilingual books and trilingual when we can find them. We'll see how it goes! Best wishes to you and your family I'd love to hear how it goes and any ideas as well !

Same- I’m French but my husband is English and so is the daycare/everyone in the area we live. It’s hard so keep up speaking French in an English household and it’s clear she only understands some of what I say. Just keep doing it- it’s a free gift to your child!

I have no idea how to start in teaching my child Spanish. It’s so hard

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Bilingual story time at the library. There’s also bilingual toys 🧸 and books 📚 Plus you can play cartoons/movies in Spanish! That’s what I do with my daughter 😊

My girls; 14, 12, 10; are bilingual but two have learned some Mandarin and French in addition to English and Spanish. At this point in their lives they really enjoy learning other cultures and try to pick up key words in those languages. Keep doing what you are doing. Some kids take longer to speak other languages but they are absorbing everything they hear. Sometimes they are even shy to speak (noticed with my kids). Don’t stop speaking your native tongue to your children.

I'm trilingual I speak English, bengali, hindi and urdu. My hubby speaks English, urdu and panjabi. We have a five year old son. He understands bengali but only knows a few words. He always speaks in English and refuses to speak in bengali, urdu, hindi or panjabi. I've left it to him and when he's ready he will speak it. He learns urdu on the dvd he enjoys it. He remembers few words. I have a four month old daughter I hope she will speak our languages.

I speak English and Spanish, my sons first word was agua, and he only spoke Spanish at home once he went to preschool his English cane out, I told him if I talk to you in Spanish you have to talk to me back in Spanish, if not I won’t pay attention, his 8 now, whatever language I speak to him he talk to me back with the same one I started talking to him. My husband now his native language is French, his Congolese, he also speaks Lingala, with our daughter we will be speaking to her in Spanish and French at home, and my son will start learning French also, for me was a must for my children to speak Spanish, and we are lucky for my kids to learn French, they are school districts that have dual immersion programs which is Spanish and English

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Here in la habra they have a preschool to kindergarten that is French and English

I love this discussion! I’m bilingual and wanting to raise our daughter Welsh speaking so will only be speaking Welsh to her at home as this is my mother tongue. We live in Scotland and we’re hoping when she reaches School age she can learn Gaelic. Her father speaks English but wants to learn Welsh along the way with our daughter. She will of course pick up English outside the home and once she goes to nursery. I also speak some Mandarin so I’m hoping she can learn that but at a later stage. It’s all good for them to learn languages! Good luck everyone!

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Hello! I'm french so will be speaking French as much as I can but my partner speaks Welsh also. Wondering if you came across any good kids books I could get for him to read to the baby? This just made me think I can check tomorrow maybe there is a online Welsh library :)

My son speaks Spanish like me, he does not know much Tagalog like his dadm my ex full blow Filipino, does not care if he learns it, I made it a mission that no matter what my son will learn Spanish and he does, with my daughter she’s 21 month she was a micro preemie, her fathers native language is French, she’s started to say worlds in English, French and Spanish, I have done is i put in YouTube educational songs in out 3 languages and it has help her a lot, I speak to her in mostly Spanish, my son to, I spend more time home, but to help her learn French I put kids songs in French, in Spanish la Familia Teletón is very good for kids, for English Dave and Ava, in French is called kids song in French

Any good recommendations children's books in Spanish?

Here!!!! Spanish, English and some French😊

I also want to teach our daughter 2-3 languages in addition to English that my husband and I speak. I don’t know if it’s best to do all at once or one at a time..

Im brining our 6 week old son up bilingual (hopefully). Im a first language welsh speaker, and only speak welsh with our son and my husbands learning welsh. We live in Wiltshire. 🤗

My girls are 13, 15, and 17 and have a Spanish speaking father who rarely spoke Spanish to them until the last 5 years. I spoke my minimal broken Spanish to them continuously. They went to a Spanish immersion school through 7th grade and I’m very happy with their progress. Keep it up!! They absorb it all. Mine are completely bilingual. Don’t stop speaking your language to them. You may not see it now but you will in the near future. My oldest is thrilled to know two languages and has beginner Mandarin level speaking. My middle one has picked up French and Portuguese on her own.

Keep talking to her in Spanish. Even if she doesn’t say any words she’s absorbing and learning the language and she’ll end up speaking it. No te rindas. Even when she responds to you in English/French you just tell her “mamá no te entiende si no le hablas en castellano”.

My Children are 1,3 and I am Vietnamese and Taiwanese and my husband is Chilean. My sons understand different languages but the older one especially just wants to speak English. My advice is to expose them as much to communities where the language is spoken. Extended family is a big thing in our culture so great grandparents and grandparents are like second parents to my children and they only speak their native tongue to my kids