Raising a bilingual child

[SANDRO43]

As most of you may have gathered, I am deeply interested in linguistic phenomena in general. Recently, I was musing on how one may be proceeding, wittingly or unwittingly, in giving a very young child (in his pre-school years) a bilingual education.

Therefore I am posting a few questions/considerations here in the "Married" section and, for simplicity's sake and considering the prevalent majority, I shall address them to a "typical" couple (residing in an English-speaking country, consisting of an English-speaking father and a Russian-speaking mother), though they may equally apply to different languages and residential situations (BC's case of living in a country with yet a third language to handle may also be quite interesting ).

OK, here's a couple of considerations first.

We all learn to speak our mother language (this expression is significant in itself ) through interaction with our early environment, which basically means our family members, and imitation of the funny sounds they make once we discover this novel activity is worthwhile and rewarding (reinforcement through signs of affection, food, etc.). The parent with whom we interact most frequently (mother, usually), may exert a significant influence on our subsequent linguistic behaviour.

Now, some initial questions:

1. While addressing her child, is/was mother using:
- English only
- A mix of English and Russian
- Russian only

2. If using Russian at all, is/was she using single words initially, and complete sentences later on as the child's comprehension progressed ?

3. If subjected to bilingual input, in which language were the child's first comprehensible utterances ?

4. If subjected to bilingual input, does/did your child intermix the two languages when becoming more articulate later on, and how, (occasional Russian words or complete sentences), and with whom (both father and mother, or one of them only) ?

[Admin]

Sandro,

Katya is bi-lingual - and soon to add a third (Spanish).

Her Mom has spoken Russian to her since birth - and has made a dedicated effort to educate Katrina in the Russian language.

While I have helped somewhat and dabble with Russian - I have communicated almost exclusively in English with her.

1. While addressing her child, is/was mother using:
- English only
- A mix of English and Russian
- Russian only

2. If using Russian at all, is/was she using single words initially, and complete sentences later on as the child's comprehension progressed ?

3. If subjected to bilingual input, in which language were the child's first comprehensible utterances ?

4. If subjected to bilingual input, does/did your child intermix the two languages when becoming more articulate later on, and how, (occasional Russian words or complete sentences), and with whom (both father and mother, or one of them only) ?

1. Mom used a mix of Russian and English, but Russian was a focus from the beginning.

2. Olya spoke in full sentences - of course, emphasizing individual words as Katya would respond.

3. Hmmmm - I recall her speaking both languages from the early stages. Not sure which was first. Probably something which fits both languages equally, like "Mama".

4. At 3-1/2, Katya easily speaks both languages, and switches seamlessly between them. I often play with her and have her tell me how to say a particular English phrase in Russian - and she teases me by speaking Russian and using phrases she knows I don't know. Her vocabulary in Russian is much broader than mine - and her grammar is vastly better - owing, at least in part, to the fact that for the past year she has been attending formal Russian language training twice a week which is offered by some teachers from the FSU who have re-settled in the Denver area.

Olya has been the prime mover with insuring that Katrina has full command of Russian. Initially, the motivation was to insure Katya could communicate with her grandparents - but it also considered a desire for Katrina to 'know' the language of her mother, and have access to the cultural roots of both her parents.

- Dan

[SANDRO43]

Thanks Dan, I suspected your case might provide a valuable contribution.

It also confirms my other suspicions, i.e. :
- language acquired very early is so as a coherent whole (vocabulary, syntax, etc.), rather than in bits and pieces for subsequent assembly, as often happens in later years.
- polyglots keep their different language "packages" in separate storage areas of their mental warehouse, with little or no intermixing.

So your Katya is not only an early good-looker, but also bright, i.e. a possible nightmare for you in 12 years' time or so .

[catzenmouse]

When Sergei came here at 4 years old he spoke only Russian. Our first emphasis was to get his English up to speed which he did quite quickly (we used simple books, electronic toys like Leap Frog, and teaching computer games, along with practice in our household) by the time he finished kindergarten a year or so later he was tops in his class (his teacher told us his English was better than most of her native born children) and while Elena would speak with him in Russian quite often it was not our primary focus.

When we went to Russia last year we realized how badly his Russian had slipped as he had a hard time communicating with the family. Since then Elena has worked with him every day (speaking mostly Russian to him, we got books for practicing writing and reading, more movies and cartoons in Russian, etc.) and he is pretty much back to fluent in both languages now. Still has a bit of difficulty understanding the relatives on the phone but they will be spending the summer in Russia so we are quite confident that he will be back to fully fluent by the end of the trip.

They are taking some of his English books with them and Elena will keep up with his English while they are there so that he will not slide any with his English while they are gone for the extended trip.

Ken

[SANDRO43]

When Sergei came here at 4 years old he spoke only Russian. Our first emphasis was to get his English up to speed...

Ken, did your wife stop/reduce her using Russian with him while in this phase ?

[catzenmouse]

Yes she did. Not a total cut off of the Russian but a concerted effort on our part to get him up to speed quickly for the coming school year and with her taking ESL and Advanced ESL classes she was using English a lot more to practice and work on her assignments.

Ken

[Jet]

Kolya was 5 when he came to the US. He knew *zero* english and the question "Jim skazal?" still rings in my ears from his first months here. He started kindergarten within 2 weeks of his arrival. Much like Dan's scenario we both mix but Liliya communicates primarily in Russian and I primarily in English. Lil make a concerted effort to keep him up to speed in his Russian studies by devoting an hour per night to reading and writing in Russian, over and above his English homework for school. We have a full library of textbooks including High School level materials, as well as a ton of children's books. We had the great fortune of a Polish Kindergarten teacher with limited Russian language skills, which eased his transition to life in an English speaking country. His first three months were difficult in school so he frequently resorted to physical contact to get attention and make his wishes known, while there (some funny stories about that, for another time  ). By the time he reached first grade he could seamlessly switch between languages mid-sentence, and reply to questions in English that were asked in Russian. His biggest stumbling block so far has been grammar. He will apply proper Russian grammar rules to English sentences if he is unsure of the English grammar rule. (Ex. "Jim, what about, do you think?"). Having just finished his third year in US schools, he is at the same level as his classmates, though he still has a discernible accent when speaking.

[BC]

Fortunately my parents who primarily lived overseas, either by luck or forward thinking insisted we always live among the locals.  This of course exposed us kids at a very early age (6 months onward) to other languages.  In fact my first language was not English.

At home during later years English was the only language at home and school.  Even still, many years later I was able to learn several languages without formal courses through everyday interaction with locals.

IMHO small kids, even toddlers are able to absorb much more than we think possible.

My oldest son (then 9) started school here with 0 Italian, our daughter also started with little or no Italian at the same age.  Both did quite well with our daughter ending up with perfect grammar at the top of her class.

In our home we use 3 languages every day.  Russian primarily between mother, daughter and son (3+ yrs old), English between my wife and I and I speak Italian with our daughter.  When my oldest son comes to visit we speak German.

Believe it or not, all quite 'normalna'..

Our small son a few months ago started really distinguishing who speaks what language and began speaking smatterings of English with me, stuff like 'give me this' or 'what is that' even though I have been trying to converse and learn RU from him.  I was a bit astounded that he seems to come up with phrases instead of individual words.  Quite cute is that he tends to speak Italian with our dog.

Sandro,

To answer your questions:

1. While addressing her child, is/was mother using:
- English only
- A mix of English and Russian
- Russian only

2. If using Russian at all, is/was she using single words initially, and complete sentences later on as the child's comprehension progressed ?

No, she used full sentences or phrases, not trying to impress single words except for purposes of increasing vocabulary.

3. If subjected to bilingual input, in which language were the child's first comprehensible utterances ?

Mamma, Papa..  primarily names not really language specific followed by RU words.

4. If subjected to bilingual input, does/did your child intermix the two languages when becoming more articulate later on, and how, (occasional Russian words or complete sentences), and with whom (both father and mother, or one of them only) ?

Yes, quite 'mixed' (especially with me), RU IT EN beginning to distinguish shortly after his 3rd birthday. Primarily RU with mother and mixed RU/IT with our daughter

I think ALL young kids will be able to quickly adapt to new languages without special courses etc.  In fact, I think the practice of schools insisting on ESL courses can do more harm than good by segregating or otherwise distinguishing them from 'normal' kids.

[olena]

My 5 year old speaks 99% of the time English.
He understands Ukrainian, but prefers to speak English.
I work full time and he is in Kindergarten almost all day long.
I am looking forward to flying to Ukraine this summer and letting him stay there with my parents. I hope his Ukrainian will improve.

[Bruce]

For our child I only have been speaking English and my wife only Russian.  When my wife and I communicate it is only in English.  We'll see what happens.

[SANDRO43]

Thank you for your input, folks, it does confirm my previously stated views, and ampifies them somewhat:

1. Language acquired VERY early is so as a coherent whole, provided it is offered as such (i.e. complete sentences).
2. Polyglots keep their different language "packages" in separate storage areas of their mental warehouse, with little or no intermixing, and use each package as they consider appropriate.
 
I would add a further, obvious point:
3. The earliest bilingual exposure is started and the longest it is continued, the more permanent its results will be.

Of course, having a natural/inherited aptitude for languages will help, too, but since that is usually discovered in later years with formal education, the correct strategy would be to start as early as possible anyway.

P.S.: BC, you must have an Italian dog, then (BTW, how's it faring now?): does it go bau, bau rather than bow, bow ?

[Jet]

P.S.: BC, you must have an Italian dog, then (BTW, how's it faring now?): does it go bau, bau rather than bow, bow ?

Trixie, our cat, has become nearly fluent in Russian as well  (with all the yelling the wife does about her being on the furniture)

[jb]

We have two bi-lingual dogs,,, as long as there is a treat in the offing they are fluent in both English and Russian. 

[I/O]

Interesting thread and thanks for some insights guys. I will be facing all this in the not-too-distant future. I'm kinda hoping we can emulate Dan's example as during all of my travels I've concluded that someone having a grasp of a Slavic language, English and Spanish would be able to communicate, at least to some extent, in the majority of countries.

Oh how I wish I'd put more effort into languages when I was younger. Money might buy a ticket to travel but IMO languages are the real ticket to freedom.

JB your dogs kinda make me think of a mad mate of mine.  His new working dog is called "Effya".  I was stupid enough to enquire as to the logic of the name and he replied, well, I'll always be yelling "Come here "F.....ya", so I thought I'd simplify the process. Seems animals and kids are not entirely disimilar in the learning process.

I/O

[Voyageur]

Our eight year old did not speak any English when she arrived in the US, 18 months ago. Now she speaks English very well, but my wife notices that her Russian gets harder and harder for her. I try to get our daughter to help me with my Russian  to help her remember the alphabet, but she loses interest on this pretty quickly (maybe she recognizes a true lost cause when she recognizes one  ).

Funny thing is, when she is in Russia, she doesn't want to speak English. When we were visiting there in the New Year, it was tough for her to speak English with me. It seems some kind of switch goes off on the airplane over.

My wife marvels that she has no accent in speaking English and - through her friends at school - knows more American slang than she does.

[planner]

Give me another year and I can reply with more depth.  Our 2 year and 1 month old Katina is just starting to learn/speak words.  Mostly she is taught English with a few Russian words.  My wife is very committed to teaching her words every day.  We use picture books and recently flash cards (a fad that will last a couple weeks).  Katrina loves books and will crawl up onto our laps and start reading words to us and then will ask us to read to her. 

In the household my wife and her 18 year old son speak about 2/3 Russian and 1/3 English.  I speak only English with both of them.  I know Katrina is listening and learning a lot without verbalizing what she is learning.  What she says and what she understands are at two different levels.  I assume she is much better at learning than we are and so does my wife so she gets a lot of input that she is not able to communicate back.  How do they parrot back things so quickly and remember so well, it must be genetic and age related, it's impressive to an old guy like me.

I am not trying to learn Russian, just not a talent area I do well with. 

We have a pile of Russian childrens books we were given while in Latvia in February.  I expect another pile to come home in the fall.  My wife's sister-in-law, in Latvia, works in a school and when the teachers come over to visit they of course bring school books as presents.  I love the graphics.  Very detailed forest scenes, etc. 

Maybe I will remember to add something to this thread in a year or so.  Thanks for starting it.

[RK]

Wow, great thread! I was just contemplating posting a question about this same subject and I feel real good about what I've read on this thread. Assuming our I-129F gets approved, my fiancee's son, who will be three next month, will be learning English from scratch here. I was wondering what people here do. It sounds like you just put them in school, obviously with support from home, and they start learning the language. He will be starting out in pre school and attending that for two years before kindergarten.

How has your child of similar age adapted to everyone else not speaking Russian and your child not understanding English while he/she is in preschool? Do you start them out cold and they just learn? How did they interact with the other children? Thanks!

[SANDRO43]

It sounds like you just put them in school, obviously with support from home, and they start learning the language.

Indeed it would seem as simple as that, considering his tender age and what I could gather from the various replies here (no direct personal experience),  very young children soak up linguistic material like sponges .

[Jet]

Do you start them out cold and they just learn? How did they interact with the other children? Thanks!

Bingo! Pretty much toss them in the pool and they learn to swim (figuratively speaking). As long as the preschool knows the child has no english ability, they'll take due precaution. Kolya was pretty funny in the first months of kindergarten. In an effort to be understood he would grab other kids by the arm and drag them over to see what he wanted to show them. He got reprimanded - "no grabbing other children!". OK no problem, so he started poking the other kids and pointing. He got reprimanded - "no touching the other children with your hands!" OK no problem, so he started lightly kicking the other kids and pointing. He got reprimanded - "no touching any part of the other children with any part of your body!" OK no problem, so he started prodding the other kids with a book or toy and pointing. Eventually peer pressure and a desire to fit in got him to start speaking English. At 3, your stepson is gonna do just fine 

[RK]

Thanks, Jet. I told my fiancee about this thread today on the phone and she was happy to know that it will be much easier than she was expecting. Yes, the challenges will be there, but she feels more comfortable now, as do I.

Jet...do you have a link to those jet photos? They're awesome.

[Jet]

Jet...do you have a link to those jet photos? They're awesome.

The photo for my current avatar came from here: http://www.strizhi.info/category/photos/
There are also some killer photos of both the Swallows (MiG-29) and the Russian Knights (SU-27) here: http://www.strizhi.ru/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1178174717/74#74)

[Leslie]

Hello Sandro,

I am glad to post to this topic.  Tamara (Toma) is 2 and has begun to speak. Here are our answers to your specific questions-

Now, some initial questions:

1. While addressing her child, is/was mother using:
- English only
- A mix of English and Russian
- Russian only

Natasha speaks mostly Russian to Toma. Though does speak some English - maybe an 80/20 mix

2. If using Russian at all, is/was she using single words initially, and complete sentences later on as the child's comprehension progressed ?

Always using sentances.  Toma has been taught Russian and English words using pre school vacabulary books.

3. If subjected to bilingual input, in which language were the child's first comprehensible utterances ?

Russian.  English words came later.

4. If subjected to bilingual input, does/did your child intermix the two languages when becoming more articulate later on, and how, (occasional Russian words or complete sentences), and with whom (both father and mother, or one of them only) ? 

Yes. Toma mixes Russian and English particularly when she is excited.  Is now learning to speak in English or Russian

Like Bruce it was an active decision from birth to raise Toma bilingual.  Always lots of books in Russian and English.  Cartoons have proved to be very important.  Toma adores the old soviet era cartoons (Baba Yaga etc)  and certainly learned some Russian from them. Beatrice Potter is a favorite in English but Peter is a "Krolik" LOL

Overall I reckon Toma would be further progressed if we had only spoken English but the gift of two languages is so important. We will keep up the education in both langages to make sure they are retained.

Toma has just spent a month at our summer house in Turkey.  I asked her a question (in English) this morning and she replied "Tamam" which is Turkish for OK...
 
 

[Mir]

Beautiful aircraft, the SU-27

[Jet]

  Always lots of books in Russian and English.  Cartoons have proved to be very important.  Toma adores the old soviet era cartoons (Baba Yaga etc)  and certainly learned some Russian from them.

Very good point Leslie! We have LOTS of books and cartoons on VHS (converted from SECAM to NTSC at @ $10 ea) and DVD. Another thing I've noticed is that more and more often when riding in the car, Kolya will ask to listen to the "Russian music" as we have a wide variety of CDs in both vehicles.

[jb]

Leslie,,

She's only 2, fer cryin' out loud,,, cut the kidlet some slack.