Anyone out there raising/raised their child(ren) in a bilingual atmosphere?
Currently, my 3 year old is bilingual in English and Spanish, but he definitely favors English. My family and I also speak Spanish to the baby also. They watch Spanish kiddie shows, and I have Dr. Seuss books in Spanish that I read to them also.
I think this is excellent that you are doing this. Children pick up languages easily, and not only is it a good skill to have, but expands conceptual thinking.
I'm not bilingual, but I think it is a great idea to teach toddlers another language when it is so easy for them to pick it up. I might look into classes in my area when my baby comes.
Yup. German and English. At first I spoke German to him all the time when we were alone, and English whenever we were in public. But since his diagnosis with Autism Spectrum, I've had to switch to just providing him with both at the same time...giving both names for something, etc...
Babysitter & Mom both speak spanish to her while I'm at work, at home DH & I speak a mix of both "Spanglish", which I hear is bad when you're trying to help the child develop a clear language, so we're trying to speak only Spanish to her.
My parents raised us this way too, and living in a large hispanic population in Cali, it's really worked to my advantage. When I got hired where I currently work, I got a $2/hr bilingual differential due to my "skill", so I was earning almost $100 more doing the same job as other entry level employees, except speaking another language which came natural to me. DH is a contractor and most of the laborers speak Spanish, so when whe first started out, he was favored by the contractors as DH could translate to them.
So yes, it's very important to us that we pass on that skill and advantage to our daughter.
