grimmy

We just became grandparents for the first time. My son and daughter-in-law we like me to speak in French to her. I will be seeing her approximately twice a week.
My question: Does anyone have experience with babies naturally learning 2 languages?
I don't want to confuse her and wonder if those few days a week will interfere with her learning English?
BTW her parents speak no French.

Picki

Congratulations to becoming grandparents! A child can easily learn two languages, and even three or four at the same time. In many countries in the world, people grow up learning several languages at the same time. You granddaughter will not be confused, and it will be a great richness for her to learn French. The learning process, however, should be as natural as possible. If you for example speak English with everyone else around you, including your son and his wife, she might find it awkward that you speak French with her. Also, learning a foreign language takes a lot of work, so hopefully the two days a week you meet your granddaughter are full days. Myself I have a three-year-old daughter who is growing up in a bilingual family (Swedish-French) and even if she understands Swedish perfectly well, she mostly speaks to me in French - she knows I understand French so why make the effort to speak Swedish? I hope the summer vacation with her Swedish-speaking cousins will change that... Good luck!

hunnym

When I was a child, I simultaneously learned Slovak (from my mother), Croatian (from my father) and English (from the rest of the world). I speak all three languages fluently. I studied French in school for 10 years, but the French I started to learn when I was 7 does not even come close to being natural for me, unlike the languages I learned from birth.

There's a lot of information out there on language learning at a young age...much too lengthy to describe here. Basically, learning language is optimal in babies because their brains are "primed" for it (something that disappears over time). In your case, GO FOR IT! It will only help your grandchild (in my opinion).

Congratulations!

parisallthetime

Congratulations!

We 2 sets of friends whose children learned 3 languages from birth;one, Chinese, Spanish and English and the other, Japanese, English and Tagalog. The kids, now grown, have retained and remain fluent in all and it has been a great advantage in their careers.

Go for it!

nonnafelice

From what I've read, I think a child will adapt most easily if you always speak French to her, and she associates that language with you. I think it might be more confusing if you switch back and forth to English with her, but if you always use French with her, I think that is the easiest way for her to learn the second language and keep the "rules" of talking to grandma and grandpa separate from those of speaking with mom and dad.

I agree that this would be a wonderful gift you could give her that will last her all her life. It may take her some time to appreciate it, but eventually she will be so happy that she was able to acquire fluency in a second language.

crefloors

My brother-in-law met a Japanese girl when he was on leave from Korea and they married and she moved to the US. My BIL spoke fluent Japanese and Japanese was always spoken first in their home, unless of course they had people like us over who didn't speak it. It was interesting with their three girls. The girls never really spoke Japanese, just didn't want to. However, when speaking to their mother, they would be spoken to in Japanese and they would respond in English. Their mom didn't like to speak English, but obviously understood it quite well, in fact I had no trouble talking to her, and the girls didn't speak Japanese but obviously understood it just fine. It made for some interesting conversations.

tedgale

Living in 2 languages is a way of life here in Canada.

Protestants did not marry Catholics in my youth, but Irish or Scots Catholics married French Canadians and their children juggled two languages at home.

We (bristling, monarchist Protestants) always had French housekeepers when I was young and my younger sisters in particular spoke French to them, English to us.

clevelandbrown

I'm convinced that most of what we learn, we learn before we even start school. We can all speak and understand at least one language before we enter kindergarten.

The child even learns variants of the same language. Assume a family where the father speaks course English, that found on factory floors, while the mother speaks "proper" English; that child will learn to speak to the father in one variant, and to the mother in the other.

When I was young the schools taught foreign languages in the very earliest grades, using the immersion method. So when I went into the language room, the teacher would refuse to respond to English; I had to ask in French to go to the bathroom, or suffer the consequences. It seemed to work well, but I know the educational establishment often changes their approach and I don't know what the fad is today.

I would suggest you establish a recurrent time period where you will be alone with your granddaughter (her parents will welcome the relief), and speak only French during that period, but I think I would limit the French to perhaps an hour, and in the rest of your time, just respond to what the child wants to do. I know my granddaughter is two, and can sing Frere Jacques with the best of them, just from watching some DVDs.

AnthonyGA

It's best if you speak to her only in French, and others speak to her only in one language as well (English, presumably). Then the baby will associate the language with a specific individual and will be less likely to get confused. Later, once the child is old enough, she will figure out on her own that anyone can speak any language, but it helps keep things separate in the beginning, so that she understands that the languages are not interchangeable.

She will need a lot of exposure to you to really learn French (as in daily or so), otherwise she may only learn a little bit. It seems to work best when each parent speaks a different language, because then the exposure is constant.

The fluency the child acquires in each language will be roughly proportional to the exposure she receives to each language.

If she does not continue using both languages throughout childhood and into adolescence at least, she'll probably forget the one she doesn't use eventually (although it might be easier to relearn it later). What you don't use, you lose.

elina

Just a question: Is French your native language?

To your question "Does anyone have
experience with babies naturally
learning 2 languages?", yes, I live in a bilinqual country, and my neighbours on both sides of me are bilinqual families. And that means that in both families parents speak to their children in their own mother tongues, and only in that, with no exceptions. And the three year olds never seem to mix up the languages: one is motherīs language, and another one is fatherīs language.

grimmy

Thanks so much for all of the feedback.
I was born in Belgium and French was my first language.
Family moved to US when I was 10 and I learned English very easily at that time.
I know that a child can easily learn 2 languages . I'm planning to speak French to her whenever I am alone with her but wondered if her becoming bilingual would be feasible in a household in which no French is spoken.
I will do more research but I believe at this point that it can enhance her life.

ira

>..wonder if those few days a week will interfere with her learning English?<

My first visit to Dnmark I was approached by a very small person who asked, "Hvad hedder du?".

I said, "I am sorry, but I do not speak Danish. I'm sure that you don't understand me either".

To which she replied, "Oh yes, I do. My name is Dorta. What is yours?".