Anyone speak 3 languages? Teaching children now..

[tinybride]

Has anyone here been attempting to teach their little ones 3 languages?

I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about it. I speak Spanish fluently and DH speaks Arabic. He also speaks a little Spanish and I a little Arabic though I can't hold a conversation.

Layla is 3 and Mariam is 22 months. I've been bad about constantly speaking in Spanish, but there are words they only say in Spanish. For instance they'll say "I want mas." Mas means more in Spanish. Or they will say halib which means milk in Arabic. Things like that.

I really want to focus on it now before they get to big and this week I've been making it a point too mainly speak in Spanish. I don't know if I'm confusing them if I jump back and forth between Spanish and Arabic, or if I should focus one week on Spanish and another week on Arabic. Take in mind I'm also continuing to teach them numbers and colors etc, and I want them to know them in our languages but they will need to know them in English for school. I might be making this more confusing than it is..lol

[sa]

I don't, but my H's cousin speaks many languages. They've stuck to teaching the kids three languages, with a few words in the other languages she knows.

She speaks to them in English.
Their father speaks to them in Italian.
They speak French in school.

*I say they, but at this point only one of their kids can talk.

[Deleted]

My purely off the cuff, unsubstantiated in any way, opinion is that you should expose them to Spanish and your husband should expose them to Arabic. You should only be speaking Spanish to them and your H should only be speaking Arabic.

[Saint Monica]

I think that if you treat it like learning english. You just speak to them and give commentary like you would normally.

[Serenity9]

I don't have any kids myself, but with 3 languages it can be confusing for kids to understand which words belong to which language. A lot of kids respond well to visual learning, so maybe if you spend time teaching them words, if you're speaking Spanish, wear a blue hat; if you're speaking Arabic, wear a red hat; if you're speaking English, wear a green hat. Or give them a matching game with vocabulary words written in the three languages and a poster board with Red, Blue, and Green columns for the different languages, and they try to match up which words are which languages/colors.

[Deleted]

I would speak to them solely in Spanish, and your H speak solely in Arabic. Have your H and you speak English to each other around them. They'll be fine with English in books, tv, friends, and seeing it between you and your H.

[tinybride]

That's what I was starting to figure out, that I should just worry about the Spanish part and let DH focus on Arabic. It would probably help me learn more as well if he would speak it more. He sometimes plays Arabic nursery rhymes on YouTube for them and they hear it just about every other weekend when we visit his family, but he's not with them as much as me since he works a lot and I'm with them all day.

[zoomzoom]

My 4 yo niece speaks English and Mandarin and they are currently looking to add French. Kids are sponges so teaching languages at a young age is good thing IMHO.

[citrusmint]

They will go through a phase where they mix the languages together, don't be alarmed. The 3 languages will get sorted separately and soon they'll be fluent in all 3!

[Deleted]

I am not a parent yet, but when we were trying (before all my medical drama), we researched into best way to teach children multiple languages. For us, we wanted our child to be fluent in Spanish. They say one patent strictly speaks to them in spanish and the other in English.

I think you could follow that model and you only speak Spanish and your H only Arabic

[Chib]

I only speak two languages but my parents told me they only spoke to my sis and I in Spanish when we were little and we picked up English from the tv, radio, etc.

[papie]

I fail so bad at this. The plan was I would speak Greek, we speak English as a family and they go to French daycare/school. H does not speak Greek. He speaks French but it isn't natural for him. And we live in a very English neighborhood.

Well Anna understands Greek and speaks a bit, and is perfectly fluent in both French and English.
Sophia knows like 2 words of Greek. We thought she was bilingual but yesterday she went back to day are after having the summer off and refused to speak French all day. She understands but refuses to use it. Ugh.

I wish I knew the answer to all this.

[Deleted]

Aug 26, 2014 10:04:14 GMT -5 Serenity9 said:

I don't have any kids myself, but with 3 languages it can be confusing for kids to understand which words belong to which language. A lot of kids respond well to visual learning, so maybe if you spend time teaching them words, if you're speaking Spanish, wear a blue hat; if you're speaking Arabic, wear a red hat; if you're speaking English, wear a green hat. Or give them a matching game with vocabulary words written in the three languages and a poster board with Red, Blue, and Green columns for the different languages, and they try to match up which words are which languages/colors.

OMG re the hats.  Is this really a thing?

[Deleted]

There is no need to teach your children English.

That will happen in school and from simply being in an English-speaking country.

[tinybride]

Aug 26, 2014 11:21:53 GMT -5 papie said:

I fail so bad at this. The plan was I would speak Greek, we speak English as a family and they go to French daycare/school. H does not speak Greek. He speaks French but it isn't natural for him. And we live in a very English neighborhood.

Well Anna understands Greek and speaks a bit, and is perfectly fluent in both French and English.
Sophia knows like 2 words of Greek. We thought she was bilingual but yesterday she went back to day are after having the summer off and refused to speak French all day. She understands but refuses to use it. Ugh.

I wish I knew the answer to all this.

We've been bad about this too. I keep having to remind myself and DH. I need to just plaster signs around the house to remind myself. The girls have a big advantage here if we can just get our act together.

[Deleted]

From my research and experience one parent, one language is the best. I would focus on strictly speaking Spanish and Arabic. Your kids will learn English other places.

[Deleted]

Aug 26, 2014 10:04:14 GMT -5 Serenity9 said:

I don't have any kids myself, but with 3 languages it can be confusing for kids to understand which words belong to which language. A lot of kids respond well to visual learning, so maybe if you spend time teaching them words, if you're speaking Spanish, wear a blue hat; if you're speaking Arabic, wear a red hat; if you're speaking English, wear a green hat. Or give them a matching game with vocabulary words written in the three languages and a poster board with Red, Blue, and Green columns for the different languages, and they try to match up which words are which languages/colors.

What? I've honestly Never heard this hat thing. I've known parents who do one parent one language without hats and it works perfectly.

[Serenity9]

No the hat "thing" isn't a "thing." I was just trying to come up with ways to make it into visual learning that would make it easier for the kids to understand.

[Deleted]

They don't need no stinking hats.

[auntie]

Aug 26, 2014 12:33:15 GMT -5 Serenity9 said:

No the hat "thing" isn't a "thing." I was just trying to come up with ways to make it into visual learning that would make it easier for the kids to understand.

Learning a language isn't really a visual skill until they start reading.

My niece's late boyfriend's dad only ever spoke to him and his younger brother in Italian. Mom understands Italian but isn't fluent. Convos take place in both languages at the same time. Dinner is interesting. 

As toddlers they sometimes borrowed words and even combined words, but they had it sorted out pretty quickly.

[LLL]

My kids are exposed to English, French and German at home. H speaks German almost exclusively to DD and French almost exclusively to DS (I dunno why, he's weird like that). They both understand and respond in English with a little bit of French or German thrown in there. I don't speak German but I try to speak to them in French. 

[lilles]

Please don't do the hat thing. I know Serenity was trying to be helpful but don't. We do the one parent one language approach. I speak to them in Spanish all the time and have since they were born and DH does the same in English. DH and I speak in English to each other. For situations like yours where there are three languages and on of them is the majority language (English) the recommendation in your case would be for you to speak to them in Spanish all the time, your DH in Arabic all the time and then you and DH speak English to each other. They will pick up English from that exposure and of course from school and daily interactions with English speakers.

You should read Raising a Bilingual Child by Barbara Zuer Pearson

Be Bilingual - Practical Ideas for Multilingual Families by Annika Bourgogne

[tinybride]

Thanks for the book recommendations. I'll look into them.

[fryjack2]

Aug 26, 2014 10:15:19 GMT -5 tinybride said:

That's what I was starting to figure out, that I should just worry about the Spanish part and let DH focus on Arabic. It would probably help me learn more as well if he would speak it more. He sometimes plays Arabic nursery rhymes on YouTube for them and they hear it just about every other weekend when we visit his family, but he's not with them as much as me since he works a lot and I'm with them all day.

Youtube Hala Turk.  My boys LOVE her. 

I speak Arabic 75% of the time to the boys.  H only speaks English (only language he knows), and I also speak some French but don't to the boys.  

When I was little, we lived in Germany.  My dad spoke to us in Arabic, my mom spoke to us in English, and we heard German from everyone else and took lessons for years when we got back to the States.  It made learning French easier later. 

My fear is that the boys will understand Arabic, but not speak it.  As it is they have some words they say to me in Arabic, but usually they respond in English.  My cousins understand Arabic but sound like foreigners when they speak it

[fryjack2]

Aug 26, 2014 10:04:14 GMT -5 Serenity9 said:

I don't have any kids myself, but with 3 languages it can be confusing for kids to understand which words belong to which language. A lot of kids respond well to visual learning, so maybe if you spend time teaching them words, if you're speaking Spanish, wear a blue hat; if you're speaking Arabic, wear a red hat; if you're speaking English, wear a green hat. Or give them a matching game with vocabulary words written in the three languages and a poster board with Red, Blue, and Green columns for the different languages, and they try to match up which words are which languages/colors.

What? No. 

I mean, what language are they going to use when they encounter someone who isn't wearing a hat?  Sorry, not a good idea.

[Serenity9]

Zomg people! She asked for advice from people who speak 3 languages. I do. This is how I keep things straight in my head. I associate words in the various languages with colors so that I don't mix up my vocabulary from various romance languages or whatever. I said I don't have kids. I never claimed to be a kid expert. This is just my personal experience of how to keep various languages straight without mixing up my vocabulary. Color coding helps. It has nothing to do with hats.

[papie]

Has anyone tried Dino Lingo? I'm this close to ordering their $160 learn Greek set for my kids. Desperation.

[papie]

Aug 26, 2014 14:51:55 GMT -5 Serenity9 said:

Zomg people! She asked for advice from people who speak 3 languages. I do. This is how I keep things straight in my head. I associate words in the various languages with colors so that I don't mix up my vocabulary from various romance languages or whatever. I said I don't have kids. I never claimed to be a kid expert. This is just my personal experience of how to keep various languages straight without mixing up my vocabulary. Color coding helps. It has nothing to do with hats.

I actually find it super interesting that you associate languages with colours! I don't, but I use a different voice in my head for each language.

[woodenshoes]

We are also using "one parent, one language" and it seems to be working well so far. I speak English to DS and H talks to him in Dutch. DS is only 13 months old but he will often respond appropriately with gestures to questions asked in either language.

We live in the Netherlands and the official advice here is for each parent to speak to their child in their native language. If neither parent has Dutch as a native language, the advice is to still speak your native language at home as your child will learn Dutch from school, friends, neighbors, etc.

ETA: Sorry, I know this is for those teaching three languages but I think you should follow the advice of those who said you should speak Spanish, your husband Arabic, and let school and the general community teach English. I have also read that the languages get jumbled in the beginning but that the children sort it all out before long.

[Deleted]

She isn't even talking yet, and we've already resigned ourselves to the fact that it's unlikely she'll know three or four languages. No matter how many languages we speak, we don't speak the same ones (and only speak to each other in English), and neither of us is home during the day, speaking to her. The best we can hope for is that she picks up Mandarin from the nanny.

Kudos to all of you who are fighting the good fight. LOL.