Anyone here learn to read two languages at the same time

[lilles]

when you were little? What was your experience if you remember and at what age did you start to read them?

[Deleted]

Uh, I learned to read music at the same time as I learned to read English. But I don't think that's what you're talking about :-)

Sadly, I learned English grammar at the same time as I learned Spanish grammar, and that wasn't until I started taking Spanish in 9th grade (so about age 13-14).

[anna7602]

I did not learn to read in Spanish until many years after I learned to read in English, sorry.

[Deleted]

French and English were both mandatory when I was in grade school so I learnt them at the same time. When I got into high school Latin and Spanish were also added. Everything went smoothly with French, English and Spanish; Latin's grammar, on the other hand, was hard, but at least there was no conversation involved

[Deleted]

Oh, I missed your age question... I started French and English at age 11.

[blushing]

I learnt English and Afrikaans at the same time. You start them in grade 1 in South Africa. I finished high school by doing both first language. My english is better now because I have not had to use Afrikaans for about a decade, but I can still read it and fully understand it. Its just that when I speak it now I have a 'heavy' english accent. There are still words I don't know in English though. Afrikaans is a very expressive language though. Its pretty awesome.

[lilles]

Thanks for the responses. My DD's Kindergaten teacher wants her to learn how to read in English first and then start with the Spanish (which I would teach her) while I feel she can learn both at the same time like I did when I was little. It is very frustrating because she wants me to stop teaching DD how to read in Spanish for now until she is at a certain level with her English reading and I feel it is wasting time.

[anna7602]

Oct 31, 2013 20:06:45 GMT -5 lilles said:

Thanks for the responses. My DD's Kindergaten teacher wants her to learn how to read in English first and then start with the Spanish (which I would teach her) while I feel she can learn both at the same time like I did when I was little. It is very frustrating because she wants me to stop teaching DD how to read in Spanish for now until she is at a certain level with her English reading and I feel it is wasting time.

We've had some issues going from a romance language to English. They're not insurmountable, but I'm not an educator and don't feel capable in enough to handle all the explanations/leaps. DD started learning basic phonics/reading in France. Going from school reading in French to home reading in Spanish was no problem. But now that she's going to school in English, it's a whole new ball game. Things like double letters in English and the letters "h," "e" and "i" specifically were confusing her compared to Spanish and French. In addition, I find that school here really focuses a lot on sight recognition of certain common words (such as "the") rather than the ma-me-mi-mo-mu approach of her Spanish reading books. I'm sure DD could master both if I knew what the heck I was doing, but I don't. So, I am letting her get things sorted out with English reading first and then we'll go back to Spanish. 

I have zero idea how I will teach her to read in French. 

[Deleted]

Oct 31, 2013 20:06:45 GMT -5 lilles said:

Thanks for the responses. My DD's Kindergaten teacher wants her to learn how to read in English first and then start with the Spanish (which I would teach her) while I feel she can learn both at the same time like I did when I was little. It is very frustrating because she wants me to stop teaching DD how to read in Spanish for now until she is at a certain level with her English reading and I feel it is wasting time.

Is reading Spanish interfering with her progress in reading English?  As long as she is progressing in both, then I don't see a problem with learning both at the same time.  Others have mentioned having specific delineations with languages (like only reading English with Mom, and Spanish with Dad, or whatever) that help kids form boundaries in their minds between the two languages, which seems to avoid confusion over pronunciation, grammar, etc.   

If the Spanish is interfering with her English, then it might make sense to wait a little bit on the Spanish and she how she gets on.

[blushing]

I know that there are people on this board that disagree with me, but when I was studying teaching we were taught that children need to establish their first language before learning a second language. This can cause problems if the first language is not fully established first. I am a prime example if this, I stutter occasionally, there are some words I struggle to pronounce in English and there are certain words I just don't know in English.

[potatopie]

Nov 1, 2013 4:08:09 GMT -5 blushing said:

I know that there are people on this board that disagree with me, but when I was studying teaching we were taught that children need to establish their first language before learning a second language. This can cause problems if the first language is not fully established first. I am a prime example if this, I stutter occasionally, there are some words I struggle to pronounce in English and there are certain words I just don't know in English.

This is still the theory I learned in my Masters courses. Most schools here in SA do not introduce a second language until third grade.

I think the difference would be if it's first language and second language vs. being raised bilingually. DS will be using two languages at home, though his reading and writing of one will be informal. We'll read books to him in English and Italian, so I assume he'll start trying to read both when he reaches that stage of development. But i don't think i'd introduce a new language at that age.

If you're already using Spanish at home then i'd do whatever you feel your LO can handle.

[lilles]

She is fully bilingual in English and Spanish My DH speaks/reads to her in English and I do it in Spanish. Anna7602-we were working on the ma-me-mi-mo-mu approach in Spanish and that is what the teacher wants me to stop doing. To me DD is doing fine considering she is bilingual and had attended on year of German Kindergarten (although they didn't teach her to read in German) before starting American Kindergarten this fall. Her school is big on sight words too. I think she can handle it and feel the teacher just wants her to not have any mix ups like the letters "h," "e" and "i", etc. I also read to them in French and Italian but will hold off teaching them to read in those languages for now since English and Spanish are the most important to us.

[anna7602]

Nov 1, 2013 14:54:26 GMT -5 lilles said:

She is fully bilingual in English and Spanish My DH speaks/reads to her in English and I do it in Spanish. Anna7602-we were working on the ma-me-mi-mo-mu approach in Spanish and that is what the teacher wants me to stop doing. To me DD is doing fine considering she is bilingual and had attended on year of German Kindergarten (although they didn't teach her to read in German) before starting American Kindergarten this fall. Her school is big on sight words too. I think she can handle it and feel the teacher just wants her to not have any mix ups like the letters "h," "e" and "i", etc. I also read to them in French and Italian but will hold off teaching them to read in those languages for now since English and Spanish are the most important to us.

I think it would be worth talking to the teacher about her method so you can understand it better and see how what you're doing at home can be complimentary, rather than antagonistic to her efforts. 

It also depends on how motivated your child is. DD is exhausted by the time she has been to school all day and done her homework, so it has been relatively easy for me to just put a hold on what we were doing over the summer. If she starts to seem more motivated, I will be more proactive about finding out exactly what method they're doing at school and find resources to help her navigate between beginning to read in both languages successfully. But, I also take my own case into account and think that I read equally well in both languages even though I started reading in Spanish later than in English (even though I started speaking both languages at the same time). 

[potatopie]

Interesting article about raising children bilingually: www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201309/how-early-second-language

Essentially says that younger is not necessarily better for learning a second language.

Here's the conclusion:

The authors conclude their analysis by stating that older learners have the potential to learn a second language to a very high level of competency and that introducing a second language to very young learners cannot be justified on grounds of biological readiness to learn languages.

As for introducing a second language in the home in order to allow a child to become bilingual, the important factors, at whatever age, are the need for the new language, as well as the amount and type of language input the child receives, the role of the family and the school, and the prevailing attitudes toward the language and the culture in question, and toward bilingualism as such.

And so the next time we read or hear that to reap the full benefits of bilingualism, the earlier you start the child's exposure to a second language, such as in infancy, the better it is, let's keep in mind that the majority of bilingual children start monolingually, and only begin acquiring their second language after a few years such as when they enter school or, later, in their adolescence (see here). And yet they become fully functioning bilinguals. There is no age limit to entering the world of bilingualism; it can take place at any time.

[potatopie]

Nov 5, 2013 5:34:20 GMT -5 @blessed said:

Interesting. This gives me hope that I'll at least be somewhat functional with my french over the next few years even though I started learning at 28.

Anyway, I agree with the article that being bilingual can happen at any age, but isn't it easier the younger you are? For example, how long does it take a 4 year old to master 100 new vocab words vs a 24 year old? Or how long does it take a 4 year old vs a 24 year old to think in another language? Just random questions that I think about

Learning languages has always fascinated me.

I think they said that anything before 12 is the best. so it is true that young children learn better. I guess it was more about the fact that you don't have learn from infancy.