Carolina Crete wrote:

WeddingConsultant wrote:

I took three semesters of Greek in college for my major (which was sort of a religious studies major and a minor in Bible)...

And I'm finishing up my first semester of Biblical languages for my Master's degree (Master of Arts in Theology).  That class has included both Greek and Hebrew.  Again it's all ancient Greek and Hebrew, so it's of little communicative value to me!

Much of Modern Greek is based on Ancient Greek and you'd be surprised at how much of today's Greek written word you'd be able to understand! Speaking (pronunciation) is rather different though, so harder.

Thank you, I always wondered how similar they were!

CotterHUE wrote:

That's really interesting.  My daughter, who is about 18 months, is learning English and Japanese without a problem.  She'll be bilingual, but one language will eventually become the dominant language because of school, her peers, etc.  Assuming my wife and I continue to live in Japan, it will be Japanese.  As an English educator, it's interesting to watch language acquisition.

I'll take a guess and say that eventually, your daughters will be most fluent in French, then Spanish, and lastly English.  They are using and interacting in French most of the time, next Spanish.  From your initial post, it sounds like English gets the least practice.

Yes it is very interesting to see how children acquire language.  It seems to be so natural for them.

You are right, the dominant language is French as we need to explain the meaning of the words in French to her if she encounters a new word! 

Spanish is the second fluent language. But I think it is only because Spanish is a phonetic language which makes it easier to read and write.

Princessa wrote:

WeddingConsultant wrote:

Teaching multiple languages is something that I think American schools are bad at.  I have family living in Europe and they all speak at least two more languages than me, and I think it's a little sad.  It's sad on my part that I don't know how to speak any other languages and it's sad that schools here in America don't do a better job of teaching languages.  It's typically 2-3 years of Spanish and you've passed your language requirements for your life!  I wish we'd do a better job of that here...

I think it is easier to learn a second language in Europe because the countries are so small and in some places like Switzerland and Belgium, the population is so diverse that you end up learning the "other's" language. 

Yes, that surely does help.

I think another part of the problem is that children brought up in America know English is the "most widely spoken" language in the world.  And as much as I understand where people are coming from with that statement, over 1 billion people speak Mandarin!  So although English is spoken in the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and other countries and it's the standard language in aviation, etc. Mandarin is really the "more widely spoken" language!

WeddingConsultant wrote:

Princessa wrote:

WeddingConsultant wrote:

Teaching multiple languages is something that I think American schools are bad at.  I have family living in Europe and they all speak at least two more languages than me, and I think it's a little sad.  It's sad on my part that I don't know how to speak any other languages and it's sad that schools here in America don't do a better job of teaching languages.  It's typically 2-3 years of Spanish and you've passed your language requirements for your life!  I wish we'd do a better job of that here...

I think it is easier to learn a second language in Europe because the countries are so small and in some places like Switzerland and Belgium, the population is so diverse that you end up learning the "other's" language. 

Yes, that surely does help.

I think another part of the problem is that children brought up in America know English is the "most widely spoken" language in the world.  And as much as I understand where people are coming from with that statement, over 1 billion people speak Mandarin!  So although English is spoken in the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, and other countries and it's the standard language in aviation, etc. Mandarin is really the "more widely spoken" language!

Yeah... that might explain why it is becoming more and more fashionable to learn Chinese around here!

It is annoying when English speakers expect everybody doesn't matter where, to speak English.  I have met English people living in Spain for more than 10 years and not being able to speak more than a handful of words in Spanish!   

I have notice that they try to do the same in France with less success because although they might speak English the French will refuse to speak to you in English if they don't see that you make at least an effort to speak French.

haha I wonder what Mark Knowles thinks of that comment.

From what my dad tells me, that's true that the French will refuse to speak to you in English for the reasons you mentioned.  When he's flown over there he's ran into the same problem.

I must say, though, that there are South and Central Americans who come into this country and refuse to learn English as well!  So I know what you mean- it's important to at least attempt to learn the language of the country you're in, especially if you've been there 10+ years!

Princessa wrote:

WeddingConsultant wrote:

Teaching multiple languages is something that I think American schools are bad at.  I have family living in Europe and they all speak at least two more languages than me, and I think it's a little sad.  It's sad on my part that I don't know how to speak any other languages and it's sad that schools here in America don't do a better job of teaching languages.  It's typically 2-3 years of Spanish and you've passed your language requirements for your life!  I wish we'd do a better job of that here...

I think it is easier to learn a second language in Europe because the countries are so small and in some places like Switzerland and Belgium, the population is so diverse that you end up learning the "other's" language. 

I agree that Europeans have a much easier time learning more than one language because the practicality is so obvious.  Despite the well-meant efforts of schools and education experts, kids who see less of a need for or have less of an interest in a foreign language won't make the effort beyond the basic stages.  The early stages are fun and exciting, after all.  It takes a lot more work to progress beyond the vocabulary and grammar of a three year old.

A new member actually wrote a hub on raising bi-lingual children.  I thought I'd post it as some of you might find it interesting:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Raising-Bilingual-Children

WeddingConsultant wrote:

A new member actually wrote a hub on raising bi-lingual children.  I thought I'd post it as some of you might find it interesting:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Raising-Bilingual-Children

Thanks, I'll have a look.

WeddingConsultant wrote:

Carolina Crete wrote:

WeddingConsultant wrote:

I took three semesters of Greek in college for my major (which was sort of a religious studies major and a minor in Bible)...

And I'm finishing up my first semester of Biblical languages for my Master's degree (Master of Arts in Theology).  That class has included both Greek and Hebrew.  Again it's all ancient Greek and Hebrew, so it's of little communicative value to me!

Much of Modern Greek is based on Ancient Greek and you'd be surprised at how much of today's Greek written word you'd be able to understand! Speaking (pronunciation) is rather different though, so harder.

Thank you, I always wondered how similar they were!

Any idea about German and Dutch?

Trilingual. multilingual.. I'm too am schooling my boys in more then 2 languages. My elder boy ( 4 yr old) is able to understand 3 main languages- English, Chinese and Cantonese.. and now we are starting him on Japanese.

the younger boy ( 16mth) understands and reponses to 3 languages too .
Am presenting doing an in depth study on how to make sure that they do not mix up the grammar and sentance structure when they writing.


I intend to teach them French & German also once they can master these 4 languages.

Trilingual. multilingual.. I'm too am schooling my boys in more then 2 languages. My elder boy ( 4 yr old) is able to understand 3 main languages- English, Chinese and Cantonese.. and now we are starting him on Japanese.

the younger boy ( 16mth) understands and reponses to 3 languages too .
Am presenting doing an in depth study on how to make sure that they do not mix up the grammar and sentance structure when they writing.


I intend to teach them French & German also once they can master these 4 languages.

Princessa wrote:

Did you grow up learning three languages at the same time?  My children 6 and 3 are learning English-Spanish and French at the same time.  They seem to be coping very well but I would like to hear about people who has done the same.

I, myself learn 4 languages at a time. My mother tongue is Hindi,whereas I was residing in West Bengal & studied in a Bengali medium school where I have been taught English as a second language. My grand mother used to read Gujrati texts, thus I learnt Gujrati language simaltaneously just reciting with her. In this way I could learn 2 regional, a National and an international languages by the age 11.
Jyoti Kothari

This post interested me, as I live in Quebec, where many people speak several languages almost by default: French (dominant language in Quebec), English (dominant language in Canada), and often the mother tongue of the immigrant culture they come from (Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Arabic being the largest contenders; Greek too I believe is up there also...)

DominiqueGoh wrote:

Trilingual. multilingual.. I'm too am schooling my boys in more then 2 languages. My elder boy ( 4 yr old) is able to understand 3 main languages- English, Chinese and Cantonese.. and now we are starting him on Japanese.

the younger boy ( 16mth) understands and reponses to 3 languages too .
Am presenting doing an in depth study on how to make sure that they do not mix up the grammar and sentance structure when they writing.


I intend to teach them French & German also once they can master these 4 languages.

Amazing! 
Do not worry too much, children sort themselves out without even knowing how.  The most important thing is to create the need for the language that you want them to use.  If they feel a need to use that language, they will master it no problem. 

Good luck!

DominiqueGoh wrote:

Trilingual. multilingual.. I'm too am schooling my boys in more then 2 languages. My elder boy ( 4 yr old) is able to understand 3 main languages- English, Chinese and Cantonese.. and now we are starting him on Japanese.

the younger boy ( 16mth) understands and reponses to 3 languages too .
Am presenting doing an in depth study on how to make sure that they do not mix up the grammar and sentance structure when they writing.


I intend to teach them French & German also once they can master these 4 languages.

Learning three languages is enough. If you teach them many languages they may never use in their daily lives is just a waste of a lot of effort and a lot of time. If English, Mandarin, and Cantonese are the only languages that you usually use, then just teach them that. Learning multi languages won't make your boy more productive in the future. Try teaching him something that he can actually use in the long run.

I know 4 languages.

I started learning English in school around 10 years old. Then you learn Danish around 12 years old. Then when you turn 16 you have to choose another language, either German, Spanish or French. Even though I have only studied in school for a little time I already know Spanish very well because I was in Central-America for almost a year.

I know Icelandic (my language), English, Spanish and Danish.

magga wrote:

I know 4 languages.

I started learning English in school around 10 years old. Then you learn Danish around 12 years old. Then when you turn 16 you have to choose another language, either German, Spanish or French. Even though I have only studied in school for a little time I already know Spanish very well because I was in Central-America for almost a year.

I know Icelandic (my language), English, Spanish and Danish.

That sounds great.  I believe that being able to speak several languages opens up your perspectives.  It makes you more aware of other cultures and it keeps your brain working!

Princessa wrote:

I believe that being able to speak several languages opens up your perspectives.  It makes you more aware of other cultures and it keeps your brain working! 

I believe in that too, Princessa. I miss to get back to that situation as I'm back to my dull, crowded and stressing city of Jakarta. Wow, this discussion is getting merrier

dina

If the local dialect in the region where I am from, my country's national language and English count as three languages, then I must be trilingual!  Learning three different languages at the same time can be quite confusing and I must say it had been quite confusing growing up being exposed to different tongues.  However, I must say one of the advantages of learning different languages while still young is that you will be able to do "code switching" faster whenever you are exposed to the languages that you know and can speak.  I have noticed that those who grow up being exposed to different languages become more interested in more languages and some succeed in learning them! 

Young children are naturally curious and inquisitive; they are like sponges that just absorb almost anything you teach or expose to them and they tend to keep whatever they learn as they grow older.  I think it is better that they should be exposed to as many languages as possible and better help and guide them while they learn.


Check this article out!
http://daycare.suite101.com/article.cfm … _preschool

Interesting article Angelamp.
I do believe that as long as it exists a need for a speaking a language, children -or indeed ayone- will learn it fast and relatively easy.  The problem in learning a new language comes when it becomes artificial, I mean when you are forced to learn a language that you do not need to speak .