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female
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anonymous
writes: Hello, I need some thought and expert opinions.I have a baby girl and she will be turning 2 in October, and she says some words here and there and recognises the different words and sounds and actions, so the norm for a two year old.My current situation is, that we are Italians living abroad, and our heritage is very important to us, and my husband and I have found that we are not sure which language we should be speaking to her and teaching her in, at the moment we speak Italian, and English at home but when we chat with our daughter we're doing it in Italian, and I'm concerned that when she is in pre-school that she'll struggle with her first language being English? Are we doing the wrong thing, as I would like her to speak and understand both.What would you recon is the better language to teach her in at her age?Much Appreciated Reply to this Question
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reader, Rainee  +, writes (8 July 2006):
 While the answers here are supportive and accurate, you must be careful as well - you say you're living abroad, but where? If in America, you have to watch out for the schools. In some schools, if there is even a hint that the child is speaking another language at home, they will stick the child in ESL classes (English as a second language) where children often get mired for years at a time. They're so non-effective that children usually end up behind their peers with no real way of catching up. My sister is a speech-pathologist and often complains of the stupidity of the situation.
This by no means is an endorsement for english-only, though. Raising your child bi-ligual will put her at an advantage all through her life - she will be smarter as a child, and with more job and social opportunities when she's older.
Don't worry about confusing her. Childrens' brains develop rapidly and now is actually the best time to expose your child another langauge; she'll absorb the information better than any adult can because, just as everyone says, kids are like sponges.
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female
reader, Bev Conolly  +, writes (7 July 2006):
 My neice's carer for a time was Mexican-American, and at the age of two my niece was speaking fluent Spanish, as well as excellent English.
She learned quickly to ask visitors whether they 'habla Espanol', and to converse in whichever language was most comfortable for that person. Not bad for a toddler! ;-)
My point (besides a proud auntie's bragging) is that kids are marvellously elastic, and learn languages as easily as breathing. Speak both languages to her, but ensure that she gets exposure to the other that you want her to understand, either through media, visitors or school so she remains familiar with both.
I doubt she'll struggle; in fact, she'll thrive.
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female
reader, DrPsych  +, writes (7 July 2006):
 Bi-lingualism should be encouraged at home because research shows that children raised in multiple language environments do better academically than their one language peers. Lots of parents get worried about confusing their children, but your daughters brain is still developing for language and it is important that you expose her to opportunities to learn language at home (any language) as this helps enormously when she starts school. At her age, her brain is very receptive to learning languages. Indeed, from the age of two it is important that she hears conversations in English and Italian, but she will also be exposed to English via other sources (visitors, TV etc). Like research has shown that bilingual children have an educational advantage, children who speak only one of their languages at home and another at school are disadvantaged for reading and literacy later on in their school careers. When she is in pre-school she will learn her own ways of communicating with children so try not to worry. She will soon learn that she needs to speak English to get what she wants from other children, but this shouldn't be a reason to stop speaking Italian at home.
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reader, Yos  +, writes (7 July 2006):
 I live in Amsterdam with many ex-pat friends with kids. Generally they all speak their native language at home, whilst their kids speak dutch at school. All of the kids are fluent bi-lingual in their native languages and Dutch. Some of these children started at Dutch schools speaking no Dutch and all have picked up the language incredibly quickly. A three or four year old it seems can be having conversations with other kids within just a few weeks of initial exposure to their language (I wish we kept the ability to do that as we get older).
So based on this I would suggest you stick to Italian at home (at least most of the time) and let her pick up English once she starts interacting with other English speaking children.
Either way, she'll be better off than most Italians who seem to have a rather poor grasp of other languages :P
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