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how does it work with 2 languages?

Skrivet av Olivia\'s mamma
Our little girl speaks only swedish, she is only 22 months, but she talks all the time,sings songs etc. I just feel so disappointed she doesn\'t speak to me in my mother tongue!!
Svar på tråden: how does it work with 2 languages?

long answer

Skrivet av  Steph
Do you consistently speak English with her and around her? No Swedish at all? That is important, she needs a consistent context such as a person or a place (i.e. the home) where English is used. I know that some children use their dominant language (Swedish here) while understanding both, and others use both depending on who they are talking to.
Persist in speaking English to her. You might try not giving her things if she asks in Swedish, until she repeats the request in English.
She is not old enough yet to understand that she is operating in 2 different languages, even though one of them is only hearing so far. At least old enough to show that she understands it. That usually comes around 2-4 yrs old.
Try to find other English speakers in your area and have get-togethers...play groups or fika or whatever, to increase the context where she hears and must speak English. This may help esp. if she learns that these people do not "understand" her Swedish, and in order to communicate she must use English. Hopefully, she will then connect these people also with English and will always use it when talking to them.
Other ideas: Get some CD\'s and sing songs with her in English, make it into a ritual...every evening before bed or something. Read to her English, especially point and ask books like Scarry, and ask her "what\'s that?" "what color is..." etc. Prompt English answers.
I don\'t know what else to tell you other than there is nothing unusual in that she uses Swedish rather than English. It is her dominant language and the lang. of her environment. I think that as she gets older and more aware of the two languages as being separate (which she already does really, since it doesn\'t sound like she is mixing them), she will start to speak more English. I studied linguistics in college so I am better at the linguistic aspects of this problem but have only just started to put it into practice (my little girl is 3 months) so I hope you get some practical advice from other parents here too! I am also interested in other people\'s experiences!
 

Brilliant answer, Steph.

Skrivet av  UKmum
You have said it all, really. :) However, there is one thing that could be added as regards young children and bilinguality. Firstly, does Olivia _understand_ English (simple commands, questions etc)? I felt a bit concerned myself a while ago since my then two and a half year old girl would not say a single word in Swedish, despite her obvious full understanding of the language. Rather alarmed ("lingua-holic" by nature, teacher by profession) I got in touch with a psychologist who managed to calm me down. And now, at long last, I will get to the point - sorry about the delay: according to the psych. (most) bilingual children _speak_ one language until they are three to five years of age; the language they speak is the dominating one, i.e. "the language they hear on TV etc", as the psychologist put it. :) The other language is at this stage dormant - children\'s brains seem to sort out the fact that they are possessing two languages in a most subconscious fashion. As soon as the "sorting out procedure" is finished, one might notice a sudden awakening of the second first language (or whatever we wish to call it) - but what we have to bear in mind is that consistency is of utmost importance from day one: all input is worthwhile.
 

Reply to Steph

Skrivet av  Julie
Olivia does understand English and has absolutely no problem performing simple tasks. I\'m just going to have to be patient and give her lots of support and keep up reading and exposing her to as much english as possible.

I\'m really grateful for your reply and it has certainly helped me calm down and given me something to think about.
 

Thank you

Skrivet av  Julie
At last some sound advice. I cannot thank you enough. I have been speaking english to Olivia since she was born. However, due to the fact that I have actually been learning swedish myself we have spoken only swedish at home! However, my husband and I have now started speaking english at home too as someone from Olivia\'s nursery recommended that we do so. Just recently though she has started saying the odd thing in english at nursery, which I\'m really pleased about. I don\'t have any english speaking friends and it\'s not so often we have visitors from the UK or that we visit either. However, I do read to Olivia english books and she has a couple of tweenies videos. We do not watch TV as we read more but she likes the english videos and the songs they sing, which is a positive sign. I\'ve tried asking on this site about meeting up with other bilingual families but unfortunately not had a good response.
I\'m going to try out some of your tips when I read to her. Thank you once again for a very helpful response. Best of luck with your own little girl.
 

Julia!

Skrivet av  Kerstin m Björn
I haven\'t been here in quite some time. I saw your disappointment in the lack of response for english speaking friends. Where do you live? I live in Oskarshamn, married to a Brit and we speak mostly english at home, even though he is learning swedish and we _should_ speak swedish so he could learn faster... :) But after a full days work/swedishclasses, his ears are sore (or so he says).

He speaks english with our son (10 months old) but uses swedish words here and there.

Anyway, question was, where do you live? We live in Oskarshamn, on the southeast coast. If you live somewhere near here, you are more than welcome for a visit!

But I don\'t think there are many native english speakers around here, though. I will probably have the same problem with Björn when he grows up, as I want him to fully learn and use his fathers tongue as well as swedish.

Have a great day!

(Anyone else living in my area, please feel free to email me!)
 

Thanks Kerstin

Skrivet av  Julie
We live in Mölndal on the westcoast unfortunately! Thanks for your mail. It\'s really nice to hear what other people say and see how it works in practice.

I\'m surprised I\'ve not heard from other english people living here but never mind. I\'ll just have to coax my friends to speak a little english for a change!
 

Julie!

Skrivet av  Therese
I´m a twin mum living just outside Ängelhlom in Skåne. My husband is english (and he will now kill me for saying that since he is from Wales)and we speak english at home to our two kids. They have not yet started to speak, but we know that they understands both languges.Maybe we could meet up one day? It only takes about 2 hours to/from Gbg-Ängelholm.
Mail me: [email protected]
 

it works well...

Skrivet av  ki@
I\'m not a native English speaker, nor is my husband, but I know all about your problem since I am the Swede living in Denmark, surrounded by Danes and Danish.

My two sons, 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 are both perfect in understanding Danish and Swedish. I always speak Swedish with them, I even go as far as translating Danish books when reading to them, most songs we sing are Swedish etc etc.

My oldest son has until about a year ago been perfect in shifting languages - always Danish when talking to Danes, and always Swedish when talking to me or my parents etc. However, a year ago he swopped to Danish, and now he rarely speaks fluent Swedish with me, even though I can hear him putting Swedish words into his Danish when speaking to me (he never does that when speaking to Danes).

My youngest son mostly speaks Swedish words, however now he is beginning to make a difference when talking to people at "dagis", and using more Danish words.

My "trick" is to always repeat what they are saying - if it\'s in Danish - to Swedish, without being "schoolteacher like", but I\'m trying to give them the words they just used in Swedish.

Right now I am trying not to confuse my eldest regarding the numbers and the alphabet until he learns that properly in Danish.... But with that exception, I think my "philosophy" works very well - always always always in Swedish when I speak directly to my children, even though my husband or my children\'s friends are present.

Good luck with your daughter - I\'m sure she will turn out "native" in both languages, just give her time...
 

Looking back

Skrivet av  Papparic
You already have the key, patience. We exposed our kids (all 6 of them) to both Swedish and English and they, each in their own time and readiness, picked up both and used both.

We found certain areas that, in after thought, could have been handled slightly differently. Our kids never heard kitchen utensils referred to in English. I still don\'t have a good English word for visp (too similar) and spatula was never used (spatula never seemed to come up in polite conversation or at parties, lol)

Later, in school, some of the kids had trouble spelling correctly in english, but then, who doesn\'t.

Good luck!
 

Many thanks

Skrivet av  Julie
to everyone who has replied to my little mail. I\'m overwhelmed by the replies and really pleased to see that with time and patience it will actually work out with two languages.

It\'s a shame I haven\'t had any replies from english speakers who\'d like to meet up though. Who live nearer than Kerstin!

I wonder what you think of the fact that I\'m also thinking of applying for Olivia to attend an english school eventually. There is one here in Göteborg that teaches 50% english 50% swedish. Although I\'m not sure that is selfish as it feels it\'s more for my benefit than hers. If all her friends live near us and go to the local school!?
 

Won\'t she make friends in the new school?

Skrivet av  Tina
I\'m an english speaker who lives in Gothenburg, although I don\'t have any kids of my own - yet. My husband has a son of eight and we\'ve talked about starting a family of our own pretty soon.
I explained to him that I plan on speaking english to our child/ren, which he was pleased to hear. He\'s already talking about enrolling our child/ren in an English nursery!
I really don\'t think it will be much of a problem for Olivia, unless she really doesn\'t want to do it. In my experience, being bilingual is brilliant, and makes life a lot easier. I seem to remember reading somewhere that it\'s easier for bilingual children to learn a third language...
Oh, and I\'d love to meet - but as I said, I have no kids of my own (I don\'t know if that\'s required ;o))
 

No that\'ts not a prerequisite!

Skrivet av  Julie
Hi Tina,
Thanks for your reply. I think you are right, she will make friends in a new school too, I just wonder how she will feel being away from her little friends she\'s known from being so very young.
I know you say you have no children "yet", however, I\'d love to meet up with you. I miss speaking english and it would be lovely to have someone else who is in the same situation to chat with. You can mail me at work on [email protected], if you\'d like and we can try make arrangements.