I am open-minded about the fact that the experiences I share with my baby will leave a good impression….the thing is my perspective has never been English-only….nor was it my parents…and there really does exist this notion among my Latino peers and family about being able to say things with the accent that is common in our circle…in our family…I can’t just dismiss it…its there and its a very real experience. Now should I fixate on which items I should or shouldn’t buy…naaa and I wont.

I dont know Beth….I believe many other Chicana or American raised Latinos feel the same way….except they may want to say with their family’s accent…be it Cuban or Argentine or Mexican.

Dont get me wrong I dont judge people based on their accent (just toys ha ha) no seriously….it is just something that has been a constant fixture in my life as a first generation born and raised Latina in the US.

I recall multiple times when native Spanish-speakers have told me that my accent (when speaking their native language) is perfecto. They marvel at a blonde-hair, blue-eyed Irish/Greek gal who can roll her r’s and speak their language with the fluidity of a native-born Chilena (I lived in Chile for a while and learned their dialect). However, when I produce our CDs and DVDs I make sure to enunciate the words in both English and Spanish – perhaps that is the separated sounding mo-rah-do you hear in the toy you mention. Speaking at the rapid clip that many Spanish speakers tend to do would never allow for acquisition of the words.

To Yvonne’s comment, with more than 60 dialects within the Spanish language what constitutes an ‘authentic’ accent? My Cuban friends speak differently than my Puerto Rican ones who speak differently than people born in Ecuador, Argentina, Spain and so forth.

Each family will choose their target language and dialect in the end, and that is what counts to them, their children and their heritage. I applaud toy-makers, entrepreneurs such as myself for trying to create fun bridges between any languages, always entering into the venture knowing you cannot make every person happy as a customer.

I will end this reply with a mention of the book titled The Bilingual Edge by two moms who happen to be raising their own children to know multiple languages plus they are Ph.D.s in linguistics. They give hope to monolingual parents who are trying to introduce 2nd and 3rd languages by emphasizing that being a native speaker of the new language is not as important as is the interaction during the learning.

I hope Suzanne that you and every parent who is aware enough and open-minded enough to raise children knowing more than one language will shed the worry of “I don’t sound native enough” or “That accent is too thick” or “I’ll never be able to say that word correctly to my toddler” and rejoice in the fact that the next generation of children will no longer hold onto an English-only mentality.

¡Gracias a Dios!