Recently a question in the Ask an Expert column really grabbed my attention since the writer wanted to know if she should speak a language to her child that was not her mother tongue. The main concern being that her daughter would not be getting much native input in this second language.
This article really made me stop and think because I have been speaking to my sons exclusively in Spanish since the day they were born, and I am not by definition a native speaker. The more I thought about it, I wondered, who exactly is a native speaker?
After reading a variety of different definitions, I was still confused. Wikipedia states, “a first language (also native language, mother tongue, arterial language, or L1), is the language(s) a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best…” Clearly, I am not by definition a native, speaker but my husband, who speaks to our children in German, is. His mother is German and that was his first language. So he does fit the definition of being a native speaker, but he will be the first to admit that since he grew up in the United States, English is his dominant language.
I must admit that prior to embarking on the adventure of raising bilingual children my main concern was that my husband and I would both be using our weaker languages to communicate with our children. While I have been studying and speaking Spanish for over twenty years, I did not start learning Spanish until I was sixteen. My husband grew up speaking German with his mother, but English is his stronger language. To allay my fears, I did a lot of research on the topic of speaking to children in a non-native language. My biggest concern being that by not speaking to our children in our more dominant language, we would be hindering their linguistic development.
Fortunately, I read many books and academic literature on the matter and found supportive websites such as SpanglishBaby.com that have helped me see that I would not harm my children by speaking to them in a non-native language. We have been using Spanish and German with our boys since they were born. Now that the boys are older, it is obvious that we made the right decision. Both boys are trilingual. The children can effortlessly change languages and will even translate for me. It has sometimes been a challenge, but hearing our sons speak fluently in different languages has rewarded the efforts.
The benefits have not just been for our children though; my husband and I have discovered that we greatly improved in our own language skills. With all of the recent research showing the advantages of being an active bilingual, it is clear that the benefits have been for all of us.
If you are not a native speaker, or if your English is stronger than your second language, don’t be afraid to pass on the gift of another language to your children. It might be awkward and challenging at first, but with time and practice, it will much be easier. Giving your child the ability to speak a second language is one of the best gifts you can give to them and yourself.
Share: What has been your greatest challenge in teaching your child a minority language?
Great post Susan!
This is another excellent post to support teaching our kids a second, third language. Until I started reading some of the parents’ experiences here on this blog, I thought I was the only person married to a non Spanish speaker who was trying to teach Spanish to their kids.
The posts here really raise awareness in addition to lending support to bilingual parents. And , I’m posting this one on FB.
I moved to Puerto Rico with a good foundation in the Spanish language thanks to mom and dad who wanted us to be bilingual. I am a new mom and I speak both English and Spanish to my daughter. Since we live in Puerto Rico the probability of someone speaking English to her is going to be slim but that is what I am there for. Thanks for writing this post. Most people around me think that if we speak both languages our daughter will get confused. Of course these are the same people that only speak one language.