Something truly amazing happened yesterday! As I’ve mentioned before, Vanessa has been learning to read in school and I’m quite impressed by how well she’s doing and how quickly she’s perfecting her skills. Not to mention the truly incredible thing she’s doing by transferring those reading skills into Spanish all by herself.
Vanessa likes to read to her little brother, but last night, he chose a book in English and asked her to read it. She knows perfectly well that Santiago doesn’t speak English (which has been a great tool in making sure we continue to only speak Spanish at home, especially in light of the fact that English permeates the majority of her waking hours at school) so at first she said she couldn’t because it was in English. But he kept on insisting. And, out of nowhere and without even asking me, she started reading the short little book in English and translating it to Spanish for her 2-year-old brother!
At first, she would read one word and translate it into Spanish and then read another word and so on. But then, I explained to her that it was probably better to read the whole sentence and translate it in its entirety — not really knowing what to expect. I mean, the sentences were super short, but still, she’s 5 and she just started to learn how to read. I must admit, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it. To my surprise, she did and not once did she get something wrong! The power of my bilingual child’s brain at work! ¡Increíble!
Even though the majority of our books are in Spanish, we still have a few in English. Vanessa has seen me do the translating thing countless times and in the past used to ask me if a book was in Spanish or English. Now that she can read, she’s figuring it all out by herself. I’m just amazed at her capacity to do the translating so effortlessly and not make a big deal about it. I mean, her brother wanted her to read him that book and she figured out a way to do it!
I’m so incredibly proud of her that I just had to come here and share her accomplishment it with you!
In what kind of amazing ways have your bilingual children surprised you?
This is so cool, Roxana! These are the moments that remind us to sit back and relax, and just know that we have given our children the advantage of CHOICE. You’ve done a great job, and it sounds like Vanessa is a wonderful big sister.
Thanks, Chelsea! I’m really, really excited about this mostly because it was completely unexpected! And, yes, Vanessa is a great big sister… cuando quiere
Wow! That’s so cool! I’m hoping this will happen with my one yr old (speak only Spanish w her, but my 6 yr old only knows a few words)! That’s excellent- keeps me want to keep going, even though sometimes I feel doubtful since I’ve forgotten so much myself (I walk around w my cell and use translation websites sometimes). Some of my sentences end up like this, “Mira al rhinoceros!”!
Although I’m fully bilingual, there are always times when I don’t remember certain words in Spanish. I know it’s hard when it feels like you’ve forgotten a lot of your Spanish, but keep at it. You’re already doing the right thing by looking words up on your phone. Do you use Word Reference at all? It’s THE BEST translation tool on the web. I can’t begin to tell you how many times it’s saved me when I do professional translations: http://wordreference.com/
This is absolutely incredible. I would be beaming with pride! Sometimes translating while reading a book to my younger son is difficult for me and here she is a 5 year old just learning how to read and doing it – WOW!
I know, I’m totally beaming with pride!!! It is awesome and it just goes to show how incredible bilingualism really is!!!
Que bueno! Felicitaciones! Linda historia y que maravilla que tu hija pueda leer en ingles y en espaniol! =)
Gracias, Alicia! La verdad es que sí, es una maravilla que Vanessa esté leyendo en los dos idiomas! Pensé que iba a ser mucho más difícil, pero no ha sido así. Creo que ayuda un montón que le fascinan los libros!!
I love this Story. My daughter is turning three next month. And We speak at home in Spanish. But her church friends speak with her in English. So, She knows her ABC, numbers and color in both languages. She express better in English than Spanish. But We always ask to translate to Spanish whatever She days in English.
In my daughter’s case, I think she still expresses herself better in Spanish, but English is slowly, but surely taking over — just as expected now that she’s in school full-time. I clearly remember when the first time she translated what she’d overheard from English to Spanish. She was about 2 and I was completely in awe of her brain.
Aren’t bilingual kids just amazing?
Que buenísima historia!!!! Pero lo que más me encantó fue la foto..qué ternura!
Love that we can our children can be living proof of all that research that commends the benefits and flexibility of a bilingual mind. You´ve obviously done such an amazing job at creating an all-Spanish environment in your home (because it worked for your family, not for all) that Vanessa just doesn´t feel comfortable bringing the English in.
Eso es lo que más me gusta a mi de tener dos!!!
Yes, I think that what Vanessa did is the perfect example of how incredibly flexible bilingualism has made her! Vanessa uses English at home sporadically because she spends her entire day immersed in it in school. It totally helps that Santiago doesn’t speak English, but I wonder what will happen once he enters school and becomes just as bilingual as she is… Ya veremos… We have a long, long road ahead of us still…
I am always amazed by this ability in my boys. I’ll tell them to go tell Papi that dinner is ready in Spanish, and they will go and repeat exactly what I just said but in German. When my mom comes and stays, they regularly translate Spanish and German into English for her. I hope they don’t lose this amazing ability!
Ay, Susan! Maybe one day I’ll get my act together and stick to teach my kids French and then they can be trilingual like yours too!! I think that is truly, truly amazing!! I know I’ve told you a million times, but I have to do it again, I’m in awe of what you are doing for your boys!! Qué maravilla!!!
I know how proud you must feel Roxana! What an exciting and amazing bilingual milestone. My daughter Ariane has Autism and a speech delay. At school and during years of speech therapy all she hears is English. At home we do our best with Spanish but it’s still hard with TV and everything else and Spanish is actually a harder language to speak when a child had a speech problem that involves difficulty with motor processing (words and sentences in Spanish are usually longer and sounds like rr harder to make physically). Although she is learning the same things other 6 year olds are learning for her it’s a lot harder and it takes more effort and time. She finally started reading all by herself a few months ago and loves it, she reads signs and cereal boxes and anything she can find. Just that in itself was an amazing feat but the other day she grabbed a book in Spanish and started reading it all by herself. It was just an amazing moment specially because she has never worked on reading in Spanish at school or anywhere else. We read together in Spanish but there are no long afternoons of sight word drills in Spanish at home or reading lessons at School in Spanish. She just transferred her knowledge in English to Spanish. I am the proudest mom on Earth and am seriously thinking of videotaping her reading books in both languages and sending the video to the neurologist who after diagnosing her told us he didn’t think she’d graduate high school! You see, he didn’t know that being bilingual is the best “exercise” for the brain and that this is only one of her first accomplishments …. tomorrow she will conquer the world.
I should write an article on how bilingualism is curing my daughter’s Autism. 
OMG, Paula!!! This is so, so awesome! Thank you so much for sharing your daughter’s story with us. What a huge accomplishment!
I neve thought about Spanish being a harder language to speak for those with speech problems related to motor processing. I think I need to explore that topic a bit more.
If you’re serious about writing a post on what bilingualism has done for your daughter, we’d be delighted to publish it! Please get in touch with me at my email: roxana@spanglishbaby.com so we chat further and make this a reality. I think it would be a great post!
Felicidades Roxana! You have every right to be so proud! Incredible story and just another example of the powerful bilingual brain! Isn’t it fun and amazing to see it happening before your eyes w/ your child’s development? I absolutely love when moments like this happen in our household and I love hearing about motivating stories like yours!
Wow, that is indeed impressive! You must be very proud of both of your daughter not only for the intellectual skills needed to translate simultaneously but for making the extra effort on behalf of her brother. Kudos to the whole fam!
Awesome story! This inspires me to stick with the Spanish despite the emotional energy required on my part. I needed this story this week.
My son is 5 years old and in preschool (missed K cut off date.) He is bilingual in Spanish & English. He has maintained his fluency in Spanish despite the fact that he has attended an English speaking child care/preschool program for 3 years. One of my strategies has been to read to him every night in Spanish. He occasionally picks out books in English and I translate/read them in Spanish. He reads at about 1st grade level. The other night he picked out a book in English and I proceeded to translate as I always do. Except this time, he did something he had never done! He corrected my translation! He quickly read the page (a few sentences), translated it in his head & then compared it to what I had said (not the best translation) and then CORRECTED ME! “No, mamita eso no es lo que dice la pagina!”
I was shocked at how quickly he was able to process all of that information! So, to all of the tired parents like me that need a little inspiration. Here is my story for you. Please continue to share your stories of both challenges & success.
Marina