Comments on: Reading in English and Translating into Spanish… at 5 years old! http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/ Raising bilingual and bicultural kids Thu, 26 Jul 2018 07:12:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: Seattle Mom http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-536741 Seattle Mom Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:50:44 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-536741 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

]]> By: Scholastic Parent Circle: Favorite Friends Pack in Spanish {Giveaway} | SpanglishBaby™ http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-111469 Scholastic Parent Circle: Favorite Friends Pack in Spanish {Giveaway} | SpanglishBaby™ Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:01:35 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-111469 [...] I’ve mentioned several times before, my daughter has been learning how to read in English at school and coming home and transferring what she’s learning into Spanish. [...]

]]> By: olivesinba http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-107557 olivesinba Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:14:11 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-107557 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!

]]> By: Jen Manriquez http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-104034 Jen Manriquez Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:04:23 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-104034 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!

]]> By: Roxana A. Soto http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-102589 Roxana A. Soto Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:14:41 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-102589 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!

]]> By: Paula Bendfeldt Diaz http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-102442 Paula Bendfeldt Diaz Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:17:08 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-102442 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. ;-)

]]> By: Roxana A. Soto http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-101554 Roxana A. Soto Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:15:14 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-101554 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!!!

]]> By: Roxana A. Soto http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-101553 Roxana A. Soto Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:13:37 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-101553 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…

]]> By: Roxana A. Soto http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-101551 Roxana A. Soto Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:07:05 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-101551 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?

]]> By: Roxana A. Soto http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/03/reading-in-english-and-translating-into-spanish-at-5-years-old/#comment-101545 Roxana A. Soto Fri, 16 Mar 2012 23:03:27 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=20519#comment-101545 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!!

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