Comments on: SpanglishBaby Dads: How I Fell in Love with Spanish & Became a Bilingual Father http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/ Raising bilingual and bicultural kids Thu, 26 Jul 2018 07:12:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: Jeffrey Nelson http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357403 Jeffrey Nelson Fri, 14 Jun 2013 02:27:04 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357403 Thanks! You too :)

]]> By: Gerry http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357301 Gerry Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:13:01 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357301 I look forward to reading more from you Jeff! And Sofia will be glad to welcome you and your family when the time for that trip comes. Take care.

]]> By: Jeffrey Nelson http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357286 Jeffrey Nelson Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:40:59 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357286 Gerry,
Thanks! I agree. Passing on another language to kids is such a great idea. I keep doing more and more research for articles and blog posts and it’s amazing what they are finding out these days with regards to the cognitive and social benefits of growing up with two+ languages.
And Sofia is on my list of places to see, for sure!

Jeff

]]> By: Gerry http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357276 Gerry Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:10:46 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357276 Great post Jeff! As you know, I am trilingual and I think that there really isn’t any better gift that you can give your son than a second language and a deep understanding of all sides of his cultural heritage. My husband and I, we plan to one day raise our kids to be at least bilingual. :)

]]> By: Jeffrey Nelson http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357264 Jeffrey Nelson Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:53:09 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357264 Kathleen,
I agree! My wife is a true blessing. While I recognize the difficulties of not having a ‘native’ speaker in the home, or at least I can imagine, it’s important to not lose hope! We have friends who are both as American as it gets with no Spanish backgrounds until the usual Spanish in high school and then on in college. They have a five year old and a 3 year old who both speak fluent Spanish and are raising them with ml@H. Their house is like on giant, walking language resource! Whiteboards everywhere, books, movies, etc… but they are doign it. It definitely can be done.

It’s very admirable that people in your situation continue to fight for the ability for their children to be bilingual! No te preocupes, tu puedes! :)

Jeff

]]> By: SpanglishBaby Dads: Celebrating Papás Raising Bilingual Kids | SpanglishBaby™ http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357261 SpanglishBaby Dads: Celebrating Papás Raising Bilingual Kids | SpanglishBaby™ Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:46:09 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357261 [...] –  How I Fell in Love with Spanish & Became a Bilingual Father [...]

]]> By: Kathleen http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357258 Kathleen Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:41:44 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357258 You may be jealous your son will grow up truly bilingual…but I am jealous of families that have one “real” (or more) bilingual parent as my husband speaks no Spanish, and I speak only low-intermediate level. Certainly not enough to reinforce my bilingual daughter’s language immersion education. Your son is very lucky you and your wife are so dedicated to giving him this special gift. Great article, I enjoyed it very much!

I

]]> By: Jeffrey Nelson http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357247 Jeffrey Nelson Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:20:12 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357247 Thanks Ryan!
I’ll have to check out Mr. Grosjean’s book. I’ve been in contact with him via email – he seems like a great guy.
It’s nice to know there are others out there raising children in non-native languages.
And you’re right… my wife does deserve a lot of credit ;)
Thanks again!
Jeff

]]> By: Jeffrey Nelson http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357246 Jeffrey Nelson Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:16:57 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357246 Gracias Ana… y de nada.

Thank you for the opportunity! I hope you all enjoyed it.

Jeff

]]> By: Ryan http://spanglishbaby.com/2013/06/spanglishbaby-dads-how-i-fell-in-love-with-spanish-became-a-bilingual-father/#comment-357218 Ryan Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:42:12 +0000 http://spanglishbaby.com/?p=36025#comment-357218 Jeffrey, thank you for sharing your story! It’s wonderful that you cared so much about your wife and your son that you learned Spanish. Being able to use the mL@H approach will surely help preserve the Spanish language and Mexican culture that you are fostering at home. You and your wife should give yourselves lots of credit for being bilingual. Feeling like you are not “truly” bilingual and knowing you can’t do all of the same things in each language is normal. If you have some time, pick up a copy of Francois Grosjean’s Bilingual: Life and Reality. It discusses growing up bilingual as well as becoming bilingual at an older age (as you, your wife, and I did) and what to expect. Keep it up! I hope to hear more from you and your family.

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