Comments on: Ask An Expert: My husband doesn’t support raising our girl to be bilingual

By: soi keo

soi keo — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 02:58:43 +0000

Hmm i hope you don’t get offended with this question, but how much does a site like yours earn?

By: BethO

BethO — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:20:35 +0000

Grettel, I hope you will keep reaching out for support and don’t let even your husband hold you back from putting forth your absolute best effort. If you have to be creative and it takes a long time, just don’t give up. You have a very valuable gift you can give. In my work I meet many many multicultural people and honestly, don’t think I’ve ever known someone who was glad about it if their parents could have given them a second language and just didn’t. I would also like to tell you, that if you and your husband can come to an agreement on this, the experience will be a really good foundation for working together on all the other decisions you will have to make as a team with your child growing up (especially during those teenage years…!)

By: Roxana S.

Roxana S. — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:25:12 +0000

That’s a great question, Sabrina, and one I’ve asked myself countless of occasions. I think there are a lot of reasons why many Americans are so resistant to bilingualism. The following ones are just what I’ve come to learn through the years and plenty of research.

I think the main reason is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of what’s different from the norm, from what they have been so accustomed to. Fear that learning a language other than English means they’re not American enough.

Right along with fear is the ignorance surrounding bilingualism. Bilingualism is clouded with a ton of myths that have been perpetuated even by professionals, such as teachers, doctors, linguists, who most of us respect and look at for advise.

Our goal here at SpanglishBaby is to be able to debunk these misconceptions and to prove that bilingualism doesn’t cause language or any other form of delays, it doesn’t confuse children, it’s not impossible, etc, etc., while creating a community for those of us who are already aware of the benefits of bilingualism and just want the support to continue moving forward with it.

Thanks for stopping by. I might just make your question the topic of a future post .

By: JEWEL

JEWEL — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:32:43 +0000

I’d like to add that i would do that when he wasn’t around. I would talk bi-lingually when he was. And if it really disturbed him then only when he was at work and such

By: JEWEL

JEWEL — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:31:25 +0000

My friend is english speaker non-hispanic and married a mexican bi-lingual man. she wanted the kids to learn spanish and he did not want them to speak it. He refused to teach them. All their paternal family members did and Abulitas spoke only spanish. He so regretted not teaching his kids Spanish as kids.
I could never understand why. It is a wonderful thing to be bi-lingual (or more!!) and so beneficial to the kids as adults.
Even if my husband said no i would still talk only in Spanish to my child.

By: Sabrina Vourvoulias

Sabrina Vourvoulias — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 07:20:37 +0000

Why are we Americans so resistant to learning multiple languages from an early age? I’m bilingual but the vast majority of my American friends are not. By contrast, my European friends tend to be real polyglots – speaking at least three languages (and sometimes apologetic that however many languages they speak their’s might not overlap yours – as if it were their failing not mine).

To what do you attribute our reluctance?