Comments on: Ask An Expert: Will My Bilingual Child Pick Up My Non-native Spanish Accent? http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/ Raising bilingual and bicultural kids Thu, 26 Jul 2018 07:12:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: Deniz http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-2367368 Deniz Mon, 12 Dec 2016 08:23:39 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-2367368 Dear Barbara,

How about if you are the ONLY English model the child has until the age of 5-6. I am not a native English speaker, and my English is OK, but sure I have an accent and I make grammar mistakes. I am thinking to talk to my 1,5 year old baby in English, and unfortunately we don’t have any native speakers around us. However, I am worried about her picking my accent. And I know from my experience that it is almost impossible to change your accent after a certain age. On the other hand, I am thinking that it might be a good opportunity for her to learn a language. I am just so confused, and need advice from an expert.

All the best,

Deniz

]]> By: Laura M http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-53098 Laura M Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:25:30 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-53098 This is very encouraging for me, as I have almost the exact same situation! Do any of you speak English at home with your kids? or just Spanish?

]]> By: Melissa http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-35088 Melissa Wed, 21 Sep 2011 02:22:42 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-35088 This was a helpful encouragement with helpful resource/research ideas.

]]> By: Laura S http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-34327 Laura S Thu, 15 Sep 2011 02:16:22 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-34327 Erin, thank you for sharing your question. In our situation as well, my husband is the native Spanish speaker and I am the near-native Spanish speaker but yes, I have an accent and mispronounce words and all those things that one hopes that the kids don’t repeat but they probably will. I think Ana put it well in that while my 7 year old son and 4 year old daughter are quite fluent, they don’t sound necessarily like their cousins from Mexico City for example. With that said, I am very proud of how fluent they are and how little I have to interpret for them when my husband’s family visits, etc. So . . . I would take Barbara’s suggestions of supplementing with family, friends and media and keep up the great work. Enjoy!

]]> By: Ana Lomba http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-34277 Ana Lomba Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:44:47 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-34277 In addition to Barbara and Karen’s excellent comments, I would like to point out that your son will be a million light-years ahead of children learning Spanish in school, that’s how much faster he’ll advance! Also, even if you were a native speaker of Spanish that wouldn’t guarantee that your children would speak “perfect” Spanish. I am a native Spanish speaker from Spain and an specialist in early bilingual education (and I work from home and use Spanish all the time) and even with that my children still speak Spanish “the American way” — which I have learned to understand that it is perfectly fine. By that I mean that while my kids don’t have a thick accent in Spanish (as I have in English or as my husband has in Spanish) they still don’t speak like a native Spaniard and they “adopt” funny constructions from English. They are teens now.
¡Mucha suerte con todo!

]]> By: Karen Nemeth http://spanglishbaby.com/ask-an-expert/ask-an-expert-will-my-bilingual-child-pick-up-my-non-native-spanish-accent/#comment-34263 Karen Nemeth Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:17:39 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=14633#comment-34263 I love Barbara’s answer to this question. I would also like to show support by reminding Erin that millions of people all over the world speak multiple languages with accents. Most monolingual people I know make grammar errors from time to time as well. An accent serves as a reminder that the speaker has the gift of bilingualism. That’s more like a badge of honor than a problem! I know you will find Barbra’s book to be very helpful. Best wishes!

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