Ask an Expert

Editor’s note: This week we’re doing something a little bit different. Another one of our knowledgeable experts, Simona Montanari, has written a book and since  Suzanne, one of our regular contributors, is raising a trilingual child, we asked her to review it for all of us. And she did a wonderful job!   Simona Montanari’s book, Language Differentiation in Early Trilingual Development, offers an example of how a toddler developed the use of three languages: Tagalog, Spanish, and English. ItRead More ...

“Will it be a good idea to talk to my children in English even though it is not my native language? I live in Spain and I understand the importance of learning English. I am going to have a baby soon, and I am considering to talk to her in English, but I am afraid this might not be a good idea since it is not my native language. I think that I have a good level of English andRead More ...

Is it too late for my 3 (and three months) year old daughter to naturally acquire Spanish? I am the only Spanish speaking parent, and English is spoken in the home. Her exposure to Spanish is limited, and I do what I can, but end up speaking in English to her. I heard some of the theories that I might be approaching the point of no return at around 4 when she will no longer be able to acquire theRead More ...

“Any resources or advice for non-native speakers teaching their kids while learning themselves at the same time? (or, is that a bad idea?) I had some Spanish in high school and college and when my son turned one I decided to pick it back up and start teaching him. I have a tutor and my Spanish has improved tremendously over the last year, but now that he’s two I feel like I’ve hit a plateau and he is now soakingRead More ...

“Hello. My 5 yr old attends a full immersion language school and is in the Spanish program. We practice reading English frequently at home, but I am concerned that she is not ‘catching on’ to reading English fast enough. Also, both my husband and I are monolingual. Is it a bad idea for her to be in a full immersion school when we are not able to help her in Spanish? Do most children really ‘catch up’ to their nativeRead More ...

Hi, my husband and I are both monolingual but would like our daughter (27 months) to learn another language. We both feel another language enriches your life in many ways, and would like our daughter to learn Spanish as we are currently living in San Diego. We have enrolled her once a week in a two-hour class, but that is the most we can afford of outside help at the moment. When she is older (3 yrs), I am hopingRead More ...

“Hola. My husband and I are both first generation US-born Cuban-Americans. We moved away from all of our spanish speaking family but would like to raise a bilingual child. I’ve been researching how to accomplish this and I’m extremely overwhelmed with the amount of information I’m finding and have no idea where to start. There are so many products out there that claim to help teach a child English and Spanish that I don’t know which one to go withRead More ...

Every once in a while we like for you to be the expert and help us give out advice to fellow parents going through the same issues we all go through.  Today, Blanca Pedroza shares with us her frustration and reaches out for some heartfelt advice.  We really appreciate your input Dear SpanglishBaby, This happened at my daughter’s English preschool where only 3 year olds attend: While her friend Amy spoke in Spanish, Mariana (a monolingual Latina student) told AmyRead More ...