“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 and I want to help my baby learn it easily. But I also understand that since it is not my native language, I will probably have some lack of language resources. Can you please help me and give me your opinion?
Thank you very much.
Irene”
¡Hola, Irene! This is a good question, and one that I often struggle with as a non-native speaker – and teacher – of Spanish. I think the question for you is how committed are you to English? In a couple in which one parent speaks one language and the other speaks another, the prevailing wisdom recommends that each parent speak the native tongue, thus producing a balanced bilingual. If you have someone else in the home who will be speaking Spanish with your child and you wanted to be in charge of speaking English, that would be fine – but it would take a strong commitment on your part to speaking exclusively English. If you were to only speak English from time-to-time with your child, it would likely not be enough to produce any real proficiency in the language – especially since everything around you (i.e., the media, family, friends) will be in Spanish.
A dear friend of mine (also a non-native speaker of Spanish) has made this commitment to her son. She speaks with him 100% of the time in Spanish. The child is now four and it is becoming harder and harder for her to keep up with Spanish, especially given all the English to which the child is exposed to in pre-school, on TV, in the environment, etc. If you have good proficiency, and you are committed to being the sole source of English for your children, then go for it! I would recommend stocking up on a lot of picturebooks, music, videos, movies, toys, games, websites and other resources in English. This will help you to have conversations, play and have other social interactions with your child in English.
¡Buena suerte!
Irene,
I am a non-native Spanish speaker and have spoken only Spanish to my son since he was born. It is certainly difficult, but the key is to stop worrying about whether or not you are saying things perfectly. Children are amazingly flexible and I bet you will find that your daughter will end up teaching you some English as she grows! Give her the desire/incentive to be bilingual and the basic skills, and enjoy the challenge of interacting in your second language every day. It has been the best decision of my life to converse with my son in Spanish, because I have a greater appreciation for the language and culture, and a greater sense of wonder at what our brains are capable of.
Don’t worry about her future level of proficiency now. Just go for it!
Chelsea
Thanks. That is usually what I do. However, I started to doubt. I just hope I don’t make her hate Foreign languages because of my crazy ways.
Hi!
Thanks for all the opinions and comments! My baby was born on January, and I hadn’t had the time to answer you. I have been trying to talk to her in English, but it is really hard because all the songs and the expressions that I know are in Spanish. For example “¡Qué bonita que es mi cosita chiquitita!” or similar sentences (he he he… as parents we can be quite corny, can’t we?”).
It feels more natural to talk to her in Spanish. She is 3 months old and I think I still have time to decide wether I want to talk to her in English 100% or not.
Thanks againg for your valuable opinion.
¡Un saludo!
I am not a native speaker of spanish and my accent is not great either. I try hard to teach my nephew who I adopted this language. He is half Dom Rep and italian. I wanted him to have a native tongue or at least some. He hears the language in school and at church so I think if I can learn it would be ok for him. I use an online program for myself and I also read my bilingual bible to help at church.
Do you think I am wasting my time? He does understand a good amount but has a lot more to learn. If you have any ideas I’m open. Thanks
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