I read with great interest the Wall Street Journal article featured in Spanglishbaby’s Week in Links regarding parents who move to China so that their children can learn and improve their language abilities. Learning another language and experiencing another culture can be a great experience for anyone, and it is especially valuable for children who tend to have an advantage at second language acquisition.

The question that I was left with after reading the article was: Why Chinese? None of the parents featured in the article actually spoke the language themselves, but rather, Chinese was viewed as the desirable language to learn because of China’s rising global influence. The interest in learning Chinese seemed to be linked, at least in some part, with giving kids a competitive edge in the job market of the future.

This article made me re-examine my own motives for teaching my children Spanish. While like any parent I want to give my children skills that will be beneficial to them in the future, I want to be sure that my motivations for teaching my kids Spanish involved more than financial gain and career success. Fortunately, Roxana had interviewed me for the book she co-wrote with Ana, Bilingual is Better on this very topic back in February. It was interesting to reflect back on my answers after having read the Wall Street Journal Article. I liked seeing that there really are a lot of factors that have influenced my decision to raise bilingual children.

To begin with, unlike the parents featured in the article, I do speak the language that I want my children to learn. I have always loved learning languages, and it only seemed natural to pass on my skills to my children. Having learned my languages later in life, it was a real challenge for me to become truly fluent. I didn’t want my children to struggle the way I did when they could avoid this difficult language learning process by acquiring the language when they were young. From a neuroscience prospective young children have superior language learning abilities.*

My children and I also have a lot of fun speaking Spanish together, reading and playing with the other children in our Spanish playgroup. It has been a worthwhile endeavor to see how easily my kids can use their different languages and they truly seem to enjoy speaking with mami in Spanish, papi in German, and grandma in English.

Like the parents in the article, I am committed to raising my children to speak another language since there are a variety of cognitive benefits associated with bilingualism. Even more importantly, speaking other languages is essential for gaining a deeper understanding of other countries, peoples, and cultures. I feel that speaking another language will increase my children’s opportunities to know and interact with a variety of different people and provide them with the linguistic skills and cultural understanding to more fully participate in our local community and in our increasingly international society. When we travel to Spanish speaking countries, my children easily make friends and are able to participate in the games of the local children. It is wonderful to see them get to know people and play with children that they would not have had the chance to bond with if they had been monolingual.

My husband and I have always loved traveling and learning languages, and it has been fun sharing our interests and adventures with our own children. They seem to be enjoying the experience as well. It is easy to answer the question: Why Spanish? By teaching my children Spanish I am giving them the gift of another language that will help them in both their personal and career endeavors. I am also giving them the opportunity to get to know other peoples, countries and cultures, and hopefully I am giving them the chance to explore language and just have fun with it.

Why do you teach your children Spanish?

*From Welcome to Your Child’s Brain by Sandra Aamodt, PhD and Sam Wang, PhD.

{Photo by  Ha-Wee}

Photo credit: mckaysavage

Lately, I have taken frequent note of the hypocrisy surrounding Spanish speaking in America. While many monolingual (English-speaking) Americans feign support for Latino culture, they back up when it comes too close. The message I hear is: Go ahead and teach your kids Spanish, but speak English around me because I don’t want it to take over my world. This is why many parents enroll their children in Spanish classes or expose them to Spanish baby books but fall short of encouraging fluency – because it cuts them out of a part of their children’s lives.

In my interpretation, this fear stems from the misguided assumption that there is such a thing as cause & effect in parenting. Por ejemplo, some parents believe that if they don’t allow their kids to watch television, the kids will be protected from violent and vulgar influence. Others believe that if they pay for private school and pressure their kids to make good grades, their little ones will become big ones worthy of emulation. It’s the same (faulty) logic that is leading far too many high school seniors into four-year universities, even when economic statistics warn against such a costly venture. Although we can expose our children to a variety of choices and experiences, nothing we do will necessarily result in a precise outcome.

Just like teaching our kids to play sports, enjoy music, and cook dinner, teaching them a second language is a way of imparting our values. All we can do is hope they will gain something from the knowledge. Additional benefits of bilingualism, such as easier multitasking and prevention of Alzheimer’s, are but the proverbial icing on the cake. Cognitive advantages are not THE reason we choose to parent bilingually, but a possible upshot.

When Americans who do not know Spanish presume that we are trying to arm our kids with weapons that will be used against their kids in school or the working world, they neglect to consider that we may simply enjoy sharing a passion for the Spanish language and its various associated cultures – a passion for where we came from, or (as in my case) our children’s heritage. In part, it’s the responsibility to prepare children for what’s coming that props up our desire to speak two languages at home, but it’s no better or more interesting than a father teaching his son to take apart a car, or a mother teaching her daughter to swim.

We share what we know, and no one should interpret our Spanglish speaking as a threat or a radically different way to parent. We’re doing the same thing you are. If you’d like your kids to know Spanish, we’d all be happy to help spread the bilingual love. If you run away from something you don’t understand, your kids will hear your unspoken message rather than your outward encouragement.

Photo by daviddesign

Recently we have received several emails and comments from English-speaking parents who are serious about giving their children the gift of another language. We count ourselves among the lucky that are able to speak a second language at home and almost innately pass it on to our kids. Even so, we know it’s hard work. So, you have no idea how much we respect parents that are making a conscious effort (because it is one) to work hard at creating language-learning opportunities from the get go.

One such example is our cyber-friend Karen who is learning Spanish while teaching it to her two sons. She’s so passionate about it that she writes a blog, Teaching Learning Spanish, where she shares all the Spanish language resources that she finds useful.  If you haven’t yet, we suggest you read a guest post she wrote for us a couple of months ago: Spanish Not Your Native Language? You can Still Raise Bilingual Kids.

Simona Montanari, Ph. D.

Today Simona Montanari gives some excellent advice on this topic. She’s an expert on early multilingual development and Assistant Professor of Child and Family Studies at California State University in Los Angeles. You can learn more about her here and read her previous inspiring answers to our reader’s questions here.

We Don’t Speak Spanish but We Want Our Child to Learn

Today’s question was sent by Jasmine Caruthers. She’s pregnant with her first child and, both she and her husband  know they want their child to learn Spanish even if they don’t speak it themselves.

“I am pregnant with my first child and both my husband and 
I speak English. However, I would like to raise my child to speak both 
English and Spanish. I was going to send my baby to a bilingual 
speaking school but I am having trouble locating any in Alabama. I 
really do not know how to go about doing this but it is important for 
my child to be bilingual. Do you have any advice on how to raise a 
child from an English speaking home, to speak Spanish? Thank you much.”

Dear Jasmine,

First of all, I think it’s great that you are so “enlightened” and convinced to raise your child bilingually even if both you and your partner are monolingual. There are a lot of people in the US who do speak two languages themselves, but are afraid of teaching them to their children for fear that they will lag behind in English or not learn it as well as other monolingual children. So, again, it’s great that you understand what a great gift it is to give your child two languages and see him grow bilingually.

The fact that neither you nor your husband speak Spanish makes your wish a bit more difficult to realize because you will truly have to rely on someone else for providing that extra language for your child. But I believe that your motivation and encouragement will make it possible.

I think the best way to go is to try to hire someone – a Spanish-speaking person – to spend time with your child in the early years (ideally birth to five and beyond). I am not sure how realistic this is for you but if you work and can afford a nanny/au pair, this would be the most successful strategy that I can think of. Be specific when you hire this person that you want him/her to speak Spanish to your child and not English. Barbara Zurer Pearson’s book “Raising a Bilingual Child” warns that many nannies end up using English with the children they watch, both because they want to practice English or because the child might speak English to them. You might want to be very firm and explain to your nanny that you are specifically hiring her/him to teach Spanish to your child, and so that no English should be used.

I used this strategy myself. When my first daughter was one and a half and my youngest was a newborn I hired a Spanish-speaking nanny to work for us for 36 hours a week. I was lucky because this woman spoke no English or Italian (which I speak to my daughters), so my daughters soon learned that they had to interact in Spanish with her. Today, at 5 and 3 and a half, my youngest daughter is pretty fluent in the language and the oldest speaks Spanish almost natively! In addition, they speak English (which they are picking up from dad and school) and Italian. It is truly amazing to see these little people move so easily back and forth between languages! And, for Spanish, I owe it all to my nanny. The new challenge will be for me to maintain Spanish-speaking opportunities for my daughters as they grow. But the nanny definitely planted the seeds.

If the nanny is out of the question, then you will have to rely on schooling. You should look everywhere in your area (as far as you are willing to commute) to find a bilingual daycare, preschool or school. Unfortunately, these are hard to find, but if you are willing to commute a bit you might increase your chances of finding one (I myself will start driving 26 miles a day this September to bring my oldest daughter to an Italian-English dual language school).

Finally, if even the school option is out, then you might have to scale down your dream of raising your child bilingually, although you can still help him/her learn some Spanish. You can do this by participating in Spanish mommy-and-me classes, by playing Spanish music and videos, perhaps by participating in Spanish-language play groups, etc. These activities won’t make your child bilingual but they might introduce him to the language, and therefore help him learn it later when new opportunities (i.e. Spanish language classes, Spanish-language programs) arise.

I wish all the best to you, your baby and your intent to raise him/her bilingually.

Simona Montanari, Ph.D., is located in the Los Angeles area. For more information or to schedule a phone/in person consultation contact her at smontan2@calstatela.edu.

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