bilingual

Linky, Sorry forgot to add...

My LG went to an english school from age 3 and we only speak afrikaans at home. She picked up on the english very quickly, but granted the staff did understand some afrikaans and did speak to her in the beginning in afrikaans, if the situation really needed urgent explanation!! It took her just under a year to be able to start communicating to them in english in such a way that they could understand what she meant.

Now she is able to play with afrikaans and english kids with no problem!

Linky,

I would suggest you go and see a speech therapist and get a profesional opinion. Although through my own research I have found conflicting opinions about the matter.

What I have heard that it is good for a child to learn a second language after 3 years of age. Up until 3 years of age a child forms his "mother tongue language" and after that a child can learn a second language without compromising the first language. However the opinions are obviously different if 2 languages are spoken to the child from birth and a speech therapist would be able to advise you what would be best for your family in this case.

I would really urge you get more than opinion since I know of children who had learning problems due to incorrect handling of languages at a young stage and children had to be moved from schools because the child's "thinking language" was not the one the child was busy learning in and this affects their ability to learn. THen on the other side I know of children who adapted extremely well with speaking one language at home and going to school in a different language...

My friend's daughter only ever heard afrikaans at home, and at creche, then moved to an english only school early this year (around March). She was 3. Now, just 8 months later, she speaks almost exclusively english.

In order to avoid confusion you should continue speaking the language you always have. She will learn the english very quickly from the school. She might be confused for the first month or three, but it will come right very quickly, providing the people speaking stick to only one language (you speak only afrikaans, the teachers speak only englsih). When the languages get muddled up by the speaker, then the kids get very confused with their language development.

Thank you so much, you have both been really helpful. I will speak to the school and hear what they have to say and definately start readin to him in english. The only thing I was actually worried about was the delayed speech development. I will try to incorporate as much english words as possible into our conversations.

Thanx again, I really appreciate it

Hi Linky,

Speak to the school and see if there is any way that they will take your little one, with the promise that you will also work on the English at home?

Your child will pick it up so quickly and when he realises he is not spoken to in Afrikaans he will find ways to comunicate. These little guys are like sponges! I am sure as well that even if he should speak Afrikaans at school he wil be understood by most of the teachers and staff even if they don't speak this back to him.

Do you have any English family members? If you do, ask them to speak to your son exclusively in English and expose him to them lots.

We are raising our child bilingualy as I am Afrikaans and my husband is English. The school she attends is English at the moment but next year she is starting closer to home in an Afrikaans pre-primary. She mixes her launguage terribly so it takes a bit of time for them to start separating the two, but it's fine. Your son really and truely will not struggle at such a young age for long when he starts at the créche.

What I can also suggest is sitting down with him with books and pointing out objects and saying the English words and constructing simple English centenses. When you are out and about with him point to objects and people and say what they are and what they are doing. Repeat what you said in Afrikaans and then again in English if he does not seem to understand.

I can assure you though that it will definitely not affect his speech development, and everyone told us that our kids would take longer to start talking because we are raising them bilingually. It has not been true at all.

Hi Linky

I think you might confuse him if you start speaking English to him now and he is used to hearing Afrikaans from you.

Just a little story - my maid's daughter (3 at the time) started creche in the beginning of this year - she could only speak Zulu - no Afrikaans and no English. She is now almost fluent in English and we speak Afrikaans to her while her mom still speaks Zulu to her. In July I came home to find my maid in tears - her daughter received a gold certificate at creche for an English poem that at the Eisteddfod. She also had to say her poem at the creche concert this year. You can imagine how proud we were all of her.

Will they not take him at all if he doesn't speak English? He will pick it up so quickly among all the other little kids.

Hi everyone...

My son is turning 2 next month and I need to start working soon, so I am considering putting him in a creche. The problem is that the creche requires that he be able to speak english and I don't know where to start.

I was raised in an afrikaans home, but attended an english school, so I wanted to raise my son in the same way. So he is almost 2 years old now and he doesn't know how to speak english and I don't know where to start. How do I do this? How do I teach my son english without confusing him? I have read a few articles that suggest one parent speaks one language while the other parent speaks another language but can I just all of a sudden start speaking english to him without him thinking iv gone crazy? Will this effect his speech development?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanx so much