Hello everyone and welcome!
I am the mother of a precious almost 10 month old who is being raised in three languages at home. There are so many resources on the Internet about multilingual and bilingual families and there is so much I still have to learn on raising our daughter bilingual, or multilingual.
And it doesn't stop there really, our daughter is also being raised in a multicultural family and I'm sure there will be many things to discuss about as well as being a first time parent which is already a huge topic on its own and I'll probably be posting a lot about that as well.
We live in France and my husband and I come from different countries. He speaks in French to our daughter, LilO, and I speak in Spanish. Seeing as English is a language both of us speak very well and some of our family is only anglophone (aside from the fact that we think it's in LilO's best interest to learn English as well), we have decided that our "family language" will be English. So English is the language we will speak when all of us are together - whether LilO is paying attention to our conversation or sleeping in her carseat on a family road trip.
Yes, it's not your typical OPOL (one parent one language) approach, but we're giving this a try and going to see if we can make it work. I've been doing some research and seeing it works with some families out there. Western cultures tend to apply the OPOL system, but more than two languages are spoken in many homes in the world.
If any other parents out there are in our same situation, I'd love to hear from you!
Hi MLMom!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm Nayeli, I'm from Mexico and I'm living in south france with my husband and our 1 year old baby (I call her BabyNat). I found your blog in MominProvence's blog (i read your interview).
I have been in Aix-en-Provence (near Marseille) since February 2010 but my french is not good, i took a few lessons when we arrived here (8-10 hours) and then my baby was born so i stop taking lessons and i'm learning french from books, movies, internet and the day-to-day life. I don't want to study formally right now because i want to be with BabyNat all the time (now that i can!)
My husband and i speak to BabyNat in Spanish (we are both mexicans) but i take her to some "classes" in french: music for babys, swimming lessons, etc. and one in english so she is listening at least 3 languages but i don't know how that is going to work, specially when she gets the age for going to "école maternelle".
My english was better but now that i'm trying to speak (and think) in french i'm mixing all and i'm a complete mess!! I know that you speak spanish and it's for sure that i'll write you in spanish sometimes but for now i'm trying to practice (and improve) my english.
Well, i think that's all for my "presentation"
À bientôt!!
Hi Nayeli! LilO is just 2 months younger than BabyNat, how exciting to know they'll be raised in a multilingual environment.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry AT ALL about the French. She will hear, learn and speak all she needs to when the time comes at the Maternelle. I've read some children can be a bit behind, but they catch up VERY quickly.
You're lucky to be in Aix because there are so many things to do and I feel there is a large expat community there. Good for you for being able to do all sorts of activities with BabyNat! And yes, you are 100% right - enjoy being with her as much as you can!
Thanks for stopping by to say hello!