Does your GC speak another language?

My 4yr old Grandson lives in Gibraltar and his Mum is a languages teacher so is fluent in several but she's making sure he speaks both English and Spanish, my son understands but isn't fluent in Spanish so he speaks to him mostly English. The little one understood perfectly and spoke English to us when he visited in the Summer but I know he can answer his Mum in Spanish if she asks him something in Spanish.
I've read that being brought up bi-lingual is very good for children, why not just ask them if they intend to bring him up bi-lingual it will be nice if he speaks both languages .

My 11 year old Grandson lives in Holland with Scottish Mama and Dutch Papa and is bi lingual, his Mama speaks to him in English but Papa who speaks several languages speaks in Dutch. His English is excellent but then it is a subject at school. His little friends all speak to me in perfect English....

DS lives in Spain with Spanish wife and both of them speak the two languages. DS only speaks English to his 3 children and his wife only speaks Spanish. All 3 GC's have been bilingual ever since they started talking with no problems.

DD lives in China with Chinese husband. SiL speaks both languages and DD can get by in Chinese. When their first child was born SiL spoke only English to him as he thought he would get confused if spoken to in both languages. GS then went to a Chinese nursery when he was 3 and very quickly picked up the language and was fluent by 6. 2nd child does not yet go to nursery but is picking up the language from big brother and no doubt will also be fluent before too long.

The Spanish family seem to have it right as their children were bilingual sooner but the Chinese GS's soon will be. As long as they are exposed to both languages on a regular basis they will be fine.

My DIL is Japanese so my 3yr DGS speaks both English and Japanese. They live in London and he attends a Japanese nursery on a part-time basis. My DIL speaks to him 90% of the time in Japanese. My DS speaks to him most of time in English but can also speak Japanese.

It was really interesting because they visited us in October along with DIL's Japanese father who speaks only a little English. I found it fascinating that 3yr old DGS could swap between languages depending on who he was talking to.

I don't speak Japanese (only basic pleasantries) and DGS's other grannie only speaks Japanese.

I hope he keeps it up!

Juney64 I'm surprised your son doesn't speak in English to him. Apparently, that's the best way for them to become bi-lingual from an early age.

"Researchers have shown that the bilingual brain can have better attention and task-switching capacities than the monolingual brain, thanks to its developed ability to inhibit one language while using another. In addition, bilingualism has positive effects at both ends of the age spectrum: Bilingual children as young as seven months can better adjust to environmental changes, while bilingual seniors can experience less cognitive decline."

dana.org/Cerebrum/2012/The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Being_Bilingual/

Some of my DGCs are American and I'm always being told off for referring to the supermarket instead of the grocery store, the rubbish instead of the trash, or the boot of the car instead of the trunk, or mispronouncing words like mall, taco or tomato.

My DGC speak Spanish and English, DD speaks to them in English, SIL speaks to them in Spanish, their main home is in Spain and I picked up some Spanish when I visited but would have liked to have been able to converse better with their Spanish family and friends. Currently they are in UAE and children are also learning French and Arabic at school, and find learning new languages relatively easy.

DGS flummoxed a nice Welsh lady by asking for a boddla wardah! Australian English can be like a foreign language too.
DGD chats to me in Welsh and English

It would be a good idea if your DGC is brought up bi-lingual, so much easier to learn languages from a very young age.

My niece is English, is married to a Frenchman and lives in France. They have brought their daughter up to be bi-lingual so that her elderly English grandparents can speak to her. It has worked out wonderfully and given my great niece a valued second language. You could always meet them halfway Juney and try learning Spanish, doesn't it involve lots of lisping?

I can pronounce Jerez!
(very important word)

Tanith, its possible that they do intend to be bi-lingual. I haven't met my little GC yet and haven't asked them what they plan to do. I think I've got a dose of the yikes at the idea of learning Spanish and was curious to know what other people thought.

Reading your posts, I think I should have had more faith. I'd no idea that children could so easily become bi-lingual.

Good point Hiltopgran re talking to family and friends. When I visited earlier this year, that was a definite problem with GC's other Gran and Grandad.

Looks like it may still be a good idea to try to learn some Spanish, complete with lisp as Alima said - that did make me laugh.

Cheers Jalima. I'll have a Jerez for you when I'm there haha (ok, had to look it up). That makes three Spanish words I can speak now.

Thanks for the responses - communicating with GC feels easier already.

I hope it's a very dry one Juney64 - cheers!

DGC's other grandad speaks English but heavily accented; when he and DH have a 'chat' it is like two parallel conversations which SIL finds hilarious as he speaks both languages.

As a number on here have said, it's best if each parent speaks to the child exclusively in their native language. The wee one won't be fazed at all, and will learn much more quickly.

Leche for the baby though!!

My grandchildren live in Spain and speak English with our son and Spanish with their mother. Their English is very, very good, but I would say that Spanish is still their first language, because they are surrounded by my DiL's family and school is in Spanish. They watch English TV and we send books and DVDs regularly. We Skype a lot too.
I have used Duolingo to learn Spanish and my DiL and I muddle along in a mixture of the two. We don't get to see them very often, but they improve a lot when they spend time with us, especially our granddaughter.

We live in Belguim, DGS is 4 1/2, he speaks French at school and upstairs with DD and SIL and English with me downstairs and at Sunday School.
DD and I chat in English in front of him and SIL who is French/Belgian speaks French.
SO is Flemish and he speaks Dutch with DGS.
His little best friend is Brazilian and DGS has a smattering of Portuguese.
We lived for a few years in Portugal so can still get by in Portuguese.

Two of our 4 children live abroad and their children are/ or will be/ bilingual. In one case, trilingual.
Posters who have stressed that one parent speaks only in English to the child at home are spot on.
The parent whose main language is English is the best person to develop their child's English. The other parent should speak to the child in the language of the country in which they live. However, it also works well if English becomes the home language used by both parents but the child, if he/she goes to nursery at 2 or 3, will pick up the other language very easily.

As a language teacher, I am convinced that if young children hear other languages being consistently used around them, they will develop a facility to understand and speak other languages easily. We acquire language passively at first.

Grandparents can help tremendously by speaking their own language to the child, singing to them ( nursery rhymes are great)sending books, etc. But also having the children visit them on their own when they are old enough to do so. Friends with school-age GC from various countries sign them up for day camps here in England when the GC visit during school holidays. This allows them to develop their English with peers in a fun environment.

We brought up our 4 children bilingually from birth, introducing a 3rd language a bit later, always orally. The girls spoke early but our son did not speak until aged 2. Sometimes, bi or multi lingualism can have this effect because the child is processing all these "codes".

Juney64 , enjoy your grandson's bilingualism and participate in it. Of course, learn Spanish if you wish for your own pleasure, but only speak to him in English. It is the best gift you can give him!

My youngest grandchild is only two and is being raised bilingual. He lives in London, where my son speaks English to him and my Parisian dil speaks French to him. He is a little slower at talking than most children, but he understands everything said to him, in either language.

He also sometimes translates a word from French to English for the benefit of his daddy, which makes us laugh as he has a very patronising air about him.

My dil speaks five languages in total and I think it's fabulous that GC has the benefit of learning languages other than English. I've never heard anyone say there is any disadvantage to be being bilingual!

Children with parents of different nationalities are so lucky to be able speak another language. It's not a case of having to learn it, it just comes naturally. I would also imagine they could have fun teaching their grandparents new foreign words!!
The only suggestion I would add is not to neglect writing in the second language if the child is likely to sit exams in this subject later. I have seen many fluent speakers struggle to spell the words on paper, especially in the Romance languages, and often they need to be taken right back to the beginning which can be tedious for them.

That is true, Lillie. Bilinguals often have difficulty writing in the language not of the country in which they live. A good way to help prevent this is to teach them to read once reading in the first language is accomplished. That way, they visualise the language in written form.

Interestingly, dyslexia may manifest itself in one language, but not the other. I have witnessed this in 16-19 year old bilinguals I have taught.

Writing is important but in any foreign language exam I have worked with, the oral, aural and reading components far outweigh the written in overall importance.

Do encourage them to speak English to him as well as Spanish. My DDIL has only spoken French to my two DGDs and their Daddy speaks English so from the start they could switch between the two . Even at an earlyish age they seemed to know which language to use with other parts of the family. It is lovely for them to speak to all members of the extended family .
We were sitting one day waiting for the girls to have thier face painting done and the girls and thier mum were discussing the option in front of them
in a book . The little boy beside them whispered to his dad " These poor little girls how will they tell the lady what they want because they speak a funny language " .
It is a great thing to have been brought up like this and we now ask the girls how you say things in French that we do not know.

As already mentioned, experience shows that each parent should use their native language. It's working well so far with my GS, although it is comical sometimes when daddy speaks to him in Spanish and he answers in English. They split helping with homework too.

Ranouchka thanks for the great advice. In fact thanks to everyone for your great advice. I had seen this as a real problem but now feel really encouraged.

Mamie I've downloaded Duolingo which you suggested and will give it a go. I think it would be useful to try to understand some of what is being said when in Spain with DIL's family. I'll certainly do as suggested though and talk to GC in English, well Scottish really, just to confuse things further haha.

This question has niggled away at the back of my mind for over a year now and I wish I'd asked it earlier. I don't know of anywhere else where you can tap into such a wealth of knowledge and experience.

I certainly don't see it as a problem that my two DGSs will be at least bilingual English/Italian and probably trilingual as DDIL speaks 7 languages and DS 4! DGS1 frequently switches between languages when chatting away and I ask him to translate. His Italian GPs speak little or no English so it's total immersion for the DGSs when they're visiting.

In fact DGS1 also speaks some Mandarin from attending a Mandarin nursery, something no one else does and I think it's fabulous and to very much be encouraged.