Does your GC speak another language?

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.

"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/

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.

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 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....

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 .