Me and my husband have 3 beautiful babies but we're not sure HOW we raise them speaking both English and Italian..? When should we start? Now? They're only 8 weeks though...well almost.
Update:Both me and my husband were raised speaking Italian and we live in the UK... Will they learn English because it surrounds them?
Verified answer
The best way is for one of you to speak to them in one language, exclusively, and the other to speak to them in the other language, exclusively. They will learn to distinguish the two languages this way.
In the early ages, they would not pick up enough English by it "surrounding them" because their primary language skills would come from you and your husband. If you both speak to them in Italian, they would be fluent in Italian but probably not very well in English.
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Don't worry your kids are going to be bilingual...I'm a living example. I grew up on the border of 2 different countries where 2 languages were normal but my Dad didn't speak one of them so he was very against us to learn the other. But thanks to environment in preschool I've never knew I learnt 2 languages because it came with the environment. Just make sure you guys speak italian at home and later the kids can watch the TV which I assume they can start picking up english :-)
Nothing really different I can add. My daughter is 3 and is bilingual. I must warn you though, never ease up on one language thinking she needs more practice with the other.My daughter forgot English in a matter of weeks that way!
Just speak to your children in both languages. Thats what I did from birth. Say EVERYTHING twice, starting from now so that it becomes a habit on your part, and they will pick it up.
normally one will speak english the other italian,but you have to be consistent,even when they are as little as 8 weeks.
my son was a bit different because i'm single so i only spoke to him in spanish in the house and english outside the house.my niece is the same and they both speak english without weird accents,so don't worry ,they will learn english from tv, and other children very easily.i'm sure they will be fine, but please remember some times bilingual children will start to speak properly a bit later than children with one single language.it is normal don't worry.
My nighbors are 7 and 4 and know both spanish and english. And from what i know they have been speaking spanish since they could talk but mainly speak english now. But their mom speaks spanish to them most of the time the dad is and american and the mom in from Columbia?... I tihnk thats right some spanish speaking place lol
I believe they started teaching them both languages when they started to talk.
I'm trilingual, and i learned urdu from hearing my parents speak it at home, but they used english sometimes(learned urdu first). I picked up English almost simultaneously from television and playing with english speaking children, and i perfected it by the time i was going to preschool. I learned spanish in high school(not really pertinent to this, but i'm just saying.) It's really easy for children to become bilingual in the US. Just speak Italian at home, but let them watch American television. Don't worry about them learning English, you'll be amazed at how quickly they learn it when they start school. JUST MAKE SURE TO KEEP ITALIAN ALIVE AT HOME. you'll be amazed at how quickly they'll forget it if you don't.
P.S. I have virtually no accent either, so don't worry about that.
Yep u should just speak to them in Italian. When I was pregnant I attended antenatal classes. There was a session with the speech therapist and she said that the kids will learn English no matter what and we should only speak our own first language around them to make sure they pick it up.
Congrats to your triplets!
We raise our two children bilingually. I speak to them in English and my husband speaks to them in Spanish. Because of this, my daughter (who is 2.5) has a very well rounded vocabulary in both languages. It's easy and natural this way!
ETA: Start NOW! It's never too early to start!
Teach them as early as possible in my opinion. I have friends are of a different nationality to their husband and they have spoken to them in their mother tongue as soon as they were born.
Children know no different from birth and therefore understand the languages they hear without a second thought! I have one friend who has a 5yr old little girl who speaks fluent English and French and I feel it can only benefit them in later life to know many languages.
Good Luck x
From what i've seen and heard, speaking both languages to them at an early age will help them to be bilingual!