two languages for a toddler

viztopia

my son is a year and a half and is not saying anything yet. his mother is not irish and she is trying to teach him her language. he is in a creche 5 days a week so he is mixing with loads of children. he went for a check up with the public health nurse a week ago and she said it is normal for a child learning two languages to take a bit longer to develop. Has anyone else got any experience of this? I was thinking of asking my wife to hold off on her language to see if he develops in english. my main concern is that he may become frustrated at not been able to communicate.

Tabnabs

Do a search on here, it's come up quite a few times. There's no need to worry, your child will adapt very well to hearing and learning both languages (speaking from personal experience too).

mr.mickels

I am in similar situation, our childs mother only speaks her native language to her, and it is clear she understands both languages well at this stage and already knows which parent speaks which language. I would think your wife is taking the correct approach, our daughter is 2 months older than yours and is still at the start of speaking phase, it is clear she will speak english mostly, but will at the very least have full understanding of both languages. It is said that if one language is neglected now it will be alot more difficult for the child to pick it up later.
By the way, there are many children older than our daughter with both english speaking parents who has less english than our daughter at this stage. I don't imagine you have any need to worry. Your son will likely master both langauges if your mother speaks only her native language, your son is hearing enough english elsewhere. In fact many east european couples living in Ireland, who only speak their native languages at home are somewhat surprised to find their children will understand everything they say but will only reply in english, because they hear enough english outside the home to make it their first.

jingler

My daughter didn't speak until 2 and a half. Dealing with 2 languages can cause children to talk later than others. Once she started to talk, she never stopped- right little chatterbox! The delayed speech seemed to cause her great frustration, though. The terrible 2's were truly terrible- being unable to communicate what she wanted led to lots of tears and tantrums. Pretty much stopped once she began to talk. She now speaks one language a lot better than the other but her comprehension in both is pretty much on a par.
My daughter would point and grunt at the things she wanted but we did try to get her to articulate it in words and say back to her what it was she was pointing at. It's easy to get into a habit of just getting them what they want and the child will also learn that they just point and they get.
Maybe go back to PHN at 2 years old and discuss progress if you are still concerned.

Moonbeam

I wouldn't worry yet,they all talk at their own speed.
If you are worried bring him to the public health nurse and ask for him to be assessed.
My 2 year old nearly always answers in english whether you talk to her in english or irish.

pennypitstop

Neighbours of mine were Italian father and Irish mother, it had no ill effect (afaik) on the child.
It was very interesting to hear the 3yr old conversing in Italian with his dad in the back garden and then answering his mother in english when she called out the window to ask him something.
I would love to be that fluent in more than one language.

dun laoghaire

Hi I've been living in Greece for 15 yrs now & i've never spoken one word of greek to any of my 5 children. All of my children speak both the greek & english language very well. Your son will have full benefit of the english language when he goes to school so he will be fine. He will speak more of one for a while & also use both to-gether in one sentence too for a bit, but by the time he's 3 yrs old you'll here him speak both languages really well.....leave your wife to speak her language freely.....Good luck....:)

BarbaraAless

My son is 16 months old today and he can say very little. I speak to him in Spanish and his Daddy is English. I know it may take a little longer for the language to actually start coming out but the delay is normal. We are giving him a gift by helping him become bilingual.