May 03 2008
Why Don’t Bilingual People Raise Bilingual Children?
My sister married a Hispanic man who was born and raised here in the US, and who grew up in a bilingual home. So far they have had two kids, and he has made no effort to teach them Spanish. Just about the only Spanish they’ve learned they have gotten from their grandmother, myself, and by watching Dora the Explorer. Why doesn’t my brother-in-law teach them?
I mean, at this stage in their lives their minds are like sponges–they absorb EVERYTHING. Why not take the chance to soak up some Spanish with that sponge? So far they’ve learned how to count up to about twelve I think, and say other miscellaneous words they learned from watching TV. How hard is it to teach them a phrase or two here and there? When I asked him why he wasn’t teaching his kids Spanish, he just sort of shrugged it off.
Now, I know that a lot of bilingual people do raise bilingual children. I also know that there are a lot who don’t even bother–people like my brother-in-law. When I have kids, I’ll be sure to teach them what I learned. I wish I had someone to teach me another language or two when I was little; it is so much easier at that stage.
I think it is as simple as people not recognizing the value in passing on their language skills or not seeing the need. What is interesting, though, is that by 2050, approximately 29% of the U.S. population will be of Hispanic descent, so being bilingual in the future will be an important asset.
We have a group for families interested in supporting each other and their children as they raise them bilingually in the Greater DC area. If you live in the area, please feel free to reach out and join us.
Carla
http://bilingualfamilies.collectivex.com/main/summary
I think one big reason people don’t do this more is that it’s difficult. Generally, both spouses need to know both languages and need to know them well. The kids need consistency so either certain areas of the house, certain situations must always be in on language while others are in the other language. Either that or you need to practice the “one-parent-one-language-rule” where each parent only ever speaks to the child in one language. This takes effort that a lot of people don’t want to exert.
Another reason is the way certain languages are perceived. I know kids who are ashamed of their ethnic origins or scared of how their friends will react if they see them speaking another language. They, like most kids, want desperately to fit in and some of them perceive speaking a foreign language as a way of being different in a bad way. I have met kids who are Brazilian, living in the USA, and refuse to speak Portuguese because they are scared that they will be confused with hoodlum Mexicans. That’s sad on many levels.
In spite of all of this, my wife and I fully expect to raise our kids to speak English and Spanish and maybe even another language! I think that it’s worth the effort.
I’m also amazed and disappointed when I meet up with bilingual parents who haven’t taught their children their native language. I’ve heard reasons like, “They just didn’t want to learn it. All their friends speak English.” or “Their father says we live in America so we speak English now.”
But Ryan, you are so correct when you say it takes effort and dedication.
My husband and I are monolingual (English) parents. We are not from Spanish-speaking families, but from the time our first daughter was conceived when knew that teaching her a second language would be a good thing for her.
We teach our children Spanish and I’m so delighted when I hear them play together using Spanish.
Teaching your child a language that you you’re not fluent in is a challenge. But we are learning Spanish along with our children.
With dedication, consistent interaction and constant exposure, monolingual parents can lay a tremendous foundation for their children to become bilingual.
Jessica L. Robers
Visit my blog http://www.spanish-lesson-plans-for-children.blogspot.com to see how our family manuevers our bilingual journey.
I think that there are two polarized situations about this point:
1 - Parents are from another country and don’t teach their native language to their children
2 - Bilingual students speakers (by students I mean those that needed to learn later another language)
In the first case, many times, immigrants make a huge effort in trying to be absorbed by the country’s culture where they live. One of the major aspects is the idiom. So, if their children speak at home another idiom, parents think they might have some problems of non-adaptation or social isolation. In many countries, as US, Spain, etc this might be really a problem.
Of course that, if compared to the possibilities of learning naturally two languages, these worries aren’t so serious.
Here in Brazil, this isn’t a problem at all, and is common that families try to maintain their culture. It’s particularly true with german, italian and japanese families. Apparently, there is another very important point: note that countries that valorize their culture, and are proud of it, try to maintain that culture when live abroad.
The second case normally occurs cause parents try that it would cut much of the emotional naturality of communication with their children.
If it really happen at the beginning of the process, later the gains will overcompensate.