would love baby to learn second language..how?

edited February 2011 in Pregnant
Ok so here's the deal...I'm hispanic and speak both english and spanish..both my parents speak english and spanish also...hubby only speaks english but understands a lot of spanish..his dad passed away a few years ago and his mom isn't really around and she knows spanish but pretty much only speaks english..I really want our baby to be bilingual like me because it helps a lot especially at work but I'm worried on how this will be possible...anybody have any tips or similar experiences?

Comments

  • You have to speak both language at the same time, for example you say: come here! Ven aqui! I did it with my children and they are bilingual but now I have a similar problem I'm remarried and pregnant and my husband is Serbian, we are going to try the same method because I would like that my baby can communicate with my in-laws.
  • I have a 4yr old little boy I am also hispanic and husband is italian. I speak both english and spanish and my hubby just english so I found that it was easier just repeating myself in both languages with every word that came out of my mouth directed to my son from birth. Now my son understand everything and speaks it relatively well. You may not love this idea but handy manny and dora are helpful as well. Good luck
  • @twin_angels that's a great idea i will definately be playing spanish cartoons and probably be buying spanish/english books and other stuff. @ljubavi you are right I will have to be speaking both languages at the same time and that is something I really have to work on since right now at home I mostly speak english since the husband only speaks that but I guess I should start speaking to him in spanish as well huh and the other thing is my stepdaughter comes to visit every other weekend and she only speaks and understands english so it might be tough....
  • @stormyparadise u are my inspiration!
  • @twin_angels those sounds great where do u think I might find these? This is my first and everything is so new to me...
  • @twin_angels oh ok thanks so much its nice to get advise from someone who knows what they're talking about how many kids do u have?
  • If you have any questions feel free, I'm in the middle of trying to teach my little one italian along with my italian hubby lol he's a ham. I think its important for my family to embrace our culture even if that requires me to learn another language myself... its tough but well worth it. The best part is all the different foods we eat because we are multi cultural :) lots of luck. Oh yea ask your parents to speak spanish all the time it will help too. Mom speaks both dad and inlaws one and your family one... making you the queen lingo lady in spanglish hehe
  • Thanks a lot for all of the advise its very helpful and yes its great being multicultural both me and my hubby are hispanic but his side is mexican and my side is central american so our foods are a bit different so there's always a variety to choose from and I love it! My parents speak both but my dad speaks spanish more aften than my mom since she works at a school so hers has turned into spanglish like mine and my younger brother understands both but only speaks english..I got some work to do apperently lol
  • @twin_angels how cute u have your pair I wish u the best of luck on finding out I remember the awful waiting period on wanting to know if it finally happened...thanks a bunch crystal.aguilar0815@yahoo.com
  • We.speak both also n my kids picked it up..but i would say it in english then spanish when it comes to things.. N they learned fast
  • At.hm.its all spanish...
    English is at school...
    It works great
  • There are a lot of children's books you can get in Spanish. The oh so popular Eric Carle books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? You can get in Spanish. I have both the English and Spanish versions on my registry at Amazon.

    My fiance is originally from Guatemala and his mom doesn't speak English very well. I think it's important that our baby can speak to all of his relatives and blend well at the huge Spanish parties.

    I told him that he's only allowed to speak Spanish to the baby for the first year at least. That's when they develop the ability distinguish the different sounds of language. I can't pronounce the r or rr to save my life, so I think it's important to get the native tongue in there.
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