teaching young kids a second language. Which one?

[JPN4265]

Arabic. Seems like a good long future in this language.

 

[Imzadi]

2. Many many many different dialects/ variations of Chinese over that country. Many Chinese people can't talk to each other, because they speak another language (how are we going to pick one to learn?)

Yep! This has been my experience EXACTLY!

BTW, if you speak to many Europeans, you will find that many of them are fluent in 2-3 languages. The countries are so small & close together, it is a cultural norm learning many languages. Someone I know who is French Belgium says you lay down & your feet are in France & your head is in Switzerland!

They have said to me, only in America is there the arrogance to think learning only one language is correct - and that English is it. And if people come over here and don't learn to speak English well, we consider them ignorant or not highly educated, when in fact if they can speak their language AND some English, they are ahead of us, as they speak TWO languages versus Americans only knowing one language.

My mom used to be ashamed while shopping & a cashier or saleslady would look down on her because my mom could not figure out all the words to ask or explain something. I caught one cashier giving my mom that shaming attitude and I let her have it. "Excuse me. How MANY languages do you speak?...Well until you learn more than the grade school level English that you barely know, don't you look down on my mom, she speaks TWO languages to your one, that makes her smarter & more culturally literate than YOU!" I don't think my mom has been ashamed of not knowing enough English after that.

 

[punkin712]

My father is from Naples and speaks several languages. When I was little, he would speak to me in Italian, German, French and Spanish but, being the sassy child I was, I would just answer him back in English. He did succeed in teaching me the Greek, Hebrew (we're not Jewish, but he was learning Hebrew at the time) and Sign Language alphabets and I did manage to pick up a basic understanding of quite a few languages. Now I wish he would have pushed me more to learn those other languages at an earlier age. Fortunately, I eventually caught the language bug and studied French and Spanish in school. In my spare time, I learned some Mandarin (at the prompting of my father, who was also learning it), Russian and Japanese. Now I'm working on Arabic.

How about getting your child several children's books in various languages so he/she can get the basics in a few languages? Then you can encourage him/her to further pursue the language(s) where he/she shows the most interest or proficiency. It's never too late to learn another language but it's definitely easier if you start young.

 

[smilingmouse]

Here's another vote for French, but I'm biased since I majored in it in college