forum

Forum

We encourage you to talk back! Expert advice is nice, but we all love to hear what other parents are doing. So, don’t just ask questions but share your own experience, thoughts, ideas, tips and examples.

 |  Latest Topics
 
 
 


Reply
  Author   Comment  
deniko
  Reply with quote  #1 

I have a child, a boy, he’s 1 year old now. My wife speaks only Ukrainian to him and I speak Russian and English (one week I speak only Russian, next week – only English, and so on).

My main problem with all that is that I’m not a native English speaker and my English knowledge is only theoretical. I’ve never lived in any English-speaking country. Moreover, I’ve never been to any English-speaking country, though I feel pretty confident speaking and writing in English.

I’m also a bilingual child, my father always spoke Ukrainian to me and my mother always spoke Russian. Now I try to raise a trilingual child.

I posted a question about possible problems with teaching a child a language that is not native to me here:
http://community.livejournal.com/linguaphiles/4019662.html
And I’ve got a lot of useful and inspiring comments.

Later on I found a nice article on your site:
http://www.multilingualchildren.org/tips/not_native.html

Thank you very much for your site.

Denis
Kiev, Ukraine
 
katrina
  Reply with quote  #2 
I believe that any language is good, especially at the very young age.

Our 4y old son is bilingual – English/Estonian and going to French kinder garden.
I would never speak another language but Estonian to him though as I make mistakes.

In your situation  I’d go for DVDs and may be make a day  in a week to play some games with him in English.
We support our sons French by showing him some cartoons in French.

 
Linda
  Reply with quote  #3 
Dear Denis, I’ve just found this old post of yours (here and on livejournal).
Can I ask you about your boy? He must be 5 years old now. So how are his languages?
I have a one month-old daughter now and I’m going to raise her trilingual, so I’m gathering materials and opinions. Just as you, I’m from Kyiv and I speak Russian, Ukrainian and fluent English.
It would be great to hear more about your experience.
 
Previous Topic | Next Topic
Print
Reply

Quick Navigation:

Easily create a Forum Website with Website Toolbox.