Multilingual Children

Hi all,

Two questions:

1. How will our style of communication with each other affect our baby’s language acquisition? I speak to my wife only in English and she speaks to me only in German (i.e., we are always using both languages at the same time.)

My concern is that my daughter — observing how my wife and I communicate — might understand all the English I speak to her but just might decide to answer me in German like her mom does. Is there a risk that she might choose not to answer in English if my wife and I don’t speak only English to each other?

2. We would like our daughter to learn Romanian as well. My wife would be willing to speak Romanian on particular days or occasions. How and when should she make the switch? What system works?


Country: Germany

Dad’s native language: English
Mom’s native languages: German, Romanian

Child’s age: 6 weeks

Language system: OPOL