Opol or mlah

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Melisa

Posted 1383514723	Reply with quote #1

Hi, Currently I am 9 months pregnant with our first child… We live in Israel which is my husbands homeland, while I’m the English only speaking American.. We only speak English at home and I was hoping to keep the English only at home with the baby… Since we live in Israel and everyone outside speaks Hebrew, i want Our child to speak English like me and not with a Israeli accent, or not at all. I have heard too many stories of kids not answering back to their English speaking parents, in English, but instead in Hebrew…. My husband had agreed to keep English only at home and Hebrew outside, yet he is concerned that our child wont fit in or fail to speak Hebrew… I think that is ridiculous because we live in a Hebrew speaking country and my only concern is that i wont understand our child when he passes me by with speaking fluent Hebrew… How can I emphasize how important it is that since we already speak English at home, the Hebrew will come regardless… His family only speaks Hebrew and I just get by with them… I fear being left out and i think my husband fears our child wont be Israeli enough… Any advice would be greatly appreciated as i tend to burst into tears when I talk about this with my hubby, although it could be that I’m 9 months pregnant …. Thanks in advance Melisa Mommy to be (native English) Daddy to be (native Hebrew, fluent English) We speak English only at home and outside

Alejandra

Posted 1387346306	Reply with quote #2

Hi I don’t have kids, but I do have some cousins raised in bilingual homes, and from their experience, I can assure you that your child will speak perfect hebrew. Whether hi/she will speak english or not will be up to you and your husband. there’s not really need to worry about hebrew, since most language input for a child comes from peers. Normally, what happens is the kid learns a language at home, then goes to school in another language and (if not practiced enough) forgets the first language. I would advice though, that you find a system that suits your family, for example, speak english to the baby during the week, and switch to hebrew during the weekend while the baby is young, so he can be exposed to both languages (that way your husband would be less worried), and then switch to english only at home once your child is at school (where he’ll be exposed to hebrew). I hope this is useful.

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