We moved to Austria from the UK when our eldest was 18 months old. SHe is now 3 and will be going to kindergarten in September. SHe has a little German but, naturally, speaks English most of the time. We now have a second baby - Esme, who is 8 months old. I was advised NOT to speak any German with the children and to wait and let them learn at kindergarten. However, this makes an already difficult time (leaving Mama etc) even mor difficult when they do not understand what is being said and can't really commun icate with the other children there. So, I went against advice and started a German course for them. Anyone have any advice or similar experiences?
When immersed in a new language, children pick that language up very quickly, and your older daughter will probably be quite fluent in German by this time next year- and well able to make herself understood by Christmas.
I am not sure why you were`advised not to speak any German to your younger daughter. Children who hear two languages usually pick them both up with very little trouble. If you are worried that two languages from you might confuse her I suggest you leave the German to your partner and older daughter- or to reading certain books. (The idea is to flag up which language is being spoken by the context in which things are said). As you suggest it would be easier for Esme to have a few words of Gerrman when she starts school- but I am sure even if you never speak to her in German she will pick up enough to get by very quickly -probably from her big sister. The bonus for bilingual children is that they do (on average) rather better at school.
Dorothy Einon
I can't say I have any personal experience however my cousin has 2 children. He is English and his partner is from Belgium (she speaks French) and they now live in Spain. I know that as soon as they could talk both girls were communicating in English and French and they also learnt Spanish as that is where they live. I would have thought that learning German before kindergarten would be a good thing so they can understand what is going on around them. My cousin's 2 little girls are pretty much tri-lingual now and were from a young age. Aren't children meant to be more responsive to new languages the younger they are anyway?
Thanks for the reply - you are right, the younger the cild the better for starting with second and third languages. My problem is slightly compounded by speaking only average German myself (had to learn on the hoof when we first came here) nad I still don't have my ead around the grammar yet! I did get the BBC Muzzy course in German only last week and my three year old is already counting and speaking more in German!
We moved to Austria from the UK when our eldest was 18 months old. SHe is now 3 and will be going to kindergarten in September. SHe has a little German but, naturally, speaks English most of the time. We now have a second baby - Esme, who is 8 months old. I was advised NOT to speak any German with the children and to wait and let them learn at kindergarten. However, this makes an already difficult time (leaving Mama etc) even mor difficult when they do not understand what is being said and can't really commun icate with the other children there. So, I went against advice and started a German course for them. Anyone have any advice or similar experiences?
I can't say I have any personal experience however my cousin has 2 children. He is English and his partner is from Belgium (she speaks French) and they now live in Spain. I know that as soon as they could talk both girls were communicating in English and French and they also learnt Spanish as that is where they live. I would have thought that learning German before kindergarten would be a good thing so they can understand what is going on around them. My cousin's 2 little girls are pretty much tri-lingual now and were from a young age. Aren't children meant to be more responsive to new languages the younger they are anyway?
We moved to Austria from the UK when our eldest was 18 months old. SHe is now 3 and will be going to kindergarten in September. SHe has a little German but, naturally, speaks English most of the time. We now have a second baby - Esme, who is 8 months old. I was advised NOT to speak any German with the children and to wait and let them learn at kindergarten. However, this makes an already difficult time (leaving Mama etc) even mor difficult when they do not understand what is being said and can't really commun icate with the other children there. So, I went against advice and started a German course for them. Anyone have any advice or similar experiences?