Thanks for your advice! =)

For the frist year we used just English. I didnt want to confuse her plus we was both working full time so she was in a day nursery 5 days a week from 7am till 3pm and my husband works away from time to time so this made things a bit harder.

I left my job 4 months ago and i’m a stay at home mum now so i have the time to really start learning her Arabic. My Arabic is not grate so its not easy

but we are both doing really well she now has an arabic vocabulary of over 100 words she is like a sponge and remembers new words so much better then me.

my husband made us a book of arabic words with day to day things such as objects around the house, body part & foods and so on . we have started to bulid sentences now and she has started to ask questions like mama whats that in arabic she really seems to enjoy learning another language.

My husband found research on childern learning another language and it says that the ability to learn another language decrease from the age of 7 years. so my advice would be to start your child as soon as possible.

I didn’t try to learn another language until High School and it was very difficult and I never really picked it up. My husband on the other hand learned Japanese in High School and even spent a year in Japan teaching English. He had a real desire to learn it.

I think a young child just hears the word no matter what language we use and they don’t “think” that it might not be English as it is just a word. I wish there were more programs for young children to learn other languages, but I think the main problem is that the parent usually only knows one and in the US that is English.

She has alot of energy and I love that about her but I know she is not going to stand still and listen to new words. She does love music and she does love to dance. I thought I could buy her a CD with songs in another language. She loves memorizing songs and dancing. I wanted her second language to be Japanese or Chinese.

Can anyone give me some pointers. cherry_misty@yahoo.com

Yet, what little I know I incorporate into my 19-month-old’s life. While everyone else counts to three in English for him, when I’m lifting him in and out of his car seat I let myself count to three in French (I can say it, but not spell it).

I find other ways to drop little things in there because he’s learning the English language and in the beginning he might as well be taught that there are many words for things. He’ll be able to sort through the words and divide them into languages later.

Hopefully, if he’s ever tested for language aptitude the results will just reinforce why he is bi-lingual, tri-lingual or better.

I think joining a french group will be a definite for us a little while down the line.

I think it’s great that you have decided to expose your child to a foreign language at a young age, and to do so by integrating French little by little into your daily routines. Songs are definitely a great way to do this.

I think it’s important to keep in mind the rationale for early foreign language education. Until the age of about 9 months, babies are able to distinguish the unique sounds of different languages. So, for example, a Japanese baby is able to distinguish the English “R” and “L” sounds, something that Japanese adult learners of English struggle with no matter how long they study. From about the age of 9 months (as best as research indicates now), children begin to focus laser-like on the language of their care-takers and begin to kind of filter out foreign sounds.

As children grow older, the language circuitry in the brain becomes more and more hard-wired, allowing for faster processing but also making it harder and harder to learn a foreign language. It is argued that there is a “critical period” between the ages of 10-14 after which it is highly unlikely for a person to achieve native-like fluency in a foreign lanuage.

By introducing foreign languages to children while they are still flexible, you are not just giving them a leg up by having them learn early, you are helping them keep their language centers receptive to that foreign language well into adulthood.

In a situation like yours, where the child will not be immersed in the foreign language, the primary benefits I think you should focus on are phonetic awareness and building an appreciation and love for learning foreign languages. Understand that while grammatical mastery or building a huge vocabulary are not likely outcomes of occasional usage of French, helping her develop an ear for the language (and, as a result, the ability to develop native-like pronunciation) is very much a possible benefit. And that ear for the language will help her tremendously as she grows older and has opportunities for greater exposure to the language…as it will allow her to process and “pick up” a lot more of the language (vocab, grammar, and otherwise).

One last thing. There has been some research indicating that human interaction is a key factor in a child learning a foreign language. One study had a group of very young children play in a room where they had stimulating Chinese videos (like Baby Einstein type stuff) and simple Chinese kids songs, and another group playing in a room with a Chinese caretaker who only used Chinese. As you would expect, the children in the room with the caretaker showed a better understanding of Chinese, but it was much, much better.

So, videos, CDs, and using French together at home are great (especially if you have good French pronunciation), but I would recommend trying a French language play group or mommy and me language course once a week if you can. Perhaps you can find such a group for free or cheap at a community center nearby.

Wow…didn’t mean to go on so long…but I’ve seen some pretty amazing things teaching English to young learners here, and I have no doubt that learing foreign languages empowers children with social, educational, and career opportunites throughout their lives. It sounds like you’re approaching it right. Best of luck!