Post by Elena A on Feb 28, 2023 18:00:31 GMT 9
Hello everyone!
I would like to share my experience and get some feedback if possible.
My husband is English while I am Italian. We have a 17 (almost 18) months old born here in the UK where we have been living so far.
We would like to raise him bilingual, so I have only spoken to him in Italian since birth. I have been on maternity for 13th months and during that time with him I have always read few books a day, sang Italian songs and played Italian music. His dad and the rest of the family here only speak to him in English. In October he started full time nursery 5 days a week. At the moment he understands both languages, although he seems to have some preference for Italian when it comes to reading books. He also replies when asked in Italian what sounds animals or cars do, but not when asked in English, although teachers at school say he understands everything perfectly. He calls me, his dad and grandparents in Italian but has recently started to greet in English, so overall things seem to work out well. He is also constantly babbling but we still can't understand what he says most of the time.
However, we are moving to Italy next week; at the beginning my husband won't be working (while I will work full time), so he will be with our son full time and then part time when we register him in nursery. But my concern is that when my husband starts working full time then our son's exposure to English will not be sufficient anymore as he will be attending full time nursery in Italian.
Unfortunately, in our area there are not English speaking nurseries, the closest one is 45 minutes away and the closest English classes for small children are 30 minutes drive away once a week.
Obviously when he's a bit older we will watch things in English, but my big doubt at the moment is whether I should be starting to speak/read English to my son when at home, to keep the minority language dominant at home rather than sticking to the one parent one language method. It would be very weird for me as I have been speaking my mother tongue with him since he was born, but I'd be happy to do whatever is needed to maximise his chances to become bilingual.
What do you think? Thanks in advance to whoever can find the time to answer me
I would like to share my experience and get some feedback if possible.
My husband is English while I am Italian. We have a 17 (almost 18) months old born here in the UK where we have been living so far.
We would like to raise him bilingual, so I have only spoken to him in Italian since birth. I have been on maternity for 13th months and during that time with him I have always read few books a day, sang Italian songs and played Italian music. His dad and the rest of the family here only speak to him in English. In October he started full time nursery 5 days a week. At the moment he understands both languages, although he seems to have some preference for Italian when it comes to reading books. He also replies when asked in Italian what sounds animals or cars do, but not when asked in English, although teachers at school say he understands everything perfectly. He calls me, his dad and grandparents in Italian but has recently started to greet in English, so overall things seem to work out well. He is also constantly babbling but we still can't understand what he says most of the time.
However, we are moving to Italy next week; at the beginning my husband won't be working (while I will work full time), so he will be with our son full time and then part time when we register him in nursery. But my concern is that when my husband starts working full time then our son's exposure to English will not be sufficient anymore as he will be attending full time nursery in Italian.
Unfortunately, in our area there are not English speaking nurseries, the closest one is 45 minutes away and the closest English classes for small children are 30 minutes drive away once a week.
Obviously when he's a bit older we will watch things in English, but my big doubt at the moment is whether I should be starting to speak/read English to my son when at home, to keep the minority language dominant at home rather than sticking to the one parent one language method. It would be very weird for me as I have been speaking my mother tongue with him since he was born, but I'd be happy to do whatever is needed to maximise his chances to become bilingual.
What do you think? Thanks in advance to whoever can find the time to answer me
