Separating the two languages - what age do they learn?
Dec 21, 2021 17:33:57 GMT 9
Post by Raquel on Dec 21, 2021 17:33:57 GMT 9
Hi Marie! I wouldn't worry much about this. When my oldest was a baby, I used to pronounce her name in the ml, but then worried she would get confused and not know what her name was, so I started saying it in the ML. With my youngest, I knew kids get used to just about anything, and so I've always pronounced his name in the ml, ML speakers say it in the ML and he accepts it as normal. Kids accept the world around them as it is and adapt.
I don't think there's a certain age at which kids stop mixing up languages. My daughter started mixing up both when she was 1, then from age 2 to 3 only spoke in the ml, and it wasn't until she wanted to communicate with other kids, who only spoke the ML, that she started speaking this language. My son, on the other hand, always spoke both. When he was 16 months old, he would say "yes" to me and "sí" (=yes) to my mom. I thought it was just chance, but it wasn't. Then, when he was 3, being on lockdown, he started forgetting the ML. Now that he's 5, he usually speaks in the language he's spoken in, but he knows who he can mix languages with. My point is that every child is different. It depends on what they want: children who're only interested in communicating with their parents, like my daughter, will only speak their parents' language until they want to communicate with someone else. Children who are only interested in communicating with kids their age, will speak whatever language those friends speak, etc...
It all depends on what you want to achieve: if you want your daughter to speak only English to you, then all English is the way to go. If you think she won't have enough French exposure, then allowing some extra French with you may help. The beauty of all this is that you can always make a change and start doing things differently, and your kids will adapt to this change too.
I don't think there's a certain age at which kids stop mixing up languages. My daughter started mixing up both when she was 1, then from age 2 to 3 only spoke in the ml, and it wasn't until she wanted to communicate with other kids, who only spoke the ML, that she started speaking this language. My son, on the other hand, always spoke both. When he was 16 months old, he would say "yes" to me and "sí" (=yes) to my mom. I thought it was just chance, but it wasn't. Then, when he was 3, being on lockdown, he started forgetting the ML. Now that he's 5, he usually speaks in the language he's spoken in, but he knows who he can mix languages with. My point is that every child is different. It depends on what they want: children who're only interested in communicating with their parents, like my daughter, will only speak their parents' language until they want to communicate with someone else. Children who are only interested in communicating with kids their age, will speak whatever language those friends speak, etc...
It all depends on what you want to achieve: if you want your daughter to speak only English to you, then all English is the way to go. If you think she won't have enough French exposure, then allowing some extra French with you may help. The beauty of all this is that you can always make a change and start doing things differently, and your kids will adapt to this change too.