Teaching multiple languages you don't know

[Ann2010]

There is also Little Pim which I have used to teach my son Hebrew.  He loves it.

[patience]

I think it is great that you all are teaching/exposing your children to several different languages...many of which you don't know. I am in the same boat. I began teaching my son 9 different languages at a young age because of the resources I had, but also due to my love for languages. I have learned so much right along with him and although I have recently slacked off I plan to get back on track within the next couple of days. My little one started school and it is actually the only school that I found that I felt comfortable sending him to that would challenge him and pick up where I left off. Anywho, as far as the languages are concerned he has made great progress in all of them and continues to amaze me at the rate he learns new material that he has only been exposed to once or twice. I am constantly reaching a point where I don't know what to teach next as well as new material to use to supplement our learning, but this site is great for those moments. I have tons of dvds, cds, books etc, but it is so hard for me to fight the urge to get other material suggested by other members   Good luck to you all and keep up the great work!!!

[Ann2010]

This is awesome

[Ezhik]

I must say that the downside of teaching multiple languages is that it doesn't come cheap! I try to use as many free resources as possible, Pim and Muzzy are so great but so expensive in one language, let alone 7!

I wish I could afford Pim in Japanese, as it is the only language we're doing where I don't have age-appropriate cartoons. Nikki seems happy enough watching Let's Learn Japanese (an adult video course) which I got second hand, but it does teach more 'adult' things that aren't really necessary at this age.

[aangeles]

I must say that the downside of teaching multiple languages is that it doesn't come cheap! I try to use as many free resources as possible, Pim and Muzzy are so great but so expensive in one language, let alone 7!

I wish I could afford Pim in Japanese, as it is the only language we're doing where I don't have age-appropriate cartoons. Nikki seems happy enough watching Let's Learn Japanese (an adult video course) which I got second hand, but it does teach more 'adult' things that aren't really necessary at this age.

Hi Ezhik,

There is a version of Muzzy that is available in 5 languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, and English) in the same DVD and you can choose the language using the audio/subtitle options under settings. The accompanying storybook and vocabulary CD also come in 5 languages. The only language that is not included is Chinese, but it was ok with me since I am using other resources for teaching Chinese.

Regarding Little Pim, my daughter and I loved the Spanish and French versions but I specifically chose not to use Little Pim in Japanese because the words are not displayed in Japanese script but in English. Since I would like her to eventually also learn to read Japanese and am already using Wink to Learn to do this, I thought adding LP Japanese might be unnecessarily confusing. For conversational Japanese, I use age-appropriate Japanese cartoons like Anpanman, which is the most popular anime series for Japanese children 0-6 years. She has picked up quite a few phrases from watching a few episodes. They are not strictly "educational" videos but since we don't speak Japanese (or French or Spanish), she is allowed to watch short cartoon episodes (like Bali in French) in these target languages a few times a week.

[Ann2010]

Thanks for the very helpful information.

[Ezhik]

Thanks aangeles! A friend gave me their bumper Muzzy, so I did know about that, but would have to fork out again for Chinese

Thanks also for the warning about Pim Japanese. I had assumed they would use Japanese characters (that's what they do in Chinese) and as Nicholas is already doing Wink Japanese, I don't want to confuse him. Are you sure there is not a Japanese script option? I know on the Chinese version you can choose between characters and pin yin.

I am thrilled to have an age-appropriate cartoon series to google. Thank you! I have only ever come across Pokemon etc. I do believe it is the language that is the 'educational' part of the dvd - if he's picking up Japanese, then that's good enough for me!

[reei]

how is the language system in your home setting? with two languages and one dialect we can cope, i speak to my daughter in mandarin, hubby speaks to her in English and mother in law speaks to her in Cantonese. I've let her watch Little Pim (Spanish) and Wink to Learn (Japanese) and lately started bringing her to Spanish playgroup, but I dont know how to divide the time. Given that I am also beginning to learn Spanish and Japanese, I thought I'll continue to speak Putonghua to her and squeeze in the words that I know, like Spanish (Mon, Tue, Wed), Japanese (Tue, Wed, Fri).
How is the language system in your home? Please share. Thanks.

[Ezhik]

At the moment, we have a language each day and seems to be working. I speak English as the main language weekdays, and try to keep to Russian at weekends. I am introducing British sign language, which is useful in itself and also helpful in associating foreign words to their meanings.

I then have material in the 'language of the day' - we watch 15-20 minutes of cartoons, I am making single-word books in the various languages (eg. animals, food - I'm using the Wink word sets as he is familiar with them). I put on foreign-language radio, children's songs and audiobooks for as much of the day as possible (I aim for 3 or 4 hours of audio material) which allows us to hear the language, to help him get a more native accent. I want to try and phase out English as much as possible, as he will learn it almost by default living in England, but as the only language of our 7 that I can do more than say hello and count to five in is Russian, that will take a LOT of time!

We use various different media - Wink to learn for Chinese and Japanese, Muzzy for French, Spanish and German, Pim for Chinese, traditional Soviet cartoons for Russian, as well as lots of random cartoons/songs off you-tube and other language sites...

I eventually chose Irish over Italian as our 7th language, as although it is less useful it was my grandfather's first language and thus I feel that I should do what he failed to do and keep that knowledge in our family. The BBC have a great children's fairytale program which they broadcast in Irish and can be found on iplayer. Not that I expect many here would need to know that

Sorry if I'm confusing you with too much information. The basics are that I am trying to give Russian as a second 'native' language (his father's) and so speak it a lot, although only at the weekend to minimise confusion. The other languages I plan on learning together with him and am using lots of exposure to attune his ear, while teaching basic words/phrases gradually. When I am more confident in my Russian being understood, I hope to switch to Russian in the week and English at the weekends. I have no idea what will happen with the other languages, whether he will want or be able to use them for day-to-day communication... he barely speaks three words consistantly at the moment!

[reei]

ezhik, thanks for sharing..
i was considering muzzy for spanish but shipping to hong kong cost usd86!.
too expensive for me.
so in addition to Little Pim Spanish, i will add this one to our home curriculum every Mon, Wed and Fri

http://www.123teachme.com/

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