my son is mixing all languages that we are learning

[jane_dmitrova]

Hello,

From the birth my son was exposed to 3 languages (Russian, Dutch, English). When he was 6 month we started Chinese. When he was 1 year we added French and two months ago we added Spanish (my son is 2 years old at the moment).

Recently he started to speak, actually he started way earlier but we did not understand a thing then. Now we started to understand him but he is mixing all languages. For example, my bike, my is from Dutch and bike from Chinese. Driver of the bus - driver from Russian and bus from English or driver of the truck, when truck is from French. Intersting thing is that he, for example, says elephant only in Chinese, he does not know (or at least I do not know that he knows as he does not say it) in any other languages so at the end he knows a lot of words from all languages and he is mixing them all in one phrase.

What can I do to help him to understand that these are all different languages and he should use only words from one language in one sentence? Or it is too early for him? Should I do something in this situation?

[andreasro]

First, it's normal.
Second, it's still normal 

The best thing to do, as I have seen the same thing with my son, is to speak to him in phrases. If he mixes in a phrase different languages, you reinforce the phrase just in one language - your native is easier for you -, or if you can, in all of them so he can grasp intuitively the grammar of each language.

In fact, my son has shown me that children at an early age can learn each foreign language just as they learn their native one - for instance, mispelling a word by trying to repeat it after hearing an adult, then saying a correct word, then misspeling words in a sentence, then using a correct sentence etc.

The idea above is working with my son so have faith and try it with you child too.  He'll repeat after you. And the more you say it, the more he'll say it. Just repeat over and over again, I mean each time you see a chance, the same things in just one language using sentences and phrases.
 My son can speak the same sentence in two languages, for instance "It's a clock" - English, "Este un ceas" - Romanian". And the more I am proficient in more languages, the more he can speak properly.

No need for explanation, they learn like "little monkeys", by watching and listening you. Just talk to him so he can absorb the language using both sides of the brain, mainly the right one in this case, I think.

Keep up the good work,

Andrea

[MummyRoo]

My son is mixing languages, but in a really systematic way. For example, he only says 'bellybutton' and 'please' in Russian, and 'dog' in Chinese (his only Chinese word that I've noticed, but there could be more mixed in with babble!) - I find it quite odd. I know he knows how to say dog and please and bellybutton in English, but he refuses now that he knows them in other languages! It's like he's thinking, 'pupok' sounds so much better than 'bellybutton' so I'll just use that one!'

He's only 20m, so I'm sure he'll grow out of it in time.  It sounds so funny when he does it, though! People just don't get why he says 'goa' instead of 'dog'

[2010BEBES]

i can easily understand this specially when we are working with many languages at the same time and i think that in time they will start to realize the difference between the different languages and start using them correctly.
My grandson use to mention some animals like 'cow', 'pig', 'mouse' 'dog' in english even when speaking spanish. I think the reason is that he made up his mind and found it easier to pronounce those words instead of the spanish ones. He knew them because of the books that i usually read to him as a child (in english). In the preschool (2 yrs) they recomen to avoid speaking in other language till he learn to speak 'his' native language well but i know they were wrong. Now he is 4 yrs old and knows and speaks perfectly the spanish word but also knows the english translation.

The doubt i have is when you do not have someone around him to speak the language correctly.
My granddaughter started french (DVD, music) at 3 month old and my daughter is lerning with her in order to mention some words other than watching the DVD. She also listen to english music but is going to start LR around 5 month old. Later on she will start Quechua (only conversation since we do not have any material) and Chinese (only through materials - LR, DVD, CD since we have no one to speak to her.

It is very important for parents that are exposing their kids or even babies (the younger the better) to various language that they realized that maybe some of this situation of language miximg will take place.  The wonderful result of this exposure is that they will remember the sounds and if they continue learning the language when they grow up, it will be  lot easier.

[Boca Beth]

I hope to simply emphasize that which has already been said!

Code switching is a sign of a true linguist!

Mixing is normal in young children who are exposed to multiple languages.

Keep a positive attitude.

Show signs of only confidence as your child continues to learn.

Smile a lot!

[Ella87]

Jane-dmitrova you are learning 6 different language to your son?! 
Reaaaaally?!
How many of them you know?
How do you learn them?
By DVD? A person speaks?
Do you believe it works?
It's amazing but I think baby become confused with all these languages and forget her own!! 

[aangeles]

Jane,

I don't think you have anything to worry about! I think it's great that your son is absorbing and expressing himself in the different languages to which you've been exposing him. As all the previous posters have said, code switching is entirely normal. If you would like to read more about the development of language in multilingual children as well as get some practical advice on raising multilingual kids, I highly recommend the book Growing Up with Three Languages which I found to be a very enjoyable read: http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Three-Languages-Parents-Teachers/dp/1847691064. The author is a linguist and a mother raising two sons in English, French, and Chinese.

My daughter Ella just recently turned 3 and is learning 6 languages as well. My husband and I only speak 3 of those 6 languages (English, Mandarin, and Tagalog), but we probably code-switch a lot more than she does. I don't know if it has anything to do with her tendency to be a perfectionist, but if she does not know how to say something in one language, for example Chinese, she will ask me first, "Mama,.how do you say .... in Chinese?" After I tell her how to say it, only then will she say the whole sentence in Chinese. At the moment, I would say that her strongest languages are Chinese and English - she has a much wider vocabulary in and a deeper understanding of Chinese, but she speaks more spontaneously in English (probably because we live in the US.) Next is Spanish where she is able to express herself in phrases and sentences already, like "Me gusta la torta de chocolate. Es delicioso!" or "Puedo tener el rojo y el amarillo lápices?" Then Tagalog, which is one of our native languages but ironically she has more difficulty with Tagalog than Spanish, which my husband and I don't speak. And lastly French, in which she just recently surprised me by saying her first complete sentence, "Je veux jouer à cache-cache avec papa!" I am not really counting Japanese as one of her languages yet, since she is only at the stage of acquiring vocabulary in Japanese. 

As for reading, she is at vastly different levels in all her languages as well. She reads phonetically at a late 2nd-grade level in English, at 1st-2nd grade level in Chinese, and can read sight-read a few hundred words in Spanish and French, but does not read phonetically in the last two languages because I intentionally avoided teaching her Spanish and French phonics until she has a firm foundation in reading English. Lately, however, I am beginning to think that she is ready to learn to read phonetically in Spanish and French as well. The problem is, how do I teach her to read these languages when I can't speak them myself?!? When I was looking up the link for the book I mentioned to you above, I noticed that the author has recently published a new one called Learning to Read and Write in the Multilingual Family: http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Multilingual-Family-Parents-Teachers/dp/1847693695/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313286474&sr=1-1. Seeing how much I enjoyed her first book, I think I will be getting this one as well.

Sorry, this post turned out to be more long-winded than I intended, but all I really wanted to say was - Keep up the good work! Your son is doing great! 

[bella]

ok wonderful mums i am enjoying all those posts but hitting myself on the head , i speak english french arabic and these are the languages i have the courage to teach my kids , and with only 3 languages i find it hard to fit in enough time exposure for the language . how do you manage 6 and seven languages ??? my kids speak very early , and at 2.5 my kindergarden teacher freind keeps telling me my son language skills are amazing even better that some of the kids in her classroom . and because of that i try to build on their early success . and they themselves refuse to use other languages finding it much easier to express themselves in the language they master . still i continue to expose them , we read in other languages , i speak to them in other languages , they understand but refuse to use the language answer me back in english .. only at four when i put my daughter in a french school and she was miserable cried for two weeks , i took her out , kinda of wanting to show me that she can learn everything at home she started talking back to me in french , and now can read phonetically in french . her brother is only 2.5 years old , he even refuses french books and asks for his english books . i have to really make it very interesting and act up when reading in french to get his attention .
i am probably not doing enough and didn't immerse them in the language as i should , but honestly i find it hard to schedule those languages in our daily routine .and i wonder why not spanish and chinese and other languages . but if i am finding it difficult with only three , how could i fit more .
please tell me practically in your day how do you do it ??
love
viv

[MummyRoo]

We struggle to fit it in, too! We have been doing Russian from birth, Chinese from about 12m and are starting Japanese. I find that I can't get enough time in the day to do as much as I'd like. I speak Russian as much as I can (anything from 10 minutes to a few hours  ) and he seems to have a fair understanding and responds to some words and phrases, though not as much as I'd like. He is still at the stage where he won't 'perform' his speech in any language and will only say things when he wants to, so I can't say whether he will start refusing to speak in Russian at any point. At the mpment, his Russian is almost always spontaneous or repeating after me, rather than answering questions. Behind his English, but not much behind what some 20m babies use

At the moment Chinese is his favourite thing to do, but as I don't speak the language we have to rely on media. He usually has LR Chinese at least once a day, on an ideal day it would be LR twice and Wink to Learn twice and maybe Little Pim, but that is a rare day! I am saving up for some beginner books to start reading with him in Chinese, too.

Japanese we are just starting and it is lucky if we watch Wink to Learn 4 or 5 times a week.

I hope that his foreign languages will always be his favourite game. But time will tell - when he gets to the stage that he can communicate clearly in English but not the other language, he may change his mind.

Have you tried the idea of having a special toy that only 'speaks' in one language? Perhaps that would work for your son - get a new bear or a puppet and insist that it only speaks French or Arabic - or one for each language. It is an idea I had for later to encourage play in Russian, since we don't have any Russian-speaking friends nearby.

[RenaissanceMum]

My son is mixing up the languages he is learning as well...so I can definately relate, he says something in Mandarin but says its Spanish, and vice versa...at least they're learning, .

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