Encourage Language Learning in Children

[darkchild]

It is a modern trend that children don't always learn the native language of their parents. This is giving rise to more and more children of the new generation only being able to speak English in most countries.

Would you encourage language learning for your children to preserve and imbibe the culture for the future generation?

[Hope]

Actually that is a very thing I am struggling with now. My ancestors come from a long line of Cherokee. The only person in my family who now can speak Cherokee fluently is my Great Aunt, who I do not get to talk to very often. I am trying to find some way to learn Cherokee because that is a part of my family, a heritage I am extremely proud of. It is very difficult learning this language as it is almost dead. I would absolutely teach my children, if I can become fluent in it. Because i want that to be carried one. I want that heritage and part of my family to survive. 

[Trellum]

I definitely will entourage my kids to learn Spanish, mostly because my mother doesn't speak English or dutch    Plus I was born and raised in Mexico, if I didn't teach them Spanish it would be like turning my back on my heritage!  I might try to teach them to speak some ladino too, because I am sephardic Jew     My ladino is not that good, but I am willing to improve it    Point is... my children will definitely be multilingual. 

[GenCitrus]

Absolutely, I would! I think it's really important to learn at least another language apart from your native. I feel it helps to keep an open mind to things. If you know another language, you can be exposed to that language's culture. Take for example, Japanese. You could watch anime in original dubbing and notice things you wouldn't have otherwise, because they are lost in translation. 
Another important thing to understand is that children are much more susceptible to new things. Learning a language is much easier for them at a young age. 

[lingualbabe]

Yes, yes and yes! Right now, my son is just about to turn two years old and we talk to him in our native language mostly. At times, we talk to him in English, although his books are also in English. We sometimes watch cartoons which are in English as well. But majority of the time, whenever we talk to him or play with him, it's in our native language. And personally, I would prefer for him to speak in our native language fluently before I even teach him the basics of English. Why? Because I am from my country and I would love for my son to love his heritage and where he came from.

One of our neighbours told me last week to teach my son English early on. In my mind, I was thinking, "No, I'm going to teach him Filipino first." I really cannot argue with her since she's an elderly woman and I do respect her. But I won't be following that advice, thank you. I know lots of kids here who can speak English fluently and even have accents. But sadly, give them a test in Filipino and they would flunk it. I think Filipino is harder to learn simply because it's more complicated especially if you don't know the basics of it. English is very easy to learn, especially since we're exposed quite often to it. 

Some of my classmates in college even flunked our Filipino classes just because they weren't taught well during elementary and high school about it. And I wouldn't want my son to be an alien to his own language.

[lingvo]

I don't know. I will know when the suitable time to having children comes. It's up to their parents to decide or not to teach kids their native language. Is not something that should take lightly, you need commitment to teach and also, you have to cope with the hindrance of a child not willing to learn your language because disregard it as useless for his/her regular social life. Until they realize that bilingual kids are cooler , of course.

[IronMike]

On 5/24/2016 at 4:28 AM, Hope said:

Actually that is a very thing I am struggling with now. My ancestors come from a long line of Cherokee. The only person in my family who now can speak Cherokee fluently is my Great Aunt, who I do not get to talk to very often. I am trying to find some way to learn Cherokee because that is a part of my family, a heritage I am extremely proud of. It is very difficult learning this language as it is almost dead. I would absolutely teach my children, if I can become fluent in it. Because i want that to be carried one. I want that heritage and part of my family to survive. 

Introduce your Great Aunt to Skype and talk with her regularly!  

[sillylucy]

I think this is something that all people deal with and I know that some people are proud to have their children assimilate. I wish that more people would teach their children to be bilingual instead of just forcing them to forget their native tongue! 

[wolfette]

I think it's a shame when children aren't taught the languages of their parents. My neighbors children barely speak any words of their parents' native language (Tagalog). I find it sad that they won't know the language of their parents. I also hear their parents talking in their native language so that the children can't overhear or listen in to their conversation, and they're often on the phone to people back in the Philippines, but their children can't understand it or talk to them themselves. In my opinion it'd be an advantage to them to speak another language. 

[Lakeisha Brown]

I would love for my son to be bilingual because it will benefit him in the long run. I definitely thing children should learn to speak the language of their heritage. 

[Kev Brown]

Yes I would. The earlier children are exposed to different forms of learning the better it is for them. Also having the ability to speak more than one language allows you to see things from different perspectives which is great for children. As they get older it helps them to become more well-rounded.

[prettylittleliar]

If it applied to me, I definitely would. Learning languages at a young age is so valuable - I wish I'd had the opportunity. I'm English and live in England though, so my native language is my daughter's native language too. I have taught her French from a young age though, even though it's only a second language to me.

[Beautyfulbree]

When I have children I hope they learn several languages. My boyfriend has a cousin who knew 8 languages by the age of 10. They started her off listening to tapes as a baby. As she got older they let her use a computer program. I've always thought it would be a valuable skill for my kid to have.

[Katerwaul]

Well, English is my native language, but I still have to say I absolutely would. It's not just that I'd want my children to know a specific language, but there are so many studies showing that there are strong benefits to children learning a second language at a young age, that it improves the way their brains work and even makes learning new languages much, much easier for them later in life. I feel like they'd just benefit so much from it that I couldn't bring myself to deny them the chance!

[LeesaJohnson]

I would like to encourage and it's a good step to save our native language. Kids should know their native language.

[SoManyLanguages]

I know that if I ever have children, I'll definitely teach them Lithuanian once I learn it. I am quite proud of where I descend from, and I feel a connection to it despite the fact that my great-grandfather was the last person in my family line to be born in Lithuania. I would definitely encourage my children to learn it, considering it's one of the few Baltic languages left around. Though, I've been finding it very difficult to learn.

[sidney]

Of course I would, because it would also be an advantage if they were to learn my native language, rather than being able to speak only one type of language. I do know of parents wanting their kid to learn only English, which I find odd.