How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

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weissnichtgenau
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How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby weissnichtgenau » Wed Aug 31, 2022 4:14 pm

I raise my baby girl bilingually. I started speaking to her in English when she turned one. English is the only language I have used with her from that day on (even though it's not my mother tongue). My parents, who see my baby girl daily, speak to her in German (my mother tongue).

As I also speak Turkish very well, I'd like to start speaking to her in Turkish too.
Do you have any tips how I should introduce it?
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Erisnimi
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Re: How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby Erisnimi » Tue Sep 06, 2022 10:03 am

This article I read recently might be of interest to you:

The Guardian: "Britain’s multilingual children: ‘We speak whatever language gets the job done’"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -job-done-

I don't have experience of a situation like yours but maybe think of introducing a language in a certain context, like bedtime stories or songs.
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weissnichtgenau
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Re: How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby weissnichtgenau » Tue Sep 06, 2022 12:14 pm

Erisnimi wrote:This article I read recently might be of interest to you:

The Guardian: "Britain’s multilingual children: ‘We speak whatever language gets the job done’"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -job-done-

I don't have experience of a situation like yours but maybe think of introducing a language in a certain context, like bedtime stories or songs.


Thanks for the article; it really is of interest to me. Thank you!
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Sep 08, 2022 12:39 am

Our family is comfortably trilingual in a multilingual environment.

From the birth of our first child who is now eight years old, I spoke (and continue to speak) French. We have three children now: 8, 5, and 2 y.o. When the eldest was between 4 and 5 years old and the second 2 to 3 y.o. I started introducing Dutch to them both gradually (the third child wasn't born yet). It took some struggles with Dutch but we got there (there was resistance from the eldest preferring French - even over English at times).

We've always done one parent one language (my wife speaks English with the kids) with a twist - I speak French and Dutch and there is some exposure to Spanish and Norwegian with the kids. When I started speaking French to our first child from birth I was a little uncomfortable with it and my French had not yet reached B2 level. My Dutch is still not B2 now (my French is likely C1). And yet it has been hugely successful. Why?

I think because of boundaries. The article that Erisnimi linked to gives some confidence to readers considering introducing other languages to their children:

Erisnimi wrote:This article I read recently might be of interest to you:

The Guardian: "Britain’s multilingual children: ‘We speak whatever language gets the job done’"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -job-done-

I don't have experience of a situation like yours but maybe think of introducing a language in a certain context, like bedtime stories or songs.


...and there are different approaches mentioned in the article such as OPOL (one parent one language) and as Erisnimi quotes "whatever language gets the job done". From my observations and personal experience if you want your children to have more than passive knowledge (can understand but can't speak/read) then boundaries around speech are important. Therefore I'm not impressed by the 'whatever language gets the job done', as I feel it leads to language attrition - can understand, can't speak, and then later in life they simply don't use the language. While I anticipate my children may never use the languages later in life if they choose not to, the chance of being able to use them successfully is much higher if they have already actively used the languages while growing up.

If my children want to speak to me on French days, they must speak French. On Dutch days they must speak Dutch (we alternate 2 to 4 French days followed by 2 to 4 Dutch days). How do you accomplish this? How do you prevent your child from reverting to another language that they are more comfortable with? The answer in my experience is clear boundaries, fun and encouragement.

For boundaries I advise you never let another language into the picture. If you are surrounded by German for example and want English or Turkish to be used, then your child must respond to you in that language. If they do not develop the ability to speak it, then they're not going to speak it even if you speak it to them (and they reply in another language). Simple as that (unless they actively learn it later in life - which is becomes a harder task).

For juggling two foreign languages from one adult, as I do with French and Dutch and introducing one language later, then gradually increase exposure and gradually increase expected output. I also recommend clear boundaries around which language when or where. I.e. Turkish outside, English inside (the house). Turkish on Mon/Wed/Fri, English other days... etc, but stick to the plan. I rotate, as mentioned from French for 2 to 4 days (depending on satisfaction with exposure), then back to Dutch for an equal number of days.

Let's say you go with English/Turkish days as I do with French/Dutch, then you could start saying EVERYTHING you possibly can in both languages (yes that means saying things twice). You don't have to do this, but it is a way to increase passive knowledge - your child will understand the Turkish eventually without issue because you are saying the same things in English too. On "English days" English could come first. On Turkish days, Turkish first. Eventually you drop English from your Turkish days and use occasional English words to clarify but you must then stop this as well and find ways to explain entirely in Turkish. Your English days would revert to entirely English communication and Turkish days entirely Turkish. Once you switch entirely you might find it's best to go with one full day of Turkish, one full day of English, once comfortable increase to 2/2, 3/3, whatever suits.

The media on those days would also gradually change. Music, books, audiobooks, TV, podcasts etc - anything you possibly can must gradually shift to entirely English on English days and Turkish on Turkish days. You would start in the beginning mixing the languages, but once comprehension is increased you stop mixing.

The duration of transition could be much shorter if your child is still very young (I'm not sure of her age). If she is one y.o. for example, then the entertainment (TV is not recommended for 1 y.o.) could swap almost immediately to dedicated English days and dedicated Turkish days, while the speech I would recommend to be more of an assisted transition as described above.

Fun means - TV, stories (reading aloud), audiobooks, music, podcasts and the like should all be in the target langauge(s).

Encouratement means - Well consider than some reports suggest your children must be exposed to the language for at least 30% of their waking time for it to be successful. Well I'm a shift worker, I'm very busy, I have my own interests, I live on a farm, I speak to my children in two foreign languages and they respond to me in those languages. So, it can be done. Think 'more exposure is better than less but some exposure is better than none'. I also read aloud to my children in Spanish often (but don't speak it throughout the day to them) and they also watch some TV in Spanish and Norwegian. I plan on increasing their knowledge in these languages at a later date. The reading and TV is a warm up for more language exposure later (when I can actually speak them confidently). 'Pre-exposure' is better than trying to fight a battle when my kids are older in throwing languages at them that sound completely new.

So, 'encouragement'. When my daughter wanted to reply to me in English at one point (instead of French) when she was younger and she literally didn't know the French words, I'd say them first and get her to repeat them back to me (with encouragement). Once/if I knew she knew the words but struggled to remember them (or a sentence), I'd give her the first syllable of the word, the first word of a sentence and ask her to say the rest. The thing is if you just provide the 'answers' for them, they will keep relying on you to say what they are trying to say and not develop their memory recall/pronunciation/confidence. Thus, assist them to use their memory/skills/brain and be gentle.

Even nowadays my kids sometimes automatically use French instead of Dutch, especially after a string of French days. Fair enough - I do it myself too sometimes! I first ask them to speak Dutch and again if they can't find the word, I assist and get them to finish the phrase or repeat back as necessary. Sometimes I might explain something in French on a Dutch day if a Dutch explanation doesn't cut it, but then I repeat the Dutch word/phrase in Dutch so that they simply don't remember the French explanation. English (the societal dominant language, my mother tongue, the national language) does sometimes come into the picture a little more nowadays than in the past as I'm more confortable it won't cause issues but I still try to avoid it as much as possible.

These are my experiences, take what you will from the above and use what you feel might be useful, or simply don't. Still, I hope this has given you some ideas.

PS It's not unusual for me to look up the definitions of words sometimes while reading Dutch to the kids as I'm not yet what I'd call an advanced Dutch language user, but we (myself and the kids) are improving together. The more time passes, the more we have used the language and learned. Of course, the same goes for French, but my French is much more advanced. Yet I don't use made up language - I speak using terms and language I know is correct, for what I don't know I look it up or avoid it. I also have decent pronunciation, so I'm not exposing them to heavily accented incorrect langauge.

Good luck!
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weissnichtgenau
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Re: How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby weissnichtgenau » Thu Sep 08, 2022 10:57 am

Thank you so much for your detailed reply, Peter. It is extremely motivating to know how well you handle teaching your kids your languages, even though you are not a native and are working and have other hobbies too. I think I'll try to use Turkish as the "outside" language and continue with English as the "inside" language. We go out a lot, so I think that should work fine. I'll give it a try; if it doesn't work like that, I might change to the "x day(s) Turkish, x day(s) English" approach. I'm also thinking about putting her in a bilingual (EN + DE) kindergarten which should be of great help for her English as well.

My baby girl is 2 years now, by the way, so I really have to get going before she gets even older and the "magic of learning languages very easily" gets reduced.
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PeterMollenburg
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Re: How to introduce third language (multilingual kids)

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Sep 08, 2022 11:57 am

weissnichtgenau wrote:Thank you so much for your detailed reply, Peter. It is extremely motivating to know how well you handle teaching your kids your languages, even though you are not a native and are working and have other hobbies too. I think I'll try to use Turkish as the "outside" language and continue with English as the "inside" language. We go out a lot, so I think that should work fine. I'll give it a try; if it doesn't work like that, I might change to the "x day(s) Turkish, x day(s) English" approach. I'm also thinking about putting her in a bilingual (EN + DE) kindergarten which should be of great help for her English as well.

My baby girl is 2 years now, by the way, so I really have to get going before she gets even older and the "magic of learning languages very easily" gets reduced.


You're most welcome :) Feel free to get in touch (send me a PM) if you want to share some thoughts. If its general queries or sharing, then I'd encourage you to continue to use this thread (or another), so others can join in or learn from the discussion.

We did send our eldest to a French class once a week when she was younger for around 18 months. It was great for social interaction with others learning French (common interest - positive reinforcement), and that was the aim, but it did little for her actual language level as she felt it too easy (the majority of the kids came from families that didn't speak French at home, so it wasn't hard for her in comparison). I didn't expect them (the organisation - Alliance Française) to make her 'more advanced' - it was only ever for some common ground with peers speaking French as well. I highly recommend bilingual education or a setting that fosters growth of (a) foreign language(s) provided they don't have a poor reputation.

At 2 years of age, introducing a third language should be smoother (depending on her personality of course) than my experience for my eldest who was between 4 and 5. You've got this!
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