Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Partner speaking her language to our baby 24/7

Options
2»

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    Beta Ray Bill
    Registered Users Posts: 3,585 ✭✭✭Beta Ray Bill


    Babies brains are like little sponges when it comes to language, they soak up everything so now is the best time to learn. Being multi lingual will be a huge advantage in life.

    You're annoyed because you can't speak Czech. You're just gonna have to learn it.

    You've had a kid (9 months) with his person, so I'm guessing you're with them a long time, at least 2 years. So in all the time you've been with the person, you haven't learned any Czech at all?

    My mates that have partners that come from countries where English is not the 1st language have all learned some of their language. I've one who even learned Finnish which is extremely difficult.

    Just make a start on learning it OP. You'll be grand.



  • Options
    #33
    notAMember
    Registered Users Posts: 1,651 ✭✭✭notAMember


    It's not obvious from the OP where this is taking place? Are you living in Czech, Ireland, somewhere else? I ask because there is a risk the kiddo could NOT pick up english, if you are not speaking to him and he also is immersed in another culture. Babies need to be spoken to if they are to learn it. I know baby talk might not be your comfort zone…

    We don't live in Ireland. We speak exclusively English at home (with a tiny smattering of Irish), and my kids are speaking the local language to their friends / neighbours etc. The youngest one is picking it up noticeably faster than all of us. Babies language learning ability is absolutely exceptional, take advantage of this as much as you can!

    We have a neighbour who had a small baby when we moved here, and we bump into them fairly often, have bbqs etc. They asked us to speak english to their baby when we met them. It's only a couple of times a week for a few mins at a time maybe. He has recently turned two, and speaks to me and my kids in English! Speaks to his dad in Italian and his mum in German. It's really mind-blowing how babies can do this.

    If you speak to baby in English, and she speaks in Czech, and all will be right in the world. Baby learns both.

    Speaking to eachother is a different story, and marriages between different languages and cultures have this extra complexity. For your own sanity and relationship, it probably would help you if you could understand your own wife though, even if you don't speak it. Listening and understanding comes a lot easier than speaking. Do a few mins a day on Duolingo and you'll have it in no time.



  • Options
    #34
    fuzzy dunlop
    Registered Users Posts: 1,149 ✭✭✭fuzzy dunlop


    I am glad this has thread has been effectively bumped. I haven't read all of the posts so apologies if this has come up already.

    It is extremely important that the child listens to its mother in the mothers language at an early age. I live in the Netherlands and speak English with my kids. The kids hear/speak dutch in school.Their mother is neither Irish nor Dutch. We had the older child's language development checked out by the pediatric services here and the explained to us that infants in particular are better off been spoken to in the mothers first language. This is so that the child's emotional nurture is mot impeded. The reason that this can happen is that even if the child does not understand the words the mothers 'love' so to speak is also communicated trough tones and the timbre of her voice. This can be lost if the mother is not speaking her native tongue. So I would suggest putting up with this for now,



  • Options
    #35
    SouthWesterly
    Registered Users Posts: 6,597 ✭✭✭SouthWesterly


    My wife is Slovak. She speaks to the kids in Slovak. Out eldest speaks the language and he can talk to his grandparents most days.

    The youngest understands but hasn't shown any interest in speaking the language.

    I've never had a problem with not knowing what their talking about. I tried learning but gave up. It's a tough nut to crack.

    Ive Irish friends abroad. Their kids speak 5 languages. Including local languages. The parents speak 3.



  • Options
    #36
    paul71
    Registered Users Posts: 3,189 ✭✭✭paul71


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058345933/partner-speaking-her-language-to-our-baby-24-7

    Hi, almost identical situation and I encouraged it. My kids Grandparents only speak Czech and I absolutely wanted them to learn so they could speak to their Grandparents. I learned Czech before the kids were born so in that respect I cannot say I ever felt left out, but I will say that unless your partner speaks to them exclusively in Czech then they are unlikely to pick it up. I have found most language emersion actually comes from the playground and not the parents, this is true of families I know where both parents are Czech and the kids tend to reply to questions given in Czech by speaking English.



  • Advertisement
Advertisement