Partner speaking her language to our baby 24/7

Duolingo

Why don't you just learn it? The kid will be fluent in it in 2 years. Why can't you?

Your broken Czech attempts will probably annoy her enough to start speaking English to you

My wife has spoken her language to our 2 children since birth, we both wanted it that way. Children are fluent in both (really handy when we go visit, children can find friends so easily, etc). It's helped me too, I'm not remotely fluent in the other language but can converse a bit and understand alot better. We've also noticed they find learning other language(s) alot easier - not sure why, just an observation, I 100% recommend the children learning both parents language

As the guys said above, learn the language. You've a perfect opportunity to.

A lot of mixed-language parents do this. The child becomes totally bilingual, which is a good thing, imo.

It might not be right - but it's certainly not weird.

Fathers feeling left out after the birth of a child, is an incredibly common occurrence. Even if the child's mother is doing her level best to be inclusive of the fathers, she only has so much attention to go around, and it's now split in two. Invalidating the OP's feelings as "weird" is a very poor response tbh.

The other side of it may very well be that the OP's partner is intentionally excluding him, at best just so she has some shared culture with her child, or at worst as she plans to leave the country with her baby. We don't know the truth.

@aulddanser The language issue is either the cause of a clear rift in your relationship, or the symptom of one. It needs to be solved very quickly before any further resentment builds up, on either side.

The fact that your partner is not really willing to discuss it could be that you've approached it in a way she views as negative (ie: you haven't bothered to learn Czech), or that she isn't receptive of your thoughts for another reason. It may simply be a sign of temporary postnatal depression.

Whatever the reason, the fact your child is in the middle means that by default it's a serious issue. I'd strongly suggest that you speak to a relationship councilor, together to air your feelings, and hers, with some moderation and guidance. You're not weird.

https://www.newsweek.com/two-thirds-new-dads-feel-left-out-early-days-parenting-1701107

"Unless I ask a question or she does we rarely talk or communicate now,"

Communication and/or other problem(s), not a language problem.

I know a Finnish man married to a Vietnamese woman, they have 2 kids.

The dad and kids speak Finnish. The mam and kids speak Vietnamese. All together as as a family, they speak English. Kids fluent in all 3.

Maybe ye could do something like that?

Have you spoken to her about how you?

what a wonderful gift to give her child.

I get the sense there's more going on here. How long are you together? Were you happy before this?

How can you have a relationship if you expect it all on your terms. Your relationship is doomed if you don't try to learn chech.

What Kirving said in post #11. This isn't really about the language. Exactly the same issues could arise if the entire family were monolingual; Mum gives her priority, time and emotional energy to Baby and Dad feels emotionally excluded.

As others have pointed out, the parents here are doing exactly what parents are recommended to do if they want to raise a bilingual child. The change that's needed here is not in how Mum communicates with Baby, but in communication between Mum and Dad.

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.

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.