Comments on Hobo Mama: Monolingual raising a bilingual baby, or why we're...

Thanks so much for the links. They are super helpf...

2011-04-12T12:44:09.753-07:00

Thanks so much for the links. They are super helpful!

I just found this post while surfing through your ...

2010-12-24T04:51:44.744-08:00

I just found this post while surfing through your site and it (the post) struck quite a chord. I am bilingual (English and American Sign Language) and my husband is monolingual (English). We live in Japan, which has its own sign language completely unrelated to ASL. I'm decent, but not fluent and not a native signer. I have no one to sign with so I know my skills are deteriorating the longer we are here (been here 2 years, 2 more to go). We have no access to signing peers for our 10-month old daughter (or for us!) so are trying to give it a go with just the two of us (one or two friends use a handful of signs with their babies, but that's about it). Before our daughter was born we decided to try voice-off ASL only days every other day. Yeaahhhhh, that totally didn't work. I discovered the hard way, and quickly, that signing when your arms are full of baby is a challenge! I tried signing when we were out and about, but in the stroller she faced away from me and I couldn't carry her in the Moby for more than 30 minutes (bad back). So, my options were to say nothing when I wasn't in her line of sight or to fill in with English. I chose to fill in with English. So now here we are, 10 months later, still trying to figure out this bilingual thing so it'll work for our family... I think maybe now that she's mobile and can sit in the grocery cart (i.e. face me when we're shopping) we can go back to trying every other day, but we are wide open for tips and totally feel ya' on the awkward/non-native speaker/trying to work out the kinks bits!

I read this as soon as I saw the link because we a...

2010-11-07T13:51:24.149-08:00

I read this as soon as I saw the link because we actually live in Germany right now with my one year old. I have full intentions of sending him to a German preschool (they can start at two years old) next fall, but it never occurred to me to research bilingual families and children! So thank you so much for the links, I will be learning all I can about it as my husband an I are both native English speakers. I do speak enough German "to get by" but I'd like to step it up in order to teach Johnny enough to carry on once we head back to the States. One of the ways to do that would be to join our town's Krabbelgruppe where there are kids under school age and their mamas just hanging out, but I'm also so nervous! It's been a year tho so maybe I'll just take the plunge because I know we'd learn a whole lot quick-like. Silly how our nerves get in the way of things we'd like to do and teach our children! It's good to know that they have multi-lingual preschools Stateside, I'll have to look into it once we get back!
What a great post!

Navelgazingbajan: Catching up on comments. ...

2010-07-08T00:53:42.291-07:00

Navelgazingbajan: Catching up on comments. :) So glad you're in this with us! It helps to know of other non-native speakers with big ambitions.

Corey: I really do love your website! My son's teacher was just recommending it again to me the other day. :) We used to live in Ravenna, right next to the park, and I'd love to go back there and play. I will figure out a way to contact you through your site, or my email is mail {at} hobomama.com Yea!

OMG - I completely failed to get back to you (my f...

2010-06-23T14:26:12.544-07:00

OMG - I completely failed to get back to you (my fault for spending too much time getting Multilingual Living going - the website I've been working on for many years but didn't get my act together to complete it). I also couldn't find this post again but finally found it today! Woohoo!

YES! Would love to meet up in W. Seattle. Why is it that most of my friends live in W. Seattle. I swear it is a conspiracy! Let's set a date! You don't homeschool, right? We live near Ravenna Park - another option. ;-)

So glad to be connected!!!

I finally got around to reading this older post of...

2010-01-27T11:18:33.309-08:00

I finally got around to reading this older post of yours and I'm so glad I did. I'll be in the same boat as you in terms of trying to teach my son a language that neither my husband nor I are native speakers of, and where my fluency is limited as well. I'm also like you in that I'm shy about speaking my second language around native speakers. I know I'll have to get over that eventually. Thanks so much for sharing your journey,

Hi, Corey! How fun to hear from you! I'...

2010-01-21T09:14:40.127-08:00

Hi, Corey! How fun to hear from you! I'm still shy about Kinderstube gatherings, though I think I'm just going to have to force myself! I've been able to meet some German-speaking families now through the preschool my son goes to, so that's been a little easing in, maybe. :)

I will definitely check out your link and the book. I had been to your site before and remember enjoying it. I will go search for the relevant articles now. I do understand trying to balance writing and all those other things that demand attention and/or pay money!

Maybe we could meet up someday. I'm in West Seattle, and if that sounds like the boonies to you, we could come out your way. :)

A friend just forwarded me your blog and I realize...

2010-01-21T08:59:34.064-08:00

A friend just forwarded me your blog and I realize that you live in Seattle! I started the Seattle Kinderstube group here and was laughing when I read about your hesitation to get involved... I hear you! It can be so intimidating! I also started the Bilingual/Bicultural Family Network and Multilingual Living Magazine (www.biculturalfamily.org) but we are kind of on hold at the moment - priorities have reminded me that I have three kids, a husband and a paying job that I must attend to. :-) But I'm sure you will find some helpful information there.

I am raising my children in German, which is my non-native language, and wrote a few articles for Multilingual Living Magazine about how best to go about this. My husband is German so we both speak it at home with the kids and about 50% with one another - it is very helpful for us BOTH to be speaking the non-community language. We also homeschool, so that really helps keep German alive for our kids too. And we have them go to the Seattle German Language School on Saturdays - they don't learn a ton of German but it helps!

Check out Colin Baker's book: A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism (from Multilingual Matters), it is an easy and supportive resource for raising bilingual children! Luckily for us, there are some really good books out there now (finally!) due to the interest in childhood bilingualism.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement! Things a...

2009-04-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement! Things are going really well so far, and I'm enjoying speaking more and more German with our little guy. And it turns out he understands it! Cool!

ana lilian: I'm really enjoying spanglishbaby.com and have added it to my reader. If I ever make that list of bilingual resources, I'll be sure to include it. It's really helpful for ideas and encouragement, and I love that it's fostered community. I've been idly wondering if I could add a little Spanish to his days as well, but with my pathetic high-school Spanish...well, maybe some books and songs! :)

elizabeth peña: Your blog is really intriguing, and I'm following along as well. (Oh, for anyone else who had trouble getting there — it looks like a letter was left out initially, so it's actually 2languages2worlds.wordpress.com.) I love reading research, especially when it's on unique populations like bilingual people.

smashedpea: I'm so glad to hear I'm not alone! I've been feeling better about speaking German to him despite my initial discomfort. In public now, it just makes me feel like I have a secret or something. :) And, the funniest thing, my husband who swears he's horrible at languages is picking up some German words and phrases without any prompting from me! And he's been really supportive, which is such a help. It's funny about the age differences you mentioned — there's a 4-year-old at my son's school whom the teachers keep reminding to speak in German. I'm not sure if he really forgets to or if he's just so much more comfortable speaking English. Still, he clearly understands everything they say, so I bet he could start chattering away if he was ever plopped down in Germany. So probably the same with yours!

lingo toys: That's so cool! I'm glad your son is learning both languages so well. That's such a gift. I know my mother and her siblings were disappointed that their parents raised them monolingually — my grandmother spoke Swedish and Finnish in addition to English, but out of respect for my grandfather who spoke only English, they raised their kids only in English. My mom's always been sad about that. So I'm sure your son will someday be so appreciative of your gift to him.

Congratulations on raising a bilingual child. I to...

2009-03-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on raising a bilingual child. I too contemplated when I was pregnant with my son to have him learn his native tongue
my husband and I are Greek American and although we fluently speak the Greek language we often spoke only English.
So I decided the best gift to give my son is language and te best education he can have.. long story short he is 2 years and 8 months old and speaks English and Greek!!!
SO keep up the great work

You go, girl :)

Giving a kid a second langu...

2009-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

You go, girl :)

Giving a kid a second language (or more) is a great gift, regardless of how well/whether you speak that language or not.

I am bilingual (German/English), but still have some of the same challenges you have. Like feeling silly speaking German to my kids when we're out in public. Thinking it's rude to do it when my unilingual husband is around. That kind of thing.

But I keep trying. So far, my oldest (4 in June) understands both languages equally well, but is squarely under the impression that she speaks no German (despite evidence to the contrary!). And my wee one at 20 months understands both and has words from both languages, though definitely more in English.

They'll both be going to German Saturday school when the time comes and I'm hoping for a ton of help from them.

Hope it works out for you (and us)!

It is a challenge, but it is possible to raise bil...

2009-03-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

It is a challenge, but it is possible to raise bilingual children even in the U.S. Consistency is key.

I blog about some of these issues from a research perspective over at: http://2language2worlds.wordpress.com

I congratulate you on the decision to raise a bili...

2009-03-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

I congratulate you on the decision to raise a bilingual child. Trust me, it´s even a challenge for bilingual parents teaching our kids our native and minority language. We have to find ways to make the minority language something organic and fun in their lives. It takes courage and dedication.
I´d love for you to check out the site a friend and I have created to serve as a resource for parents raising bilingual kids. We´ve only been in the blogosphere since early Feb and are loving the sense of community the site has created. It´s www.spanglishbaby.com
We focus on Spanish-learners, but the expert advice and informative articles are useful for any languages.
Best of luck and I´m so happy to have found your blog!!