BABYTALK

I HAVE A NEPHEW THAT IS GOING TO BE 2 JAN 11 2007 IS IT NORMAL FOR HIM NOT TO SPEAK ENGLISH LIKE THE OTHER KIDS  SHE SAY NO STOP AND THE OTHER WORDS IS FRENCH  I WAS GOING TO MY SISTER IN JANUARY IF HE WASNT TALKING TAKE HIM TO THE DOCTORS OR SOMETHING  BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK

[blessed_mommy]

I'm not understanding.  So is she teaching him to speak French?  Some parents teach a foreign language as the primary language and just have the child learn English when they start school. Other kids are just slow to talk and they are completely heatlhy.

[cugirl]

Boys normally start speaking later than girls do.  But if you think its something that needs to be looked into definatly ask the Dr.  But usually drs reasure you with boys that they talk later.

[Jenny77]

If I understand right, it sound slike your nephew is bilingual. Parents speak english and french. If that's true, then it is quite alright for a chid of 2 to not speak one language as well yet. My neice is half Philipino and her mom speaks broken english and tagalog to her most of the time so it took her a little longer to get the full vocabulary. She is now 5 years old and is quite normal, very good english and definitely in her age group. Don't worry, its a wonderful thing for children to grow up learning different languages.

[emma10]

If the parent is consistent and ALWAYS speaks French, the child will pick up English from peers and French from mom. Otherwise there can be mixing which is trickier.  Usually with daycare or kindergarden they pick up their peer language with no problem (even if they're 4 or 5) .  And they are still fluent in French. I have seen trilingual 3 year olds with perfect control, switching back and forth depending on whom they are talking to, it's truly amazing.

[BABYGIRL2006]

OKAY  MY SISTER TELLS ME  HE SPEAKS FRENCH BUT  MY SISTER AND THE THE CHILDS FATHER FIRST LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH HE MIGHT SAY ONE WORD LIKE NO  BUT WHEN HE TRY TO TALK   TO HAVE A COVERSATION ITS NOTHING NOBODY CAN UNDERSTAND

[petanka]

I myself have a bilingual child. She did talk around the regular time, but all in my native language-Czech. As the other person above me mentioned, she picked up all her English in pre-k etc. Once in a while we would get a phone call that she was saying something and they had no idea, but that quickly changed. Also, it does not mean your child will be slower with learning. She is 7 now and she is in a special class for advanced children. Being bilingual never slowed her down. I would not worry about it, specially being it a boy-they tend to start later anyway.

[emma10]

Is their SECOND language French?  I can't quite tell if you are saying they think he is just speaking French out of thin air or if they were actually speaking French around him and now he is speaking it.

I do know speech dev't is vastly different per child. My DD could speak in full (and I mean long) sentences at 18 months whereas for DS we had to count his vocab to make sure he had 10 words by 18 months (thank goodness they counted animal sounds like "moo" and 'woof')--pediatrician said 10 words was minimum for "on target" dev't.  They're both fine now, great readers, chatterboxes (ie despite the different starts).

[Momoftwogirls]

I have friends with boys that age and some of them talk in complete sentences and others at that age uttered "ugh" and that's about it - all turned out just fine - evidence that they all develop differently. But if it is a concern, always a good idea to bring it up w/the doctor.

[BABYGIRL2006]

i didnt understand why my sister say he speaks french  because  no one knows how to speak a complete sentence of french  in the house everything is english  at his home  he lives in maryland  i wanted to know does that sounds like he is slow this is the first child

[AndiJ78]

It can be tricky to teach your children more than one language. I started teaching my boys ASL when they were infants as a means to help them communicate before their verbal skills kicked in. And once they started babbling, I not only spoke english to them and ASL, but I also started adding some spanish words to the mix. Now my children cannot carry a conversation in ASL or Spanish, but they have a pretty sizable vocab in both languages and with a little more time, they could possibly be fluent in both.

But you can't teach two languages and only do them both half-heartedly. A chld needs a primary means of communicating.

Andi

[navywife41305]

i THINK that what she is trying to say, is that her nephew is hard to understand...and her suster is using the EXPRESSION...'its like he is speaking french'

At 2 years, it is perfectly okai for the child to be hard to understand. I am a teacher assistant to 2 year-olds and some of them...especially the boys, are IMPOSSIBLE to understand. the teacher and i will just look at each other and shrug...or smile and say 'yeah? okai...' to the child...its funny sometimes

my brother didnt speak AT ALL until he was 3 or a little older, and my cousin stopped talking when he was about 18 months and wouldnt talk again till he was about 4...there was nothing wrong with him...just too many people to speak FOR him, lol.

i agree with the ASL also...i am a certified ASL Interpreter, though i dont use it right now...and i plan on teaching some signs to my kids as babies. they learn to sign before they can speak, and signing provides them a way to communicate, so there is less crying and less frusteration

[BABYGIRL2006]

his mother is african american and father is too they both speak english why does the baby speak  like you cant understand what he is saying ecept 1 word and when you ask him something he ignores what you are saying and do what he wants

[JJety]

He's not even 2 yet.  They ALL do what they want to do  :-)   They all babble, and it eventually turns into words you can understand.  If she's worried then she can definitely talk to his pediatrician with he goes in for his next well-baby check up, but he sounds normal to me.  They all develop at a different pace.  If he was 4, then she might have a valid concern right now.

[cugirl]

I have a friend whose little boy just started speaking where you can understand him he is 5 and in speech therapy.  He couldnt talk when he was 4 all he did was make noises and point.  Since hes only 2 Im sure its nothing to worry about but ask the Dr to make sure.
Also I know a boy who is 4 that speaks fluent veitamese (SP?) and just started learning english 4 months ago and you can understand him clearly in both languages.

[petanka]

dolchina just a friendly advise from my own experience. I did exactly what you are planning on doing, DH talked only english, me both and grandparents who were taking care of her only czech. It took me many years to get her answear me or talk to me in my native language. Once she figured out that I spoke english, she chosed the eaiser rout. I highly recomend only your native language for you. But that is just my personal experience.

[DollChina]

Thanks for the advise.  My parents don't speak English at all so if Gavin wants to communicate with them, he will have to speak Chinese!  I know he will because he has to, DH and I are gone to work during the day and if he wants something then he will have to say it.  I on the other hand don't mind it either way.  Do you think that'll work?

[Mertek]

I think it is great that these children are picking up second languages, and how lucky the kids are that have parents that speak fluently. I was once fluent in French, and am in the process of becoming so again. There is a lot to be said for "use it or lose it"

I speak odd words here and there to my children in French, and  also used ASL in the early years. I didn't keep up the ASL as the children got older. I wouldn't go so far as to say they have a sizeable vocab either, if you aren't speaking on a regular basis or having the child attempt to communicate then I don't think you can call it a second language.

The ASL was a God send in the years leading up to speach, I would highly recommend it.

Petanka and Dollchina, I am so envious of the bilingual households you have!

[DollChina]

I plan on raising GAvin billingual as well.  Here's my plan, dh and I will speak to him in English at all time and my parents who will be caring for him while we are at work will speak to him in Chinese.  The child will pick up automatically, you will be amazed ho w eay it is for them to learn.  It might take a little longer for them to learn both language well but they will.  You just have to be consistent.

[jian]

I plan to raise my child with three languages from the beginning.
My DH's mother tongue and mine is different, two there and English extra. I am sure they will pick it up.As they grow up, thwy will pick up two or three more,( I myself speak 6 languages)

In my place kids start with minimum two languages, and by the time they are in the school goes up to minimum three!!

I have seen kids speaking fluent English, their mother tongue and another language picked up from school with ease. though they do not understand what language they are speaking at that time, they answer back in the language you talk to them.

[petanka]

Hey girl, sorry for the late reply. My parents do not speak English either, so I know he will learn your language no problem. The question I am raising here is does it bother you that he may not want to talk to you in your language? I think that Gaving will be perfectly fine talking to your parents, but he may have a hard time talking to you in your native language, at least my girl did. I finally had to switch to Czech only, so she would respond to me in Czech and it took me about two long years. I think that with this baby I will be much striker about the language. Me ONLY Czech, hubby only English. Also, once he starts attending pre-k and your parents will not be in his daily life as much, English may be all you will hear from him. Anyway, I am just giving you an advise from the mistakes I made. It is incredible how easy it is for them to learn second language and how hard it is to maintain it! I take my girl home to Czech every summer, so she is exposed to only Czech for about a month and then my mom comes for 2-6 months a year, so that certainly helps. I hope you will have an easier time with it then I did.

[Elicam]

one day you cant understand a word they are saying the next day you wish they would just shut up for a second (only joking).

I didn't understand my miece until recently and she is 3. My friends daughter is 2 and 4 months and she doesn't make much sense either. She says occasional words which make sense and the rest is all mumbo jumbo.

Its normal, the first child normally learns later than a second child. Each shild is different.

If they are worried then take him to a daughter, but otherwise he sounds fine to me.

[BABYGIRL2006]

ok  he must be fine and a little slow  thts what i get out of the reponses  thanks   and  navywife  thats what i was trying to say in the post you wrote