https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 06 May 2026 02:02:19 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1280213 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:31:40 +0000 chopsuey 1280213@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD is bilingual and we didn't have any language delays!</p> <p>:grin: :crying: :silly: :shocked: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1280158 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:11:50 +0000 shinymama 1280158@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are a bilingual Spanish/English household. With my oldest I spoke to him in Spanish and DH in English. He didn't meet the pediatrician benchmarks initially (18-24 months) but soon thereafter he "caught up" and zoomed past them. He's 11 now and he is completely fluent in both and never really mixed them up.</p> <p>With our youngest (15 months) we each speak to him in both languages and have asked our family and childcare providers to do the same. He says 8 words, and aside from names/titles, it's an even split between English and Spanish words. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1280145 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 14:07:05 +0000 Mrs.Someone 1280145@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No direct experience, but my 2yo niece is in a bilingual home. English at daycare (3days/week I think) and out in the world, then another language at home. When we were visiting my ILs, she started with being more comfortable with English, but after 2 weeks of not hearing as much of it she was more comfortable with the other language and picked up plenty of new words (I did too because of her!) She seems to understand both, though her answer to everything was "no" so who really knows ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1280123 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 13:58:16 +0000 looch 1280123@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are also bilingual and it is not true that it causes speech delays. It is just more words to choose from. You will notice if there are issues, that they manifest in mispronunciation of the same sounds in both languages. Often it is oral motor issues that cause issues, not the number of languages ( I have talked to a lot of speech therapists and oral motor therapists on two continents).</p> <p>My son ins three and he also mixes up languages. He uses the German word for suitcase, as an example. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279673 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 11:47:51 +0000 Maysprout 1279673@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DH speaks French to LO and I speak English to her. She started out picking up words about the same from each language. Then she moved to really just having a mix of the two languages. As she started forming more complex sentences she's pretty much started speaking exclusively English though. She understands when DH and the IL speak to her in French follows instruction and the conversation but responds in English (which is what I do). She's 2.5 now so we're going to try and encourage her to speak French a bit more. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279667 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 11:47:17 +0000 leelee 1279667@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My side of the family only speaks to DD in Vietnamese and DHs side only English. She definitely understands both but she speaks more Vietnamese. She started saying "hi uncle" in Vietnamese at about 11 months followed by "grandpa" "Mickey Mouse". She's 17 months now but I think her language explosion happened around 15 months when she started asking us to put on her shoes "wear shoes go outside" and she can name all of her relatives and more importantly to her all the characters in mickey mouse clubhouse haha.</p> <p>@mrsjyw: I have heard that boys may have their language explosion later. My nephew is 4 months older than DD but only says a fraction of the words that DD does. He definitely understands though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279621 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 11:34:56 +0000 mrskc 1279621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: so interesting to hear about your son. And so funny that he mixes the languages. I'm really hoping my son picks up Mandarin even though he only hears it from DH. I'm actually learning to understand it a little from hearing my DH speak it all the time! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279155 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 09:47:03 +0000 Chastenet 1279155@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: I'm glad to hear your experience since your son is older :) This makes me very excited for DD to have that language explosion! I think English will be dominant for her for now since we moved back to the US - but our long-term plan is to return to France so hopefully she will be 100% bilingual with very little preference. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279101 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 09:28:26 +0000 mamimami 1279101@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us, things were slow but took off between 18 and 24 months. Like @Rubies said, our ped told us he should have 20 words at 18 months but he only had 13 max, including animal sounds (they count!!!) In the following few months he just exploded with language and now he's doing awesome. My girl is just a little older than your son so now I can start worrying about her... she says "hola" and "papa" and "quack quack" but that's about it. Babies are so random. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1279006 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 08:58:34 +0000 Rubies 1279006@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know that by 18-months, toddlers should know 20 words (as per my ped). </p> <p>When DD1 was 15 months, she knew maybe 10-12 words?</p> <p>We speak English to DD...And so do my parents and in-laws (we asked them to). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278990 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 08:54:53 +0000 Alivoo01 1278990@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@locavore_mama: I try so hard to speak Chinese to DS, but catch myself doing more 60/40 Chinese/English. Then there's the occasional Khmer too. I make up weird songs in Chinese though, and DS gets a kick out them since I make him "dance" to the corresponding words. haha! </p> <p>He's a boy and I heard they develop slower. Since we're introducing him to 3 languages, I'm sure his speech will delay a bit, but I've told myself that as long as he understands when we talk to him (response via actions), I'll play it by ear and try not to worry too much!</p> <p>@lamariniere: That's so cute!! My lil cousin did that when he was little. He would break apart an English word and interject it with Chinese words. I have no idea how he did it, but we all laughed when he did it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278808 Fri, 13 Dec 2013 02:46:06 +0000 lamariniere 1278808@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We are also bilingual French/English. By 12 months DS had one word "truck!", but clearly understood both languages. Around 15 months we were living in France with my ILs and I was the only English speaker. He started learning and retaining about one word per week in both languages. 18 months was the major language explosion and his French was stronger at that point. By 2 years he had lots of words and 3-4 word sentences, but mixed the languages. Right after he turned 2, he started English/German daycare and, from what I understand, he speaks German fairly well at this point (I don't speak it). He still mixes the languages quite a lot, starting a sentence in English, finishing in French, throwing in a German word...it's really amazing to watch! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278432 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 21:21:56 +0000 Chastenet 1278432@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're a bilingual French/ English household. Dd is 16m and says this, mama, papa and allo when she plays with the phone. That's pretty much it... I've heard that it starts slowly like that and then there's a language explosion and she sure babbles a lot so I'm sure it'll turn into beautiful franglish words soon! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278161 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 19:28:04 +0000 Mamasig 1278161@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS is almost 15 months and really only clearly says 3 words/phrases (uh oh, oh no, and no). My mom watches him all day and speaks Spanish to him. He hears Spanish and mostly English from DH and me. Honestly, I don't know if he is delayed. I was going to ask the doc at his 15 month checkup. Just recently, I've noticed he'll repeat words but not come up with them on his own. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278147 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 19:21:17 +0000 regberadaisy 1278147@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjyw: I'm very jealous that your mother watches him therefore he's more exposed to your native tongue. I'm finding it extremely hard to talk to M in Chinese. </p> <p>Anyway to answer your question, my niece and nephew were both exposed to a multitude of languages. I think 3 for my niece and 4 for my nephew. They were both delayed in their speech. My niece even needed speech therapy for a year or two. But all is well now. </p> <p>LO is exposed to Chinese but not on a daily basis so no delays. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278077 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 18:57:40 +0000 mrskc 1278077@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm curious about this too. DH speaks to DS in mandarin and he pretty much hears English from everyone else. We can tell he understands mandarin. He's only said "go go" tho. Chinese for dog. And he does say dog in English too. Otherwise his only other word is mama. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/bilingual-households#post-1278011 Thu, 12 Dec 2013 18:40:11 +0000 mrsjyw 1278011@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How has the speech learning process been for your LOs?</p> <p>DS is 12.5 months says a few words here and there, mainly "umma" korean for mom.</p> <p>I'm not too concerned yet, but wanted to set my expectations for where he should be in the coming months since I hear that speech may be delayed in LOs who are exposed to two languages early on.</p> <p>I speak both Korean/english, DH speaks english, my mom who is his primary caretaker when Im at work speaks to him in Korean.</p> <p>He understands both languages and responds to both with action, but curious as far as verbal development since that is his huge milestone in the upcoming months. </p>