https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:29:45 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2746266 Mon, 12 Jun 2017 09:49:04 +0000 petitenoisette 2746266@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a French teacher so I think people expect me to say French but really I think any language is great to learn. Even if you end up not really using the language as an adult it doesn't mean it was a waste. The process of learning another language and getting exposure to another culture is really what's important. I don't think you could even begin to predict what kind of career your child would do in the future and therefore what language might be most useful in that context nor do I think that's a useful way of framing the decision. Maybe you can expose your child to some cultural aspects of the different choices and see what would interest him/her most. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2746260 Mon, 12 Jun 2017 09:31:48 +0000 JCCovi 2746260@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do Spanish and Mandarin. No question they are the most useful languages where we are. </p> <p>I actually just wrote a blog post on all the ways we are supporting these languages. Primary source for each language has been a nanny or language immersion preschool, but we've done a bunch of other stuff to keep it fresh. Right now Spanish is primary, but we are hoping to get into a Mandarin Immersion Elementary School (public) and continue to support Spanish on the side.<br /> <a href="https://magnetsfromeverywhere.com/2017/06/12/raising-multilingual-children-in-a-monolingual-home/" rel="nofollow">https://magnetsfromeverywhere.com/2017/06/12/raising-multilingual-children-in-a-monolingual-home/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745950 Sat, 10 Jun 2017 12:12:45 +0000 periwinklebee 2745950@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I wonder if something like Spanish or French is more likely to stick in the long-run, just because for an English speaker who's parents don't speak Mandarin at home, it's so much less of an investment to master and maintain than Mandarin... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745891 Sat, 10 Jun 2017 03:02:53 +0000 808love 2745891@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I want LO to learn Chinese, she wants to learn Spanish and DH wants her to learn Japanese. So there you have it, Spanish it is. DH and I took Spanish classes so we are ok with that. :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745854 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 19:56:04 +0000 Ginabean3 2745854@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mandarin for us! My 4 year old takes Saturday mandarin classes and just finished a week of mandarin immersion camp. The reason we are having her learn this is because I am Chinese (Taiwanese) and I really want her to know her heritage/language. Like @Snowjewelz though I've found it really hard to teach/speak to her in mandarin. My parents emigrated here when I was 1, I grew up speaking English and basically repressing my Asian side "to assimilate". (Things were different back then!) Even my mom tends to speak to my kids in English even though I ask her to speak mandarin.</p> <p>We live in SoCal so mandarin is useful! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745847 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 19:26:59 +0000 Boogs 2745847@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think it would depend on where you live. For us Spanish would be most useful and Portuguese would be simple to pick up as a third language since they are similar. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745829 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 18:17:14 +0000 2littlepumpkins 2745829@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Skipped the comments but I realized that I will need to learn Spanish (as an adult!) if I want to transfer my PT job into a FT job closer to home. So I hope that I can somehow get my kids to learn some, too. My dd's preschool already does some lessons in both Spanish/English, but I don't think her public school will, so I'm not sure how to approach this yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745811 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 16:36:32 +0000 birdofafeather 2745811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>we're in southern california and our kids will most likely be attending our home school that does dual immersion: spanish/english. i'm thrilled to give them that opportunity! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745798 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 16:10:33 +0000 MsMini 2745798@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I went to French immersion through Junior high school and was also conversational in German for many years. I live in Canada where French is an official language so my DS will be in French immersion starting in the fall (Kindergarten). I haven't really used either second language on a purposeful basis in years but I am always surprised how with a little exposure my skills come back! I am actually looking forward to DS starting school in the fall so I have someone to help and practice with! I think with a second language immersion program there is more onus on the parents to keep working on their first language literacy, so we will be doing lots of English reading and writing practice with DS so he doesn't fall behind in the area. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745791 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 15:52:32 +0000 travellingbee 2745791@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaCate: obviously my experience is from dealing with students who have left immersion program so that in itself might be biased. But the students that I have worked with did not do well in immersion programs. It just seemed like an extra obstacle that they didn't need, because they weren't necessarily quick learners. In my limited perspective, it seems like students would do OK if they were students who would normally be able to make more than a years growth in a year, but for those students who would typically make less than a years growth, it amounted to just an extra thing blocking their learning. I kind of look at it in the same way as I look at my students who are coming to an English-speaking school with no English. Some of them do OK over time, a few of them do wonderfully. But quite a few don't do well at all, because they are trying to learn the language and the content at the same time. I don't know about all of the different types of programs though and I imagine much like ESL and bilingual programs, the success often lies in the quality of the program.<br /> ETA: I guess my recommendation would be to know your child. If your child already has a literacy foundation going into kindergarten, and you feel they are a quick learner that would do OK with an extra challenge, then it sounds like it could be a great opportunity. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745765 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:48:23 +0000 ShootingStar 2745765@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Since you are in Europe, I would say French. </p> <p>I actually took French myself from junior high to college and was conversational though not quite fluent. Like @catlady: I didn't have a lot of opportunity to use it, so the ability has kind of atrophied. I love French and I'm glad I learned it, but I would find Spanish more useful at this point.</p> <p>But in your case I think French would be a lot more useful in Europe. I think languages like Mandarin and Arabic, while useful, may not be common enough for your DD to keep up her skills after schooling is done. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745757 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:40:31 +0000 SugarplumsMom 2745757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Interesting article. Thanks for sharing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745756 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:38:14 +0000 MamaCate 2745756@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@travellingbee: can you tell me more about the concerns you have seen? DD is starting a Spanish immersion program for K in the fall. It is not a full immersion program and I liked the rationale but I would like to hear more about your experience.</p> <p>OP, I would vote Spanish. But we live in a state where there is a large Spanish speaking population, and DH and are both fluent and use it for work (but we are gringos). I can see if being beneficial in a very concrete sense vs Mandarin which seems more theoretically beneficial in our situation. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745747 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:24:35 +0000 catlady 2745747@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: This study is geared towards British children. I still think Spanish can be more useful for many American children. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745746 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:23:50 +0000 lilyofthewest 2745746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My family is in the US and LO is learning Spanish and Ukrainian alongside English. </p> <p>He's learning Ukrainian for family reasons. Ukrainian has very few speakers so It is unlikely to be directly useful for things besides talking with his Baba and cousins. But, speaking it from infancy will definitely give him a leg up if he studies Russian or another Slavic language in the future. </p> <p>Spanish is just a must for our area. A large percentage of folks near us speak Spanish as their preferred or only proficient language. A lot of healthcare and service jobs require being bilingual in Spanish or have preferential hiring for Spanish-language skills. </p> <p>If he takes an additional language as a middle/high schooler I'll leave it up to him, but I would encourage him to consider ASL, Arabic, Mandarin, or Amharic over learning another Germanic, Romance, or Slavic language. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745742 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 14:17:46 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 2745742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well on the blog today: <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/heathrow-languages-kids-need-success" rel="nofollow">http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/heathrow-languages-kids-need-success</a></p> <p>Looks like French, German, and Mandarin are the languages to learn. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745729 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 13:31:17 +0000 youboots 2745729@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Out of those choices Spanish, but we plan to get T involved with ASL since here it qualifies as a foreign language as required to graduate from HS. My cousins son has done it and greatly enjoyed it and found it to be very applicable as a teen. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745727 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 13:28:08 +0000 travellingbee 2745727@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: as a teacher I've seen the same. I like the idea of immersion schools but I've seen several students that ended up not doing well at all because they had trouble learning in the other language and got very behind in basic skills. I'm wary. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745617 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 10:01:47 +0000 catlady 2745617@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pancakes: Yes, you are right, understanding French has been really nice for enjoying arts and literature. I should take back what I said about it being useless. I lost fluency years and years ago though, so I find it stressful to speak it, and I don't go out of my way to find French speakers. Ironically I have probably used it most often to help out French tourists who can't speak English well. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745613 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:50:50 +0000 Pancakes 2745613@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: I would be surprised if you really lived in an area with no French speakers. Even when I lived in west Texas on the border with Mexico, I found a group of French speakers to converse with. I feel like knowing French is useful for enjoying music, movies, and literature, and it was helpful to have that background when I learned Spanish. I'm a former French teacher so I guess I'm a little passionate! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745611 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:44:01 +0000 Pancakes 2745611@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SugarplumsMom: I speak French, and while Spanish is probably more useful in the U.S. from a practical standpoint, anywhere in Europe or even Asia I think French is more useful. I've met French speakers all over the world, even in Beijing where someone at a restaurant who spoke Mandarin and French helped me to order. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745590 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:15:36 +0000 catlady 2745590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Sure, that's why I said it depends on your own lifestyle. In your case, it makes perfect sense to learn your husband's language (I wish one of us had a different language to teach our kids, honestly). I just meant, the answer to "What's a useful language to learn?" should be different for different families.</p> <p>I guess I just see people throwing their kids into language programs just for the sake of learning a language, and sometimes it doesn't make sense. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745589 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:13:24 +0000 Dahlia 2745589@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD is learning Spanish. I'm a Spanish professor and we're moving to South America for a few months next year, so she doesn't have much choice in the matter! </p> <p>I've seen from my students how having Spanish makes any major more employable. It doesn't just prep you to be a teacher or a translator - my students work in health care, banking, business, government, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745582 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:10:05 +0000 snowjewelz 2745582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm Chinese and having a hard time teaching my own kids Chinese! Also, mandarin is not my mother tongue so I wouldn't usually speak it but it's DH's family speaks it so I'm really hoping my DDs can be semi fluent in both dialects. Then I would have them learn Spanish next. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745575 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:06:42 +0000 looch 2745575@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@catlady: But with globalization, and more and more firms employing people from other parts of the world, you don't have to travel to use the language. I regularly have contact with people in different parts of the world and we have never visited in person. Granted, none of them are in China, but I think that's next.</p> <p>Additionally, my husband is European and his first language is not a commonly used one, it's even less common than French. We are still teaching our son the language because it's his heritage and he has family there that he will need to converse with. I am in the process of learning it as an adult and I am actually quite good at it, even though I don't speak it regularly, so I do agree, you have to have opportunities to consistently use it, otherwise you do lose it. Even just hearing it helps me retain. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745568 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 09:00:49 +0000 erinbaderin 2745568@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm in Canada so we're planning to put our boys in French immersion. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745539 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 08:31:58 +0000 catlady 2745539@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think this totally depends on your lifestyle, where you live and where you may travel. I was put into a French immersion school and while it may have helped me in non-obvious ways, it has been pretty useless as a 2nd language. I live in an area with no French speakers, I rarely visit French-speaking countries, and as a result, I haven't retained much of the language at all. In contrast, there are many people in my life and who live in our city who speak Spanish and I feel like that would have been a more useful language to learn.</p> <p>Many people think Mandarin will be important, and to some extent I agree, but I also feel that unless you are actually going to be traveling to China often, you will not need it. </p> <p>Just to look at this from a different perspective, I have several friends from Europe and they haven't really even bothered teaching their kids their native languages because they don't intend to return to Europe and they never use their languages here in the US.</p> <p>Edited to add one more thing: I tend to be more wary of immersion programs in particular because I went through one personally and saw that for some kids, the immersion might have produced more harm than good. I'm talking about 3rd graders who could only read French and not English. By high school, my elementary school cohort was basically either at the top of the class or the bottom. I can never know for certain, but I believe that some of those kids may have been better served by being in a normal English speaking school. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745528 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 08:16:09 +0000 SugarplumsMom 2745528@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Mandarin is a definite contender. It might even be easier to find a school and materials since Chinese school is so common (at least back in my hometown).</p> <p>@lamariniere: I love the sound of French :heart: MIL speaks French and it would be nice to have her be able to practice with someone. Hmmm. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745526 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 08:14:16 +0000 T.H.O.U. 2745526@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would also think about ease of access to resources. Its very easy to get spanish work books, stories from the library, movies, etc in spanish. Russian probably not so much. If you wanted later on an immersion school or even a tutor again, spanish would be much easier. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/whats-a-useful-language-to-learn#post-2745518 Fri, 09 Jun 2017 08:08:25 +0000 tinyperson 2745518@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>French - we live in Canada, and it's one of our official languages. She's doing a French summer camp this summer. I wish we could have put her in immersion (starts next year), but the practical logistics of where the school is would have been a nightmare. She's picking up some mandarin from her friends at school (we have a large chinese population in our area), so that might be my second choice! </p>