Toddler Speech Development

[quiksilva]

I have heard that children being raised in a bilingual household can suffer delays in speech development.

Our 2 / 1/2 year old son is coming along quite well, can count to 10, knows many colours, and know the names of most letters. He follows (or at least understands instructions etc) uses two word sentences, but most of his speech consists of one word and there's still a fair bit of gibberish in his language, and is long way off from being fully understood.

What's your experience? When did your bilingual child start talking in complete sentences?

[CNF55]

Same experience.

I think our daughter was 3 - the same time she started kindergarten. Full sentences - but not all the words from the same language.

It took her a while to realize that not everybody can understand two languanges.

[MikeyIdea]

Sorry, can't remember exactly. No one commented that it was late though. 2.5 I think

One recommendation: Don't worry, speech will come on just fine when the child is ready for it

[bkkjames]

A bit lucky I guess that my wife speaks better English than me - so our son (2y 3m) is getting descriptions in Eng and Thai.

However, he is getting pretty tricky now - "Max, take a shower" his reply "Mai oww Mai oww Mai oww". His sentences are short usually no more that 4-5 words at the most.

[Sakeopete]

My son now 5 is a bit of a language prodigy, taking after his Grandfather. Our daughter who turns 3 in a few days took a bit longer but she is catching up in leaps and bounds. They both automatically speak Thai with my wife and English with me. Don't worry about it your son will speaks sentences when he is ready.

[Thakkar]

Our kids are tri-lingual and will soon be learning French as well.

Each developed speech at different speeds. Not to worry, your kid is where he should be.

On the other hand worries will come later, because in another six to eight months, the trick will be getting him to <deleted>.

Enjoy the serenity while it lasts.

T

[goatfarmer]

My boy is 18 months old. He speaks thai with a few words of english thrown in. I'm not pressing him to be bilingual at this stage. Rather, I want him to communicate with language. He can make sentences with up to four words. He picks up a new word or two every day. Once he has the idea of communicating with language, rather than squeals and pointing, I'll introduce more English. I think he needs to a bit older before he gets the idea that there are different languages.

[Thakkar]

My boy is 18 months old. He speaks thai with a few words of english thrown in. I'm not pressing him to be bilingual at this stage. Rather, I want him to communicate with language. He can make sentences with up to four words. He picks up a new word or two every day. Once he has the idea of communicating with language, rather than squeals and pointing, I'll introduce more English. I think he needs to a bit older before he gets the idea that there are different languages.

As someone who could speak 3 languages by age 5 and went on to learn 3 more (while completely forgetting one earlier language due to complete lack of exposure) and whose kids grew up in a multi-lingual environment, I think your caution is unwarranted.

Kids can handle as many languages as you throw at them (within reason, I guess) and I've seen my kids sort things out quite naturally with little effort and no kind of damage that I can discern. They are now teenagers and not at all intimidated by languages. One has decided to learn Spanish by listening to pod-casts, and, talking to her about it, I see that she has no doubt that she can become proficient. (The optimism of youth!). She may give up after a few weeks, but that isn't the point. The point is that her early life experience in languages ensures that strange and new languages don't intimidate her.

Have faith in the strength of your child's abilities and the resilience of his psyche.

Cheers

T

[thaiIand]

Dont worry about it, my kid is trilingual and just turned 3 yet way behind yours

As long as they UNDERSTAND there is nothing to be scared of. Speech will come one day.

If you are worried you can always send them to an international school 5 days a week, tons of fun and they learn quite a lot

[GooEng]

my 4.5 year old is pretty fluent in thai - complete sentences etc and has been since about 2.5 or three yrs old.

i was worried that he didn't speak english as i am only home 3 weeks in 9 due to my work schedule offshore - then i had a 2 month break at home due to injury earlier this year and he very quickly started speaking english much to my delight.

what did surprise me was the way it came out - not as i had expected in sentences or phrases that i had taught him or that he'd heard repeated - he just suddenly started to say complete sentences out of the blue - look at that! where are you going? don't do that! can i have a juice? where's mum? i don't know etc etc - i think a lot of it had been absorbed sub-consciously and he just needed a kick start and some confidence.

he is still hesitant at times and struggles to find the right words, often starting a sentence in english then hitting the limits of his vocab and pausing to think before filling in the word he doesn't know in thai, but his comprehension is as good as thai and now that he's just started international school i have no worries.

have faith in the amazing acpacity of your child's mind to absorb and assimilate a language.

[MAJIC]

Same as my Thai English Daughters development,slow learning 2.5 to 3 years old,but now at 4.5 speaks fluant English and Thai.

My Wife and I made a concerted effort: I speak to her in English and she speaks to her in Thai.

And that's the only quick way for them to learn,bombard them with speaking,the more the better.

Don't worry you will see the constant effort is more than worthwhile,and once they get the basics, they will amaze you,and speak words you never taught them!

Oh! almost forgot: read them lots of stories,with many pictures,and animal books/picture books with captions,and get them to say the word,before moving on to the next picture.

Edited August 31, 2011 by MAJIC

[GooEng]

yep - forgot to mention that - reading to/with them is a fantastic aid.

read somewhere recently that kids who are read to develop MUCH faster and better language skills and become better more willing readers MUCH younger - can't remember the source and i know it sounds obvious but y'know it's easy to underestimate the positive effedts of things like this.

[MAJIC]

yep - forgot to mention that - reading to/with them is a fantastic aid.

read somewhere recently that kids who are read to develop MUCH faster and better language skills and become better more willing readers MUCH younger - can't remember the source and i know it sounds obvious but y'know it's easy to underestimate the positive effedts of things like this.

Yep you are right,and they love their bedtime stories,if they don't get one some nights,they feel cheated,and later on its very rewarding to observe their development,because of giving a little bit of your time,which is by far the best thing you can give your child.

Not that I claim to be the perfect Father I must add!

Edited September 2, 2011 by MAJIC

[Johnniey]

My experience is that my kids were behind until they were about 7-9 years old then they became ok and actually bilingual kids become better after this age, accoding to experts.