Raising Bilingual Children: Is It Too Late To Start Now?
After we talked, Ive spoken nothing but French to my one year old for close to seven weeks now. All of his new words are French, and from what I can tell he understands me completely. Not even two months into her campaign to raise her two children speaking French as well as English, Sheilagh Margot Riordan in Forida has noticed a dramatic difference in the progress between her two children: My three and a half year old is much trickier. Even though I speak only French to her, she replies in English, but I guess that she understands about 70% of everything I say. Frankly, Sheilagh worries that its already too late for her over-the-hill three-year-old to become a fluent bilingual.
In our culture it sometimes feels that if you didnt spring for ballet lessons at two or violin at three, its all over. While theres no doubt that the optimal moment to start learning languages is at birth, its not at all impossible to achieve fluency later in life. The more language interaction you provide, the more dramatic the progress, and the easier for the child. Even older children are still kids, and theyll remain chatty and...