After I get married and have kids would it be okay if I taught them english and spanish while they were young?

Question:Or would I have to wait until they are older to teach them spanish?



Answers:
Definitely teach them young! It is much easier for our brains to learn a foreign language or two languages at once when we are younger than 5. Just make sure that you use both languages fluently, and speak English when you are out. Don't speak Spanish to them all the time at home in every conversation. I rarely see it cause problems, but I had a little girl this year that perplexed me. She is 8, and is not able to speak spanish herself. At home, mom speaks to the kids in spanish and they answer in english. Yet, she qualifies for ESOL because she doesn't totally understand the format of the English language. It is like she is processing in Spanish even though she doesn't speak it. So, as long as you use both, and their primary language is English, I think it would be great!
why wouldn't it be?
It will be a LOT easier for them to learn spanish at a early age.
Do it when they are YOUNG!
Children learn much faster than adults do!
Trust me, talking to them in both English
and Spanish will greatly benefit them in the
long run.
you could probably do both. you could see if little einstein or muzzy has things for children to teach spanish. the verbs and conjugation of them could be difficult for them, though.
The best time to teach them is when they are young, in fact, since they 've been born. I know 3 languages with English - German and Turkish from my immigrant family from birth.
Of course. Studies show that it is easiest to learn language before age 8. But, studies also show that bilingual children tend to be less fluent in each language than a monolingual child is in their only language. I say go for it. Teach them while they are young and they have a better chance of retaining the Spanish their whole lives.
The sooner you start the better. Infants recognize it when you speak tow languages to them and learn faster than older kids. My granddaughter is two. She has heard both languages since birth and now understands both.
Of course you should teach them both the languages when they are young. Kids are very fast learner. You should start with one language (your first language) and once they start making sentences, you can start the other to avoid any confusion for them.
You can teach your kids whatever you want.
I had a friend whose parents decided to teach her older brother both Polish and English at the same time, when he was young (he wasn't born in Poland, but they were, and thought it a good idea so he could communicate with relatives). Well, when he got into kindergarten, he refused to speak English. I'd proceed with caution. Wait until they know English to teach them too much Spanish, or vice versa. Children have a very high propensity for learning language for many years in their young lives. It's okay to wait a bit.
have Dad speak to them in one language and you speak to them in the other language, all the time.

The confusion part was the concern of one person I know who's parents were American and Mexican. So they only spoke to their son in English.

I also know a dad who only spoke French to his daughter and they lived in the U.S. where she was inundated with English. She grew up fluent in both.

I heard that kids who are bilingual like that take a little longer to speak, since I guess they don't know which parent to copy! But then things clear up and they do start to talk. They speak in the same language that the parent uses to speak to them.

The thinking is that to really be fluent, you have to learn a second language by age 7.
Children are really smart, so teach your Babies however many languages you feel they can learn at one time.

I know a lady from Africa and her children each speak five diferent languages they even knew how to separate according to the country they were in at times. Her youngest at the time was three years old.

I know here in California, some of these little children are speaking English and Spanish. It's best to teach them while young, I would think. Children are so adorable...Good luck !!
yeah just teach them step by step. b/c it wld have a major impact on foreign language when they have to or decide to take Spanish in school.
If you or your husband spoke to them only in Spanish, and the other spoke only English, they would end up bilingual . What a great gift. Problems and confusion arise when they get mixed signals, or when they are talked to by the same person in a mix of the 2. I hope you do this, kids are like sponges and it is so much easier to learn languages when you are young.
I'm kind of stunned by this question... of course you can teach children different languages because children can learn languages so easily.
They will do fine with both languages taught and used at the same time. It's just like baby talk. They figure out which language to use at the right time. Most teachers, and I am one, encourage students to use both languages. Multiple languages increase brain development. I suggest you also get books that have both English and Spanish text; there are many out there for young children. I use them frequently in my multi-lingual classroom.
well if you want them to learn Spanish quicker its way better to start earlier. talk to the babies in both languages and let them watch bilingual shows and movies.
I'm a Spanish teacher and have a young son. I am regretting now only having spoken to him in English and plan to speak Spanish with him over the summer vacation to get him started. If the children are exposed to Spanish as babies and you read them books in Spanish as well as books in English so they can make connections between the words and the varied pronunciations they should be fine. My nephew is in a bilingual elementary program and learned to read and write in both languages this past year, in first grade!

New brain research has shown that you can learn a language at any age, there is no rush to get it done by seven. The reason older people struggle in learning a language is more because they develop fears of failure and embarrassment than that they are incapable.

DEFINITELY teach them both, yes the speech may be delayed, but the will respond to both languages and will speak both before it will ever be a concern.
From what I understand, if one parent speaks to them only in English and the other speaks only in Spanish, they should not be confused.
Of course... it is very good idea... You should definitely teach them young... but you should not exaggerated, because I know one 'wise' mom, who learned her child foreign language that that child said only that language... it was an experiment... but it was very controversial... and horrible...

Regards :)
go ahead and teach spanish, the country's official language will be spanish someday anyway..
you are in america, teach them the right language.. english, cuz this is not mexico and no matter what anybody says, it never will be... people want to learn spanish.. go to mexico, if kids are gonna be raised in america, they should learn english

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