[Clam]

I have a 5 month old son. I speak to him fluent Polish and so does my mom, who currently is living with us. My husband speaks to him in English-but is not home all that often becasue of his job. He also visits his grandmother on Sundays, who also speaks english. He is mostly exposed to the polish language and I am just concerned that we are confusing him! There is not that much research online regarding this issue. I know that he will be fine once he starts preschool, but I would like him to be fluent in both.....Any advice?????

[twinzplus3]

NO! You are absolutely not confusing him. This is the best possible way to do it. . .and he will be fluent in both eventually.

There is TONS of research regarding this issue--all saying that having two languages spoken at home is the best way for a child to become bilingual. It's not always possible--but when it is it's great.

He'll pick up English from television, from the playground and from hearing it elsewhere. Remember too that most kids elsewhere speak at least a couple of languages. . .

[mcmama]

I think you will be fine.

He has the opportunity to learn Polish, at least as it is spoken at home. That is a valuable skill.

You will find that he has many opportunities to speak and learn English. Family, friends, school, TV, radio, DVDs, books, etc, all in English. And listening to Polish broadcasts won't hurt.

By age two, I have noticed that children from families where a different language is spoken at home recognize that this is special for certain people.

As he gets older, you might want to formalize the Polish a bit, with reading material, writing, and cultural things.

[Samual]

All our family speak Welsh, apart from Frank. So all our children will be fleunt in both, they are around more Welsh speakers than English speakers but they aren't confused with the languages, they just have two words for everything instead of one. They know that not everyone speaks it too, so when they are around other people they always speak in English.