How do you choose a language? - Page 2

[ocelotmom]

Originally Posted by skueppers

3) Figure out how to get Spanish-language children's TV shows, probably on the computer, and watch them regularly.

Many popular kids' shows and movies have a Spanish (and sometimes French or other languages, too!) track on their DVDs.

[kittywitty]

Spanish is increasingly common, yes.

However, that doesn't mean your children shouldn't learn any other languages.

http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/whyfrench.html

I let my children pick. I started learning French as a child since a lot of my family speaks it. I used to be fluent, but not so much anymore.

I chose French to expose my children to because I basically knew it and one of my major family goals is to tour Europe in several years and French would be enormously more helpful than Spanish.

I also took a German course which the kids became interested in. The kids watched Dora and dh used to speak Spanish, but we really haven't had more Spanish exposure than French any of the places we have lived. They seem disinterested in learning it even though I've offered and I'm not one to push it. I want to learn Spanish, though. I have tried before but just don't think I can.

We are also learning Greek and Latin right now together. My oldest (9 yo) is self-teaching herself Greek and I hope to get Rosetta Stone someday. She is studying mythology and it's amazing how much a basic knowledge of Greek and Latin root words and letters has helped her with all her other subjects *and* in picking up words of other languages. Sometimes we'll watch a movie with French or German, etc. subtitles and she can pick words out better than I can!

We find tons of French kids books on Amazon and Amazon Canada. It's worth the shipping for a much wider selection.

[Dakota's Mom]

We chose Spanish for our son. Where we live, if you go to the next town in one direction nearly the whole town speaks Korean. If you go one town over in the opposite direction nearly the whole town speaks Spanish. About half or maybe more of our apartment complex speak Korean. But there are a few Spanish families as well, including the maintenance people and our upstairs neighbor and my son's playmate. My son was born in Guatemala. So I would like him to learn Spanish as part of his heritage. Our upstairs neighbor is going to start teaching him every week.

I studied two years in high school and two years in college, but when we were in Guatemala I had a hard time remembering anything. Between my limited Spanish and the cab drivers limited English we were able to get around. But barely. We want to take our son back to his birth country someday. I would like to be able to get around a bit easier.

Kathi

[Collinsky]

You know, I was thinking -- Transparent Language offers the Kidspeak language learning software in a 6-in-1 World Pack; it has French, Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew, and Japanese languages on it. Perhaps getting something that offers more than one option on it, and seeing what appeals most to you and your child/ren, would give you a really confident starting point for choosing a language to pursue seriously. And the exposure to the other languages is only beneficial, anyway, even if they aren't the languages you end up choosing!

[EviesMom]

I've also heard theories of languages with completely different sound systems (ie-French, Spanish, English, Italian all have a core set of sounds such that speakers of one can more easily learn another language in that group; Japanese, Mandarin, and something have completely different sound sets). I think there were 4 basic language groupings.

Anyway, DD wants to learn Mandarin, (started because she loved Ni Hao Kai Lan, but she's still interested even though she's no longer in love with the show), and I felt after some looking that it would make sense for her despite the different writing as well as sounds. We start with Rosetta Stone as soon as it gets here!

[Addy's Mom]

French or Spanish.

French is harder, and if you master it, you can pick up Spanish very easily.

I'd probably go with the language that has more resources near you (schools, classes, books, games, music, etc.).

[momofmine]

We are using the Rosetta Stone French and mt kids are really loving it. We are doing it every day, and it's going well. Sometimes my 5 yr old only keeps his attention on it for 10 minutes, but I figure he's still getting something, and once my older child and I are able to start speaking it more throughout the day, my 5 yr old will pick up even more from hearing us.

The new Rosetta Stone comes with headphones/microphone that actually tracks your pronunciation! My kids love this part of it! They can record what they say, play it back, and compare it to the speaker in the program. It's really cool! We have an older Spanish version that didn't come with this feature!

My kids are really enjoying it and I think it is going to get us speaking it quickly, especially since I already know some and am finding it coming back to me. I think it really helps that I began French earlier in school. I really think the younger you are, the more it is integrated into your brain or something!

[schrocat]

For us it's Mandarin Chinese because we're ethnically Chinese and French because I was a French major in university. We're basically sticking to the languages that I speak. DH and I speak Cantonese Chinese in front of the kids too and they'll probably pick it up too but it's easier teaching them languages that I'm familiar with.

[Materfamilias]

Ours were kind of a no-brainer: DH is German so he speaks only that to the kids, and I'm a Latin teacher.