I definitely think you made the right choice.  Apart from having really cool kids , a lot of research have shown that learning a second language at a young age is very beneficial to the child's development. Sure, there language development in the early years may be a bit slower. But wait a few years when they're speaking 2-3-4 languages and everyone will be amazed then.

I know it can be a little bit frustrating sometimes when your child isn't always where he should be according to the "growth" charts. But I firmly believe in giving a big allowance for children to grow in their own time.  And if a doctor totally disregards the fact that my child is learning not just one language when checking his speech development, I don't think I'll be listening to his/her opinion at all.

For more on this, check out

• http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4841,00.html

im bilingual. apart from being able to communicate in another language, i find that immediately you come across someone from your own culture you automatically bond. its very special. you understand each other and you are comfortable with the customs. its like a silent understanding. the music the food the whole living.

yes and im sure since you are married to an italian you have heard the saying  "uno futsu uno rutsa " meaning "one face one race" this especially applies when you are from the same continent

great article

annie

 My daughter is also bilingual.  She actually has a friend who is trilingual--the mother speaks French, the father speaks Spanish, and they're in pre-school together in Hebrew!

Thanks for sharing your experience and questions! My experience has been with supplementing my 3 children's English with both ASL and Spanish.  My hubbie and I are both English-speakers, but we have both learned other languages in our lives and want our children to have the advantage of starting young.

First, let me say that we were so pleased when our children's spoken language improved exponentially when we used it in conjunction with signing.  We were introducing our first child to signing around 14 months by checking out sign language videos aimed at children from our library.  The other children were exposed to signing much earlier, as we were already comfortable with using it, and they have all three been very proficient in their speaking with this assistance. 

We have also given our children exposure to Spanish through many formats.  I loved learning and speaking Spanish since high school and got to do the exchange-student thing and live in a Spanish-speaking country for a semester.  We teach the children Spanish during meals (especially when we get to go out to a Mexican restaurant), when we read books (and enjoy a few children's books that have both languages or only Spanish) & often when we are just fooling around.  At some ages/stages, our children have also been enthusiastic about speaking Spanish.  My 8-year-old daughter is "too cool" for Spanish right now, and says that when she's old enough to take a language at school it will be French or Swahili!  (I can't help but think this is her asserting her independence from Mom since she knows Mom doesn't speak these languages!)  But 6-yr-old brother and 2-yr-old little sister have been very eager lately to learn and practice their Spanish.  I figure even if they don't use it continually and keep it up, their little brains are learning how to process another language & it will help them later in life to either use Spanish or to learn/use additional languages!

Kudos on your efforts to this point!  I think your (the author's) situation of raising the children with both of the parents' native languages is ideal!  There are children I know who are delayed-speakers who are being raised with multiple languages (parents are non-English speakers and children hear their parents use of English as well as their first language at home), and I am curious whether in the long run they will have the verbal and cognitive advantage for having the experience in both of these languages.  (My experiences are both with families who run yummy ethnic restaurants in our area:  Vietnamese for one family and Mexican-Spanish for the other family.)  And I hope, along with you, that the exposure to different languages will foment our children's sensitivity to people of other cultures!  If it makes them more open and bold when encountering people who speak or live differently than they do, I believe it will help them and our world in the long run!

My husband and I recently moved to Southern California, and have found that there is a lot of hatred against the Spanish language from those who have lived here their entire life. We think one of the best ways that this can be combated in our children is to teach them Spanish and possibly other languages as we can. We both speak limited Spanish but are working on it ourselves.

It's also interesting to note that our daughter can use several signs from ASL (American Sign Language). This helps more than I can emphasize with the raising of a toddler who can't correctly say many words yet. Our daughter loves telling us what she wants (milk, for example) and having us understand... and we all love the learning.

We are an Australian family who have been living in Luxembourg for 3 years. Our 2 boys go to the local school. Our 5 year old is now fluent in Luxembourgish and English. Our nearly 7 year old is fluent in Luxembourgish and English. He also has a high level of German.  They have an interesting school system here. The language of instruction from age 4-6 years is Luxembourgish. From 7-12 years it is German. Then from high school level it is mainly in French. It sounds very strange but some how it works and as I result childen leaving school speak at least 4 languages (Luxembourgish, German, French and English). Many of my son's class mates at age 7 now speak 3-4 languages!

It is amazing the mix of languages here and I am so happy that our 2 boys have had the opportunity to learn another language. However trying to maintain their language when we get back to Australia will be difficult. I was happy to see that there arenow a  few bilingual state primary schools. This is an excellent way for children to become bilingual who do not have a parent that speaks another language. From the experience that we have had in Luxembourg I really see the benfits of being bilingual and how easy it is to do that the younger you are!

 Great advice.                                                                                                                                                                                                                       both my boys studied greek right up to year 12 .My oldest speaks it and writes better than me. I was born in Australia but my parents were both born in greece. My husband was born in Greece , but he was determined to learn english , so we mostly spoke english at home.

"greek school was very important for us to send them to. They started in grade 1 . they were taught geography history grammer reading mathematics  greek religion all in a matter of a  4hour saturday afternoon. they had set homework that they had to complete.

Each wednesday (not compulsory) i would spend wednesday nights for 2 to 3 hours in a church hall. the boys would learn greek dancing. they danced at many functions including street festivals. their audience mainly consisted of australians and greeks with other nationalities watching too.

this taught my boys discipline but it also taught them to be confident. when we are out to functions a lot of people comment what great dancers they are. they certainly did dedicate lots of time to perfect their skills.

If they didnt lead such a hectic lifestyle they would have gone back to  the dancing group. They are friends with quite a few that run dancing schools.They say that boys in particular should be kept busy. this helps to burn some of their energy too

annie xxx

I totally agree that you've done the right thing.  I find it's getting much harder with my daughter at school now, but before she started at childcare 2 days a week, she was speaking 95% Cantonese, even to her non-Chinese grandparents.  She still understands most of what I say to her, but speaks it less and less.

The sad thing is that children often don't see the advantage of having a second language and lose a lot of what they learned when they were young, only to regret it when they're older and can appreciate it.  As parents, we just have to be tough and consistent and persevere!

I think you're doing a great thing!  Not only have you shared your languages and culture with your child so they are part of a wider family and more accepting of others, you have opened up the parts of the brain that deal with language, so they will probably find it easier to learn other languages down the track and in this day of global communication I can only see that as a good thing.

My two grandchildren in iceland speak two languages. I was with them one day my daughter in law is Icelandic and my son who is English was attempting to speak to Jakob in Icelandic and Jakob was then two and a half and he ran to his dad .put his arms around his daddy's neck and said "No , you just be daddy" It gave us all a little chuckle

Love Pauline

Indeed! 

I am a Filipino married to a white-caucasian so our kids are exposed to different cultures at home, though sadly they are not bilingual. I am bilingual myself, and have had no one to speak my language with that I have become rusty. But one thing that is absolutely sure, is that my children are growing up with slightly different sets of values being exposed to 2 different cultures. He is 4 years old and rarely questions why other people look different...but when he does we talk about it openly with welcomed curiosity.  Since lost his job, we've been living in a small rural area with my in-laws where there are not many asians so more often than not, I am the only asian in gatherings. I've received stares and felt uncomfortable... certainly, my children wouldn't be growing up staring at people who look different. :)

Also, there are many research showing the advantages of children being exposed to more than one language. There is a 'window' of opportunity where foreign language can be learned and learned easily by kids, in fact they can learn more than 1 other language with little difficulty. Many adults on the other hand can take years of studying foreign language and still barely manage a decent casual conversation (this would include me!! I took several years of Spanish in school - as a teen).

You definitely have my vote for a good decision there, "anon"!

We've unfortunately managed to go from having 3 young bi-lingual kids overseas 5 years ago, to having a basically mono-lingual household, where our youngest daughter doesn't understand a word if we speak in a language other than English, and our middle one really struggles to follow the conversation... this is a step backwards I now think!

Even the fact that our kids know that they were bi-lingual, and still consider that they have friends overseas who don't speak any English, helps with being open and accepting of people from all different cultures, as you've said.

Hang in there... your son will thank you when he's older (and will not be disadvantaged in ANY way). As you say, once he gets to school, his Italian will be up to speed with his peers in a VERY short span of time... and he will probably be the class 'expert' in English throughout his school life!