Children: Learn Russian & English together from birth, or learn Russian later?

[GreyScales]

I must say....  The timing of this thread is wonderful!

(Mrs. to be) GS and I have been talking about this topic on and off for a few weeks.  She really wants our children to speak and understand Russian.  I support this completely.  Knowing we should start exposing the child from the start is excellent information!

Thanks everyone!!!!

GS

[ChrisBFLA]

Our little girl is now six and, while English is her primary language, she can speak and also undertand very well, Russina.  She has something like a little translation device in her head.  Lara speaks to her in Russian and she replies in Engliish as if it is so natural for her to mix the two languages.

[froid]

Mila and Kirill have been here for almost 4 weeks now.  It is amazing watching Kirill take his small knowledge of English and expand it. 

First week was almost all Russian.  Would say Hello to me in English, and then almost all communications were in Russian with Mila translating.  He only watched Russian DVD's he had brought with him. 

Second week school started and the school music teacher speaks Russian and was giving him extra help with English almost right away.  He would actually use some small English sentences.  His birthday present of a Wii made him interact with my brother and I in English because mom wasn't translating fast enough for him to keep up with the games. 

Third week was March break and he was bored and it was very difficult for him.  Wasn't in school long enough to have friends for going outside yet and missing his friends back home a lot.  By the end of the week he had watched so much of his Russian DVD's he had moved onto the local English Cartoon channel though...and was enjoying that.  Not sure how much of it he understood though. 

This past week I had some spare time of my own...amazingly!!!...and I started playing Civilization 4 (Turn based strategy game where you are leader of a civilization and try to win) on my computer.  Kirill sat beside me and watched because he had never seen me sit down and play a game before.  I showed him some things in the game and he started giving me advice for the game.  After an hour, I started a new game, and set it up so he was the Russian Civilization, and gave him the mouse.  First he laughed when he clicked on one of his characters on screen and it spoke real Russian...and then he started playing.  Because it has a LOT of text and is a very complicated game his English has expanded a lot this week.  Between his reading, and asking me for help, he has learned a lot and I have heard many new phrases and words from him. 

Looking forward to getting him his bike this weekend and going out together biking.

In the meantime since I am often immersed in Russian at home, I can now count to 10 in Russian, I know more food names, and some phrases.  I saw one movie about a treasure buried under a lion in St Petersburg...was very amusing.

[mendeleyev]

Froid, it's nice to hear how you are bonding with this child!  Regarding the movie, was it called "The Treasure of the Republic" or something different?  If it was with English subtitles maybe we can find links and use it as a weekend movie.

[froid]

Actually I had to ask to get the title...it is called "Adventures of Italians in Russia" Mila says.

But to be honest, except for some explanation of the plot and people, I enjoyed the movie without any subtitles.  The comedy is very visual and was interesting to see places I had been in a Soviet setting.

[Wild Orchid]

Unbelievable Adventures of Italians In Russia

In Italy, a dying woman tells her granddaughter that she hid her treasure many years ago in Russia, in the city of Leningrad. Other people (who were around when she died) also learn about it. Thus several people arrive in Leningrad trying to find the treasure, each one for himself/herself. What's worse - the only information they have is that the treasure is under a lion - and it's in Leningrad, a city known by its numerous statues of lions. The story gets even more interesting when the soviet militia (police) learns about the whole thing and send an undercover agent...

http://russianfun.net/russian-movie-classics-new/unbelievable-adventures-of-italians-in-russia/

[mendeleyev]

Thank you, WO! 

[Eduard]

My wife and I speak exclusively Russian at home and the only exposure to English our older daughter has had was from watching children's programming and educational DVDs (like little Einstein, etc.) When she started going to preschool (part time) she very quickly picked up English and now at 3 years and 4 months she speak both Russian and English. At this age it's very easy for them to pick up languages and if exposed to Chinese, she'll pick it up in a matter of 3-4 months. Their brains are sponges at this age.
We have friends where he is Spanish/American, the wife is from Russia. She speaks Russian to their 4 yo daughter, he speaks Spanish with her and the 4 year old is fluent in all 3 - Spanish, English and Russian.

[Voyager]

Canada have the same issue with French,

French schooling in English Canada is usually poor, because it starts too late. Now they have bilingual primary schools, but they are so popular that there is a  waiting list.

[Rasputin]

French schooling in English Canada is usually poor, because it starts too late. Now they have bilingual primary schools, but they are so popular that there is a  waiting list.

It depends. You have immersion schools that are quite popular and they usually start from kindergarten or grade one. For French-speakers, there is now a quite extensive network of French schools. We have over 40 French schools in British Columbia alone, and a larger number of immersion schools for English-speakers who want to have their children study in French.

[Eduard]

Interestingly my daughter speaks Russian with us at home but when she plays with dolls she speaks English to them!
My wife thinks that she (my daughter) assumes the role of a preschool teacher with the dolls and therefor slips into English...

[Manny]

I wanted to update this topic - three years later - for the benefit of others.

Our daughter is now three. Almost four.

My wife speaks to her maybe 50% in Russian; I speak to her only in English.

She understands English and Russian. She has gravitated towards English. She mostly speaks English, but sometimes breaks out in Russian. To her, she is learning words - she has no concept they are different languages; but she knows she has two words for some things. She sometimes mixes them up in the same sentence.

She might say "Daddy, telly gronka" (Daddy, make the television louder)

When in Russia for a month, she spoke mostly Russian. Except for her daily calls with me where she spoke mostly English. She understands already how to speak to me and how to speak to her mother. She knows which words to use with which parent. She flips from Russian to English between my wife and I. Amazing really........

She will say "Mama, sok" and if ignored, come to me and say "Daddy, juice".

When she brings a book she wants one of us to read to her, my wife can do both languages seamlessly. When she brings me a Cyrillic book, and insists "Daddy read", I start to read it and she falls about the floor laughing. She understands already that when I read Cyrillic, my inflection is not right.

Typically, if you ask her a question in Russian, she will reply in English.

[Muzh_1]

I wanted to update this topic - three years later - for the benefit of others.

Our daughter is now three. Almost four.

My wife speaks to her maybe 50% in Russian; I speak to her only in English.

She understands English and Russian. She has gravitated towards English. She mostly speaks English, but sometimes breaks out in Russian. To her, she is learning words - she has no concept they are different languages; but she knows she has two words for some things. She sometimes mixes them up in the same sentence.

She might say "Daddy, telly gronka" (Daddy, make the television louder)

When in Russia for a month, she spoke mostly Russian. Except for her daily calls with me where she spoke mostly English. She understands already how to speak to me and how to speak to her mother. She knows which words to use with which parent. She flips from Russian to English between my wife and I. Amazing really........

She will say "Mama, sok" and if ignored, come to me and say "Daddy, juice".

When she brings a book she wants one of us to read to her, my wife can do both languages seamlessly. When she brings me a Cyrillic book, and insists "Daddy read", I start to read it and she falls about the floor laughing. She understands already that when I read Cyrillic, my inflection is not right.

Typically, if you ask her a question in Russian, she will reply in English.

Yep, similar experience.

Now, once she goes to school her Russian MAY diminish.

Also, be on the look out for difficulty in expressing herself or stuttering.

A funny note. I speak a lot of Spanish to my children. One day (10 years ago) my oldest came home from his 5th grade class and said; "Dad, did you know Abuela (grandma) is in Spanish?"

All the time he assumed (and his sister) this word was regular English.

[GOB]

A funny note. I speak a lot of Spanish to my children.

So Muzh, your children are trilingual?
They speak and write in English, Russian and Spanish?
Wow!
Impressive. 

GOB

[RichyRich]

My wife speaks to her maybe 50% in Russian; I speak to her only in English.

I don't have a child yet but from what I understood of raising a bilingual child, each parent should speak the the child exclusively in their respective languages so your wife talks to her in Russian all the time and you in English (or whatever other language you want to introduce) all the time.

As it turns out it doesn't make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things as she still does well in Russian? although like Muzh_1 says above, her Russian may diminish once she is at school so you may want to try talking exclusively in one language to keep her level up and improving as she grows up.

Otherwise it seems like you both are doing a wonderful job raising a bilingual child

[Muzh_1]

A funny note. I speak a lot of Spanish to my children.

So Muzh, your children are trilingual?
They speak and write in English, Russian and Spanish?
Wow!
Impressive. 

GOB

No, no, no. 

They write mostly English. My older two can write quite a bit in Spanish (I know, my fault) and the little one is becoming a bit fluent in Russian because he spent two summers with his grandparents so he had to learn.

[Rasputin]

She knows which words to use with which parent. She flips from Russian to English between my wife and I. Amazing really........

This is par for the course. The important thing is to ensure that both parents only speak to their child in their language. The important thing is not to stop and not to panic if they take a few months longer to talk. But hats off to you and your wife Manny 

[B.B.]

She knows which words to use with which parent. She flips from Russian to English between my wife and I. Amazing really........

This is par for the course. The important thing is to ensure that both parents only speak to their child in their language. The important thing is not to stop and not to panic if they take a few months longer to talk. But hats off to you and your wife Manny 

I know a Hungarian-American couple where the wife speaks to their kids only in Hungarian and the husband only in English, so the kids learn each language as a native (the wife is fluent in English and the husband is nearly fluent in Hungarian, but that's how they do it, so the kids won't learn even minor mistakes from either parent).  The kids are still young (one is a 'tween, I suppose and the other maybe 5), and they are native speakers of both languages.

B/B

[AvHdB]

She knows which words to use with which parent. She flips from Russian to English between my wife and I. Amazing really........

This is par for the course. The important thing is to ensure that both parents only speak to their child in their language. The important thing is not to stop and not to panic if they take a few months longer to talk. But hats off to you and your wife Manny 

I know a Hungarian-American couple where the wife speaks to their kids only in Hungarian and the husband only in English, so the kids learn each language as a native (the wife is fluent in English and the husband is nearly fluent in Hungarian, but that's how they do it, so the kids won't learn even minor mistakes from either parent).  The kids are still young (one is a 'tween, I suppose and the other maybe 5), and they are native speakers of both languages.

B/B

Manny,

Thanks for updating this topic. A Brummie friend in Amsterdam is married to a woman from Gadansk, they have three kids. He speaks English, (well sort of ) to the kids; she speaks Polish and they learn Dutch in school. They seem to have no problems.

With Julia we were speaking about language issues and she said it is a good thing that parents speak Russian to there children from birth. Otherwise they would have a hard time mastering the language.

Last night though I overheard the strangest thing, a couple, he spoke Russian (at one point she said there was no way that she would return to Ufa) and she with perfect fluency replied in Dutch. It was odd, an eavesdropper to half a conversation. The waitress wanted to practice her English and the couple had no clue I was fluent in Dutch. It was a Thai tent.

Curious I have never heard a conversation in two languages anyone else?

[Chris]

Curious I have never heard a conversation in two languages anyone else?

I hear them all the time, the wife and daughter and sometimes its in three languages   

I also have a friend who we are having a meal with tomorrow night as it happens,  he is South African (speaks five languages) she is English and speaks two (at least) languages, English and Afrikaans, I have heard them numerous times speaking and answering in the same conversation in both languages.

[nicknick]

Curious I have never heard a conversation in two languages anyone else?

When I was at school, a couple of my friends were the children of immigrant parents.  I recall going round to their homes a couple of times and their mothers would speak to them in their native language. 

They seemed so embarrassed about this - but, looking back on it with the benefit of hindsight,  teenagers are often embarrassed about their parents for any number of reasons anyway - and they would ALWAYS reply to their parents in English when I was there, if only to say ''Mum, we've got guests.  You should speak in English''

As an adult, I haven't really heard this apart from one wedding I went to.  It was a Dutch guy marrying a Russian girl in Germany.  They met as she was studying in Germany and he was working there.

There were lots of Dutch, Russians and Germans at the wedding, along with one solitary Brit - me.  Just about everyone there spoke at least two languages fluently - the Dutch guests often spoke three - and it was really interesting for me how conversations would just shift between different languages, almost without thought.

One thing that I did notice, is that the conversation almost invariably changed to English when I joined in - they just automatically assumed that, as a Brit, I could only speak English.

Although, having said this, I did spend a fair bit of time talking in Russian to the parents of the bride.

[B.B.]

Curious I have never heard a conversation in two languages anyone else?

I have participated in them, although not really fully.  Recently I spoke with a Russkaya, me in Russian (limited) and her in English (fluent), because I don't get to practice Russian as much as I'd like with native speakers.  All too often, though, when the other person is fluent in English, I wind up switching over. 

That said, it is usually typical for people to speak in their stronger language, to express themselves better.  I used to know two older ladies (friends of the parents of a former g/f) who would speak one to the other in Russian, and the other would reply in English, as both were proficient in the other's language, but prefer to express themselves in their respective, native tongues.  They said that they would sometimes get confused looks from people if they were out walking and chatting in this manner. 

B/B

[B.B.]

One thing that I did notice, is that the conversation almost invariably changed to English when I joined in - they just automatically assumed that, as a Brit, I could only speak English.

Some years ago, I was a guest at a wedding reception that was predominantly (overwhelmingly, actually) Indians.  Having grown up in a town that had a high percentage of folks who also spoke French (and subsequently roommates who variously spoke Japanese, Albanian, Romanian, Polish, Russian, German, etc.), I was quite comfortable being around others conversing in other languages.  The Indians were mostly all fluent in English (this dinner took place in the US), but quite reasonably chose to converse with each other in Hindi, although there did seem to be a "cone of English" around myself and the few other white guests, where even adjacent conversations switched to English if the participants, due to the natural ebb and flow of movement of persons at such events came within a certain proximity.  Unnecessary in my case, but quite obviously done to make me and the other Caucasian-folk comfortable, so clearly very polite on their part.   

B/B

[Muzh_1]

Curious I have never heard a conversation in two languages anyone else?

You should come to my house on weekends when my brother (and my mother at one time) stops by and spends the day with us.

We'll be talking in English because my wife is present and if she goes somewhere we switch to Spanish and then back to English in mid-sentence when she comes back.

[doc holiday]

When me wife and I (hopefully) have children, they will learn English and Russian from the start.  I had the same concerns as Manny, but I realized that my wife wouldn't have it any other way.  Still, I asked her if it was so important to her to find some evidence that this does not hinder a child and she found research stating much of what posters on here have noted. 

I have struggled to pick up Russian, though admittedly my effort has not been great.  I took French for 10 years in Canada and placed at the top of my class but still could never really speak the language (I could read it well enough).  I think I struggle with language more than most perhaps.  I will have to learn some basics though because I would like to be able to say simple things to my children in both languages.