Bilingual Children?

[Chousho]

OK, I was just thinking this... it is a question for those outside and inside Japan or any other country.

If you were to marry somebody who speaks another language, would you want your children brought up speaking the native language of the country you are in, or both languages of the parents?

So, using Japan: if you travel to Japan and eventually get married years down the road, would you want your children to also speak English as well as Japanese?
As well, if you are Japanese and marry a foreigner, would you want your children to be brought up knowing both languages?

[Rain]

English is given the utmost priority; I'm not too concerned with the native language, really, unless it's an intriguing one.

And when I say English, I mean proper, legible English.

[firstpressing]

If I actually had any kids, I'd want them speaking in both languages. That, in turn, could become a valuable job skill for he or she in the future.

[EV.]

same here, but I already know 2 language and trying to learn a 3rd (3rd language is not difficult to pronounce, but to retain it is the problem, little by little its working)

[dreamer]

Both languages of course. In my case it'll be English and Chinese. My children will probably be brought up in an English environment, but I also think Chinese is a language that's too valuable and interesting to lose.

[regus 5000]

i think it would be a good idea to have the child learn both languages. just put yourself in the place of the grand parents. youll feel as if your son/daughter in law is trying to distance you from your grand child by not having it speak your language

[Burbster]

If I was in such a scenario, I would definately have them speaking both languages. Maybe English will get a little extra priority - It is the most important language in the world after all.

[{NG}Fidel]

I am Cuban and grew up learning both english and spanish. Trust me two is better than one and at that age the brain is so ready to learn its the easiest time to get them to learn language.
It can be difficult to learn later on. I lived in Switzerland for some time and took german courses and did not do so hot on them because Language is my weak point. It and math I simply have trouble understanding.

[Ironfrost]

English is given the utmost priority; I'm not too concerned with the native language, really, unless it's an intriguing one.

And when I say English, I mean proper, legible English.

Are you being serious? It's insane to bring up children who don't speak the language of the place where they live. I'm still not completely fluent in Chinese, and it's often a real problem; I can imagine that it would be an even bigger problem in a school environment where they would have to spend all day communicating with people who don't speak English.

Of course it's a good idea to speak English too, what with it being the international language of business, science and whatnot, as well as allowing them to communicate with the rest of my side of the family. And raising bilingual kids isn't going to be substantially harder than only teaching them one language.

[VSh]

And raising bilingual kids isn't going to be substantially harder than only teaching them one language.
It isn't hard at all. They learn it themselves. Of course you need to know those languages as well. My children speak fluently on 3 languages.

[kiyomi]

Unfortunatly, after I was adopted by americans in japan at age 4, I was put into the Department Of Defense School system and that's where I learned my english and completely forgot my japanese.

I can still understand Japanese when spoken to and read and write it. But no one bothered to teach me how to read kanji.

When I married an american and had kids, I taught my boys what I knew of japanese, but as the years went by, I used less and less of my native dialect and just dropped it all together. (Which I now regret.)

My eldest son taught himself how to read, write and speak japanese fluently because he's heavily into the anime and video game scene.

If I had to do it all over again with my kids, I would have been more dillegent and taught them all I know of my native language .

As for now, I'm brushing up on the basics of nihongo and teaching myself kanji. And since I have a grandson now, I will definatly be teaching him japanese. And since his mother is Puerto Rican, he will be learning 3 languages...English, Japanese and Spanish.

[Z-Gundam]

Obviously it depends on where you would raise your children, but yes, I would want my children to know proper English.

[Suiko Eiji]

I'm a big proponent of immersion, so should my children grow up in a non-English speaking nation, English might be used inside the home while out in public and conducting everday affairs will be done in the lingua franca of the area. If my wife is a foreign national, we live in the US and would like her children to know about part of their cultural heritage and language, then again, it's an inside the home thing. All of the public and everyday affairs deal will be done in proper English.

[Spadesy]

If I'm fortunate to even have a kid in my lifetime, yeah, that'd be neat if he was bilingual...

But humans are definitely creatures that adjust to their surroundings as probably the ONLY motivation for doing what they do...most people who try to learn something they know they won't need to apply won't be interested in learning, and lack of interest is a major obstacle to mastering anything.

I took French for three years in high school, and was fairly good at speaking and writing it. But after that, I never met a French person or had to speak French to anybody, so a lot of it just went away.

So, hey...if my Evil Sprog grows up in a place where he's required to speak more than English to get around, then I'll ensure he gets what he needs to learn the language. But if not...English will do just fine.

[Prons]

Yeah, I'd teach my kids Japanese so they could grow up and tap dat japanese booty.

[Spadesy]

^ Somebody had to say it before the thread could die.

And as usual, that guy is Prons.

[Richi]

imagin me

I can speak two languages and now I am going towards my 3rd one, japanese.


I am so gonna force my kids to learn those 3 languages, no way am I gonna let them not speak it at home. Is like this, speak english when you are at school, but speak spanish when you are home, in my case it will be spanish and japanese.

[Leader Desslock]

Yeah, I'd teach my kids Japanese so they could grow up and tap dat japanese booty.
You wouldn't just put the kids to work translating for you?

If I had children, I want to teach them as many languages as possible as young as they could learn them.

[kiyomi]

You already have a son Desslock.......

Jedi Gibb.

Teach him the Force.

[fujyoshi]

English is given the utmost priority; I'm not too concerned with the native language, really, unless it's an intriguing one.

And when I say English, I mean proper, legible English.

oh you mean the british people right? Because that's the actual proper english.

[Chousho]

oh you mean the british people right? Because that's the actual proper english.
Lawl (always better with filling.)

[greg]

<Warning: another long post from me!>
This is something that weighs heavily on my mind. My wife is Japanese, and I intend to bring up our future children bilingually. Those children who are not brought up bilingually are missing out on something very important. Children are language sponges, so if the mother speaks her native language to the child and the father speaks his, the children can differentiate the two. "Mommy speaks X, Daddy speaks Y."

Problems arise when parents don't start the immersion immediately. I once met a couple who had moved from Korea, an American GI and a Korean woman. They spoke only Korean to their son and moved to the US when he was about four or five. He had difficulty adapting to English and was absolutely confused, but his little sister was having no problem at all with either language.

Unfortunately, a lot of people who pursue international relationships don't really do their homework on it. I love to research, and so I read as much as I could about international relationships before I even proposed to my wife. I read "The Modern Madame Butterfly" by Karen Ma and recommended to my friend before he married his Japanese wife. I've read a bit about raising bilingual children, and unfortunately people don't bother to understand child psychology, so they just assume that more than one language would be too difficult for their child.

What really appalls me is when parents do not even consider raising their children bi-culturally. My wife carpools with a woman from Okinawa who married a GI. Her husband has made no attempt whatsoever to learn more than three words in Japanese. She cooks two dinners: one for her family and one for herself. The rest of her family refuses to eat any Japanese food, not even fish or rice! Whenever she takes her children to Japan to visit her family (the oldest is in his 20's now), they just can't wait to get back home to the USA.

The sad thing is that families like this are not very rare at all. It infuriates me when American husbands expect their Japanese wives to just become American women and conform their lifestyle to meet their selfish requirements. Why did they even marry a Japanese women to begin with? They just think that Japanese women are subservient and they want a woman to push around? I hate that crap. :angry:

Anyhow, to get back on topic, I've noticed that for parents teaching their children Japanese in America is a difficult task, especially for reading skills. It's not like Japanese communities are as widespread as Hispanic communities in America. Here in Phoenix, AZ, some parents send their kids to a juku of sorts in Mesa to learn Japanese on Saturdays. But studying only once a week isn't going to help the kids learn much. One junior high girl I met, Kanna, has both parents from Japan and she didn't even know some very simple words like machi for "town." Then again, her parents were always working at their sushi restaurant and never had much time for their children, but still she didn't know some pretty basic stuff. Like I said, reading is the most difficult beause of the kanji. Even Japanese citizens living overseas become pretty rusty with their kanji knowledge as time goes on.

I'm only hoping to use manga and anime as a tool to keep my future kids up-to-speed with Japanese if we are to continue living in America. I'd like to move back to Japan, but I'm scared of being stuck teaching English for the rest of my life.

Kiyomi, this is off-topic, what do you know of adoption in Japan? My wife and I haven't had any luck at all in the childbirth department for the past year or so. I personally think adoption is far more noble than having kids of one's own, but my wife isn't keen on this idea at all. There seems to be a cultural aversion to adoption in Japan. Do you have any insight into this?

[kiyomi]

well, as far as I know, adoption in Japan is few and far between. (At least it was in my day.)

But I really don't have any clue as to how adoption is over there. I was adopted within the family..so..it's a bit different. But my adopted dad was an american GI, and he didnt switch me over to become an american citizen because he wanted me to make that choice when I got older..which was a fricken mistake..cuz I had a hell of a time getting out of my country because of all the red-tape involved.

had something to do with "Adopted Parents" VS "Step-Parents". There's a difference, and somehow, my birth certificate had both on there..(as Adopted AND Step.) weird, I know..but that's how it was, and it was a mess.

So, in conclusion, if you live over there and adopt over there, make sure you make your adopted child into an american citizen real quick. Will save alot of heartache and trouble in the end.

[Ninja337]

When I first started to learn to speak, I was burdened by Romanian and English. My family travelled between the two countriess often. I never truly became that great at eaither language. When I was 7 I was forced to learn Italian, for proper communication with half of my family. In Junior High I started French, and Japanese for lulz. Don't burden your kids with more than one language, I'm miserable because of it. My speech is littered with Romanian proverbs, and people usually don't get what I am talking about. Teach "your" language at a Hebrew/Chinese/Russian/Arab/Indian Center or School. Your kid won't be accented or sound stupid if he learns it as a second language.

[sailornyanko]

I wished my dad had allowed my mom to teach me spanish as young as possible. I ended up learning it at age 9. I understand spanish very damn well and I don't even think which language I'm reading when I read medical literature cuse it all seems so natural for me.

However I still speak with a "strange" accent, apparently it isn't the usual gringo accent of newbie spanish speakers but it doesn't sound like a native spanish accent. The accent gets stronger when I'm nervous or reading out loud. However I speak all the mexican swear words like everyone else. My older sister already knew spanish when she moved to the US and learned english as her second language. She didn't have an accent in either language. However ever since she moved to Cancun she now speaks spanish in the weirdest accent ever. What happened?! O_o'

I doubt I'd ever have kids of my own, but if I did, I'd force feed them as many languages as possible while they are under 7 years old when their brain are real language sponges. I'd show them anime in english, spanishe and try to do it in japanese as well. I'd enjoy to improve my Japanese since it's real basic and if possible, to learn a native mexican dialect for the sake of showing off I can speak a dying language.

Plus, I'd teach them proper spelling. A kid can learn how to think in a different lenguage easily, but it's also the parent's duty to teach them the grammar and logic inside of a language so that they don't end up looking like idiots at school.

Frankly I'd encourage any american parent to get their kids to learn spanish at special billingual kindergarden schools if they can't speak the language themselves. Spanish is becomming such an important language in the US. I spoke it a lot to waiters at restaurants when I was in Los Angeles just to show that it's a language worth learning now that the spanish speaking population of the US is booming real fast. Don't know about Japanese though. Seems like it's a language spoken by a few in the school ghettos.

[Victory]

It goes without saying as far I am concerned, if anything it'll teach the children about accepting what is different
I'd make sure to teach them properly so their words don't come out in 3 languages when they try to give a speech or write

What really appalls me is when parents do not even consider raising their children bi-culturally. My wife carpools with a woman from Okinawa who married a GI. Her husband has made no attempt whatsoever to learn more than three words in Japanese. She cooks two dinners: one for her family and one for herself. The rest of her family refuses to eat any Japanese food, not even fish or rice! Whenever she takes her children to Japan to visit her family (the oldest is in his 20's now), they just can't wait to get back home to the USA.
;_; MY EYES

[Prons]

You wouldn't just put the kids to work translating for you?


I asume by then Japan will be a better country and just start making anime in English

[DazzleKitty]

I would definently teach them both languages. I always thought it would be neat to grow up being bilingual. I would actually be that way if it weren't for my grandparents splitting up. My grandma was from France, and if she hadn't move to another state, me and my dad would both be fluent in French. I think that would be awesome, because it's one of my more favored languages.
I started to learn Spanish in 11th (took it for two years). I totally bombed both of those classes. I barely passed them, basically. I think they should start teaching that language in elementry school rather than high school. It would stick better then.

[BLACKANGEL32076]

BOTH LANGUAGES!!!!!!

I wish someone had drill my Mother with that mindset before I was born.

Stupid woman...

[master terrence]

if they go into international relations/buisness, Japanese is good to know.

[Haro!]

My family's joke is that I'm gonna be real evil with my kids when it comes to languages: I already speak English, and Spanish so I'll teach that to them, my wife would force them into Chinese school (they teach you canto and mando but you end up learning how to cheat instead), Japanese will be forced upon them by my brother or father, and they'd have to learn Arabic to read the Quran.

[fujyoshi]

I asume by then Japan will be a better country and just start making anime in English

eehhh it sounds better in Japanese though ><

[Jinto117]

Yeah, I'd teach my kids Japanese so they could grow up and tap dat japanese booty.

Prons that comment made my day.

[Jake]

I'd definitely raise my kids bilingually (English-French). It's easiest to learn languages when one is young, and there are many assets to speaking multiple languages. If I lived in Japan, though, and I had a child with a Japanese woman, I'd want my kid to speak both languages. I wouldn't want to speak just Japanese at home... I'd want to speak English too. But then, it would be funny to use English when you're talking about your kid.

Kono kodomo wa totemo spoiled brat desu yo!

[MIKE123]

Since I'm planning to live in Japan (family and close friends there), I'd go for the Japanese first. Then, later on I'd settle for the English, but keep the Japanese going. I'm not sure though, it depends where I raise them. I might want to come back to Canada for a bit to raise my kids there, but I'd still keep the Japanese going. That would go for any race of kids and their native language though(not just Japanese, I'm not set on marrying a Japanese woman, but if I do, "whoopie" :naughty: .)

[VSh]

When I first started to learn to speak, I was burdened by Romanian and English. My family travelled between the two countriess often. I never truly became that great at eaither language. When I was 7 I was forced to learn Italian, for proper communication with half of my family. In Junior High I started French, and Japanese for lulz. Don't burden your kids with more than one language, I'm miserable because of it. My speech is littered with Romanian proverbs, and people usually don't get what I am talking about.
You are lucky to have basic knowledge in many languages. This is the most difficult stage. Many people couldn't pass this and gave up on the language. And you need only vocabulary and speaking. Try to communicate more with people who knows the language and to read more books. Perfect you languages all together, use Paganel's method: read the same book in a few languages. I suggest "Harry Potter" - it is easy to find on all your languages, exceptional increasing of difficulty along with parts, and the book itself is good enough to keep you interesting in the education.

It is a work, but it will be paid you later. There is good Jewish saying: "Another language - another million".

[melda]

i think it's very important to teach young children as many languages as possible at a young age especially if two parents are bilingual in at least one language

[Kyla07]

Definitely both! Why not? You're so much more special that way.

And if you're between the ages of 1-6 its easier to learn a new language. I'm teaching myself Japanese, its sooo nice to watch it and not read the subtitles every time. Futhermore I can speak Afrikaans, English and German.

Afrikaans is a mixture of german and dutch. A very easy language to learn as anything goes. And - Afrikaans swear words are the best ever!

[KwonNinja]

English is really important. I had to learn it and still learning it. I just moved to America for college and I'm taking a lot of English classes.

I speak two languages (Japanese [dad] & Korean [mother] and a dialect in one of the languages) and my English is getting better.

[Chousho]

English is really important. I had to learn it and still learning it. I just moved to America for college and I'm taking a lot of English classes.

I speak two languages (Japanese [dad] & Korean [mother] and a dialect in one of the languages) and my English is getting better.
That's cool! So you are fluent in both languages then? Haha, look out for Prons then, I'm sure he'll try to get you to translate for him.
Just wondering, do you take the last name of your father or mother?

[Salainen]

So, using Japan: if you travel to Japan and eventually get married years down the road, would you want your children to also speak English as well as Japanese?
As well, if you are Japanese and marry a foreigner, would you want your children to be brought up knowing both languages?

Yes ^_^

I was raised bilingually (not with Japanese)...I can tell you from experience that there are no negative effects :P

It gives children a useful skill which they will be greatful for when they become older...

[HimuraKenji]

For me, the native language would be most important, but I would also try my best to teach my children whatever non-native language I know. It could be a dilemma since I speak Japanese, English, and Portuguese, but I don't have kids, so I'll just spend my youth not caring.

[Mr. sickVisionz]

I'd want my kids to be bilingual. They really would have like two families: their american father's and there japanese mother's. It'd suck for them to not be able to communicate with either of them. Plus, with two native speakers in the house it shouldn't be difficult for them to learn both languages; especially if you started teaching them since they were babies.

I can't say which one i'd teach them first though. I don't remember how I learned how to "hear/speak" English... I just did. I think if you put a child into a bilingual house from birth, they'd just automatically know how to adjust to hearing one thing. They'd probally grasp the native tongue quicker because its used everywhere (as opposed to just in their house and among family). However, that'd be a societal force guiding them that way and not me really making a concentrated effort for them to learn that first.

[shinri]

Had I married my ex, we would have wanted our future kids to learn both Mandarin (his family) as well as Japanese (my family). English would never be an issue, since that's what we both spoke 100% of the time to each other anyway.

[Donto_Koi]

Donto grew up bilingual, spanish from my parents, and of course being American born, English is a must. There's a saying in spanish that a bilingual person is worth two (or something like that). And with the world coming together and what not, why the hell not master multiple languages, it'll always pay off. Not to mention, the rapper suga free said it best, " parlez-vus français? Oui, oui! Sabes español? Si! International playa, baby! "

I already know spanish (even if my spanish is, well, mexican country bumpkin), and am highly proficient in English (even though most probably can't tell by the way I do things) and I've already picked up some japanese with hopes of taking a course at my college in the fall. I may even look to further expand my Russian and German.