Posted by Susanne in AZ on 22:01 Mar 10
In Reply to: How many languages at one time? posted by Sarah R.
I have a 10 yo son that studies German, Spanish, and Chinese, and a 8 yo son, that studies German and Spanish. They both started with German, since I am German. Last summer they attended school in Germany for 4 weeks and learned a ton. The 10 yo reads loves to read German books, e.g. Harry Potter in German is no problem. I have a hard time finding enough German books for him. He started Spanish on Rosetta Stone, but got too bored with it. So we switched to Destinos. He is almost half way through the program. Last fall he started Chinese with Rosetta Stone. He had a hard time at the beginning, since it is so completely different from German and Spanish. Now he easily zips through one exercise and test every day. He never complains about getting mixed up. I think he is also realizing that a lot of the grammar is similar in German, Spanish and English, e.g. parts of speech, parts of sentences etc. Maybe in a couple of years, he will start Latin or something else.
My 8 yo can speak German reasonably well, but does not like to read German books yet. He started Rosetta Stone Spanish in fall and has no problem to finish 1 or 2 exercises and tests in 10 to 15 min. He also watches Destinos videos with the older one. I would like it, if he learns Chinese,too. We will see.
We do/try to do all languages every day. I bought German school books for their grade level. They have no problem with the material.
I think it is very important to learn to speak modern languages as early as possible so the children speak without accent. I started English at 10, and even after living in the US for 20 years, I still have an accent. Latin and Greek are nice, but in my opinion, can wait until much later. Advanced age probably even helps for studying grammar in those languages.
I believe, children can easily learn two or three languages. I know a family with perfectly trilingual children (Spanish, Japanese, English). I know several bilingual children. The human brain is very well adapted to learning several languages.
I think it is best to do a little bit every day rather than a lot once a week. It is amazing how much they learn over time. Get his dad involved in German, e.g. read little stories. Learn the words for all rooms, pieces of furniture, toys, etc. in German. I always point out, when words are very similar in two languages e.g. school in English and Schule in German.
Have fun!
Susanne in AZ