3 TIPS TO RAISING A TRILINGUAL CHILD

We are a mixed family

Ok, so here goes. I am Romanian, Bryan is Ecuadorian, and we live in the UK. I speak Romanian with my family, he speaks Spanish with his, and to each other, we speak English. Needless to say, language is a massive thing for us. Neither one is speaking English at a native level, but it is the way we communicate.

When I got pregnant, we immediately started debating the best way to help our daughter learn all our languages to a native-speaking level. We have watched documentaries and youtube videos to see what worked for other people and how we want to go about our family.

Some scientists believe that babies can discern the difference between languages, some believe that they understand all languages until they are six months old.

There is no real way of knowing the truth, all I know is that my daughter has to learn all three languages, and here is what worked for us.

3 Tips to raising a trilingual child

Each parent sticks to their language

This method is very popular amongst multilingual families, and it truly works. The idea behind it is for each parent to stick to their language, and the baby is bound to learn said language. We have and will continue to apply this method as it is beneficial. If we ask Alessia something, she will know the answer in whichever language.

She’s still little, she doesn’t use many words, but she knows how to call a cat. So if we are out and we see a kitty and ask her where the cat is in any of the three languages, she will start looking for it and call her.

That tells us that this method is working, however, we have had to tweak it a little bit because we have three languages that are constantly floating. So whenever I say something in Romanian, I will immediately repeat it in English, and Bryan does the same with Spanish.

Don’t stop talking

This tip is crucial. If you stop talking, they will forget the language. Scientists say that after the 12 months mark, babies are losing their ability to differentiate languages, the line gets blurry until there is no more line.

We also know that babies can’t form long-lasting memories until the age of 3-4-5, each child is different. So you have to be consistent until at least that age mark has been reached in order to have long-term effects.

Alessia is almost 16 months old, we are far from that mark, but we are very consistent, making progress every day, and she is a little superstar.

Culture and traditions

This last tip tells us to implement our culture and traditions in our children’s lives from a very young age because it will instill a sense of belonging to that specific country or culture.

For example, Christmas. In Romania, we have Santa Claus coming on the 24th, and we also have Saint Nick, who is coming on the 5th of December. He is said to come with sweets and small gifts; he is known as ‘little Nick’. Before he arrives, we have to polish our shoes and put them by the door or tree to receive our gifts.

Bryan has an entirely different tradition. It is called ‘Los Reyes Magos’, it is translated to ‘The three wise men’, they are celebrating the birth of Jesus, each one of them bringing Him symbolic presents.

In Spain, they do it a little bit differently, apart from the gifts received at home, they also have a parade celebrating the wise men, where they gift candy and chocolates to the people on the side of the road. This celebration is held on the 6th of January.

We will start to celebrate these traditions and tell her more about them, as they are part of our culture, and it will help her learn more about where her parents are coming from.

Being a mixed baby is challenging, and it will have its ups and downs. Explaining to other people why we celebrate so many things will definitely be interesting.

I know our daughters will adjust perfectly, but it will take time until they fully understand that we come from different parts of the world. Every country’s culture and traditions are unique and deserve to be celebrated.

They have so much to learn, I honestly don’t know how long it will take, or how natural things will come to them.