How to Bring Up Bilingual and Multilingual Kids: A Chat with Tetsu Yung

[@muhilan8540]

My dad would pretend not to hear me when I spoke to him in English I credit all my knowledge of Tamil to him

[@CouchPolyglot]

As much as I love learning languages, I think that raising your children to be bilingual or multilingual is the greatest gift 🎁, hope to be able to implement those tips when the time comes 😊. Thanks!

[@osonhodeleon]

Growing up bilingual or multilingual would be amazing.

[@stanleyparks]

My parents never gave me a second language so I really hope I can have kids that are multilingual. I think it's awesome what Tetsu has done.

[@AskTetsu]

Thanks for your kind words Tyler. My parents gave me multiple languages and I cannot thank them enough. That is my driving force to give my children the same. You can do it, too! Good luck.

[@ROBIN-dk3fp]

Tyler are you a multilingual 😊?

[@aubs965]

I am trying so hard to do the same. As i keep learning, i am helping them along as much as i can too. I wanted to be raised bilingual so so bad but i cant change what didnt happen. Though i CAN change how my kids grow up. Its nice to know others are doing the same!

[@AskTetsu]

@@aubs965 That's the spirit! Best wishes!

[@esraakhattat2160]

That is really interesting I am not bilingual I am a native Arabic speaker but when we were kids we had a lot of English TV series and movies and we weren't old enough to read the subtitles that made me and my siblings develop this kind of common sense in English that when we practice grammer in school it comes naturally we had these rearrange the sentence questions and we always had it right just because it made sense this way not that my level in English is perfect or anything I still struggle with the speaking part but I do think that exposure to English TV when we were little definitely helped and I am also experiencing this with korean I've been watching dramas for about seven years now and only now decided to learn it the grammer points makes a lot of sense now

[@learningswedishwithadam2051]

What an awesome advantage in life it must be to grow up bilingual! Like a head start from the rest uf us, and how many new opportunities later in adolescense

[@jwongch]

Thanks Testu and Steve. I liked the discussion about increasing or designing an environment with lots of language input + human connection. I think the key is human connection and the only way to do it is talk to real people, and not focusing too much on grammar and textbooks.

[@AskTetsu]

Human connection is definitely great! And yes, the younger they are, the less formal the learning should be.

[@Michael-zp9kl]

Hey Steve, I love your videos. Don’t worry so much about how long they are! I could easily listen to longer conversations, and it would feel less rushed 🙏

[@chrismcgivney9999]

When you speak two languages but start losing vocabulary in both of them: byelingual

[@いちごミルク-s9d]

Chris McGivney lolol

[@erenparla3869]

please upload more of this this is awesome

[@martin5190]

Hey Steve, first of all I'd thank you and Tetsu for making this video. I watch quite a few of your videos and I'm big fan of the work you do. This video is particularly intriguing to me so I want to leave a comment with some questions. So, a little backstory on myself. My mother is from HK, my dad is American. My brother and I grew up speaking Cantonese with our mother, from what I'm told, she didn't initially think of teaching us Cantonese, but my dad insisted that she teach us, so from the time we could speak she would speak to us only in Cantonese, and if we spoke English she would either not respond or reply in Cantonese, this sort of forces the child to speak the language. We also went to a Japanese emersion school for 8 years (though we've largely lost any conversational abilities in Japanese, we still have retained some amount of passive knowledge). I'm now 28, and I have been dating a French girl for 6 years, and have learned self studied French to a conversational level. Anyway, onto questions that I have. More for Tetsu I suppose, than for you Steve. I have thought about how to go about raising kids to be at least bilingual, preferably trilingual. Tetsu's situation is of course unique, having parents that speak two different languages, and then also living in an area that also has two other languages that are spoken. My ideal situation would be to teach my child Cantonese, and then my wife teach them another language, and they learn English, and perhaps a 4th language in school. Tetsu brings up many valid points that I've considered, such as not having to worry about them learning the local language. I'm curious as to what you guys think factors into what language the kids will speak to each other in? Also I'm curious as a linguist, what do you guys think influences what language(s) a person thinks in? I almost exclusively think in English, although I have dreams with clear conversations in several languages. I have tried thinking in French and Cantonese as I thought this would reinforce the target language, and it does but that has to be consistently and intentionally done. What are you thoughts as far as thinking in your target learning language? To me, it's just another way to immerse yourself in the language, but I don't every recall anyone talking about that as a method. I often time have a two sided practice conversation with myself. Also, I'm curious as to what language you both speak with your wives at home? I think that would be a good way to have additional exposure for the kids. These days we are certainly blessed as Tetsu said, with so many online resources such as KZbin or other sites were kids (or adults) can watch shows or videos in other languages. I'm sure I'm forgetting some other questions or comments, but this is already long enough. Lastly, I hope you both see this comment and hopefully respond, as this is something I'm quite passionate about. You're both remarkable linguists, and I envy both of your skills and abilities. It's people like you that give my brother and I motivation to continue to learn languages and improve! Thanks again.

[@AskTetsu]

Hi Martin5190, I just so happened to come back browsing this video, as I was tagged in another question here, so luck would have it, after 1 month, you get your questions answered! ;) First of all, about speaking different languages to your kids. The KEY is consistency. I always advise against 1 person switching around in different languages, UNLESS you know for a fact that you kids love languages and want to learn autonomously, and that you have the time to provide quality input on a daily basis in these languages. Also, if your goal is not to have a high level of fluency in these languages. Otherwise, stick to one language per person and you will build a habit of speaking only that language to your kids. Here's more details: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqO9nWyZetN_ndU Regarding what languages kids speak to each other, I have 2 answers: 1) It depends on the context, i.e., who is with the kids. If the kids are fluent enough in the language of the external person, then the kids will likely adapt to that person. 2) If the kids are alone, they will speak their most comfortable language. So in our case, if I am playing with the kids, they will naturally speak Mandarin to each other. But if they are playing just by themselves, I often catch them speaking Japanese. As for speaking to oneself when learning languages, well....other than feeling like a lunatic, I think it's a GREAT method! How do I know? Well, that's exactly what I did when I was learning Spanish on my own! ;) Just as the above, it is a great way to create a habit of using the target language, and it forces you to continuously use vocabulary and force yourself to look up things when you're stuck speaking to yourself. I had kept a pocket dictionary close by at all times in those cell phone-less days... Good, and thanks for your thoughtful comment!

[@martin5190]

@@AskTetsu Hey Tetsu, thank you very much for taking the time to respond. It's great to receive insight from someone like yourself. I myself am still some time away from having children of my own, but I can't wait to raise them to be tri or at least bilingual. For my personal linguistic goals it's great to have people like yourself and Steve to look up to, highly skilled polyglots. As I continue to refine my French and learn Spanish, it helps motivate me a lot. Perhaps someday I'll be lucky enough to meet one or both of you and have this conversation in person, perhaps in French or Chinese! :)

[@StephJ0seph]

This was very helpful, thanks guys!

[@MrJerkensen]

Hey Steve and Tetsu! Thanks so much for making this video! Steve, you sort of hit the nail on the head at the end. My wife and I are Americans and French is my second language. I think what I've gathered is that it will take more than my poor french to get my future daughter to be bi-lingual. Tetsu, if you could lay out some concrete steps that you did with your kids everyday? I have a dream of sitting in a rocking chair reading french books to her, but it sounds like that's not enough. Thanks again you guys!

[@AskTetsu]

Hi Rya, thank you for you question that led to this collaboration with Steve! I fully enjoyed it. I could go on for hours! So with respect to concrete steps, well...as I mentioned in the video, I'm not so focused on "teaching" them languages. We do have books and language drills and games and APPs, etc. all over the place, but we NEVER force them to do them. It is more about creating the environment where if they have access to these 5 languages from a "needs" or "interests" perspective, never an "obligation" perspective. That doesn't we don't bribe them from time to time though! Ha ha. But seriously, they're never punished for not speaking or learning a specific language. So a typical day would require them to start speaking Japanese with mom, Mandarin with me, and Spanish with the au pair. Then they speak French at school, and maybe English with their skating coach or horseback riding coach, or friends. And every spring/summer, we spend 2 months in Japan and 2 months in Taiwan (although only Japan this year) where they go to local schools and strengthen their Japanese and Mandarin further. Again, our investment is in the environment, and not on the actual language studies or drills, etc. Finally, as for your French, how you go about it will depend on 2 things: the level you expect her to reach and the level of commitment you are willing to put in (which includes time and/or money). Many people ask me if they're not very good in a language, can they teach it to their children. I say, sure! But the time and effort you put in to better yourself as you go along will be critical. A toddler's level in any language is very low. Any adult can learn faster than a toddler. As for accent, you may be able to get it corrected through TV or input from other people. But please think it through, as it will NOT be easy. The results will likely be better if you hired an au pair from France or Quebec. But that comes with a cost, of course. Hope this helps!

[@MrJerkensen]

AskTetsu - Multilingual Kids this is a wonderful answer and I absolutely understand and will heed your advice. I would never force a child to learn a language. But like you, use it as a fun/life enhancing activity. I’ll use this as motivation to spend summers in France :) Again, thank you both for the insight!!

[@TiffanyHallmark]

I sent my son to a Japanese immersion school, but he never really took to it. If I could have really immersed myself in the language at the time, I may have been better able to help him. Later, I discovered that I can work with Japanese relatively easily. So, it's become one of my own languages to study.

[@nendoakuma7451]

This is something that I think about a lot as my wife and her parents speak Cantonese to my son. Despite very little interaction with native English speakers except for me, at almost four years old he is probably better at English because all his cartoons are in English.

[@AskTetsu]

That's great! He's well on his way to bilingualism! Congrats.

[@nendoakuma7451]

@@AskTetsu I wish I could find more cartoons for him in Cantonese, but it's a bit of a chore.

[@nendoakuma7451]

Much easier to find Cantonese programs for adults. But I was totally monolingual at his age, so he already has somewaht of a headstart.

[@jgood9716]

@@nendoakuma7451 They have Peppa Pig in Cantonese.

[@pumpkinsandme6238]

My kids are learning mandarin (which I'm learning with them) and my 8 year old is learning Korean. However we homeschool, it wouldn't be possible otherwise. Learning to read Mandarin is a lot of work. We spend about half our homeschool time on Mandarin alone. So many fluent children lose their language as they get older because most of their day is spent in English. I try to keep our learning fun using comprehensible input, bribing, and lots of tv in the language. I use italki tutors and they were going to saturday chinese school until COVID. I know it will take 10 years or so to be "fluent" and probably a stay in china or taiwan but they can hold conversations and understand cartoons and have had Skype playdates in mandarin. My 8 year old was able to keep up with her class of heritage speakers at her chinese school and do all her workbook without much trouble.

[@EasyFinnish]

Love it! Must go and see his channel. I speak English and French to my kids. Not all the time, but daily. They have started to speak English and French. They know how to ask more milk in English and say greetings in English and French. They are 5 and 6 old..I study French and know a little but I just want to say "bonjour, ca va" in the morning to them. Now they have started to say it back to me. Same in English. Finnish is language we speak natively. I was born in Sweden and moved to Finland when I was 5 and forgot all my swedish because parents talked Finnish. I strongly believe that natural input makes different for kids and also in some way adults. Hello from Finland Steve. Ps. If you want learn Finnish go and study Finnish on my channel. There are 3 series to learn. Comprehensible input, easy Finnish and street Finnish.

[@chapmanmarie6529]

I am French, live in the UK with my English husband. The main language spoken is English. Despite my effort, my kids are rejecting French. I persist in speaking to them and we have French TV and books etc. They will not speak it and answer me in my language. I keep going but I despair and growing a bit frustrated and upset. They are 14 and 10. It's almost as if they are embarrassed to be different. We don't socialise with any French speakers in the UK as we don't know any. We go back home fairly regularly and they get by but not to the level you would normally expect from so called bilingual children... I know they understand it well. I can't help but blame myself for not creating enough of a conducive environment when they were little after a lot of locals frowed upon my speaking another language around them. They perceived it as rude. Let's hope my children realise one day how lucky they actually were.

[@Thelinguist]

Your experience is normal. It is difficult to get your kids to speak another language, unless you start as early as Tetsu does. I speak from experience. If they get keen later you won't be able to hold them back.

[@muzicapentrusufletultau9115]

Thank you so much!

[@CG-pp1bl]

Super interesting video, thanks for sharing! I am Brazilian-Canadian and my husband is French. We both speak English, French and Spanish and I am also fluent in Portuguese. We have been rattling our brains on how to get our future children to speak all languages - I have heard from many that 'more than two & they will get confused'... but I have always believed that is simply not true! My question is, how to maintain three languages in the home when one partner does not speak the third language, in this case Portuguese. Anywho, keep up the great content, I love languages!

[@Jayvie79]

Great interview! I have been searching for information and methods on how to teach our future child our languages. I’m Filipino and my wife is Peruvian. We both live in Australia and we want our future kids to learn Tagalog and Spanish. She is due to give birth early next year. Tetsu answered my question, he only speaks 1 language whe meaningfully talking to his kids. He can use other languages when talking to his wife or other people. I am proabably around B1-2 in Spanish but my wife does not speak Tagalog yet. We both are fluent in English. My wife and I can switch to pure Spanish or Spanglish but only for describing basic, common contexts and situations and to some degree emotional stuff. My wife talks to me in pure Spanish 30% of the time and I reply to her in English vice versa. I know our baby would learn Spanish as my wife speaks to her family once a week (we also attend a Spanish class in church) but what language do I use when he/she talks to me in an emotional context when my wife in the same space? Do i translate Tagalog to Spanish or Spanglish? And im much more comfortable talking emotional and meaningful things in English than Spanish but could i respond in Tagalog in these times? Or if our child speaks to me in Tagalog i’ll translate it to English to my wife and continue to talk in Tagalog.

[@yurisenglishdiary]

많은 언어를 알고 있다면 많은 일이 일어날 것 같습니다. 감사합니다. If you know many languages, it seems like a lot will happen. Thank you.

[@AskTetsu]

Thank you! Indeed, more languages, more opportunities for great things to happen! At least that's what I am wishing would happen for my children.

[@SilvioGerinaud]

Actually i'm learning english, in fact, going to Ireland next month. Hugs!

[@skipinkoreaable]

네 맞습니다. more languages = more fun

[@karinallique2160]

I have taught English to my child since I was pregnant talking to him always. His first word in English after saying mama was "lion" he said it when he was eight months now he is sixteen months and he says twenty words in English and understand some commands too. We live in a Spanish native speaking country.

[@jena3150]

I have a question, how do you suggest starting languages with 5 year olds? I speak Spanish, my husband speaks Swedish, he and I communicate in English with each other. The problem is we didn't speak the other 2 languages with our oldest (5). With our younger kids (1&3) we do speak the other 2 languages, however, with our 5 year old we kind of need her to understand us and do what we are asking. How should we go about bringing her in to the other 2 languages?

[@AskTetsu]

Hi Jen. It's all about developing a habit. I think the good thing here is that you already have a habit of speaking your native languages to the younger kids. Then it's a matter of starting with "not going out of your way" to speak English when all 3 kids are together. I understand that your oldest doesn't understand everything right now, but if you continue to speak English with her, then she will never learn Spanish and Swedish. It will definitely be hard at the beginning, because you have 5 years of catch up to do. The good news is that a 5 year old will have a higher learning capacity than a 2 or 3 year-old. The bad news is, she will likely resist quite a lot and how you show her love and spend "a lot" of time with her in the minority languages will be the key to success. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[@Alejandra_Cabrera]

Es interesante como el pudo aprender diferentes idiomas

[@AskTetsu]

Muchas gracias Alejandra! Sí, tuve mucha suerte poder aprender muchos idiomas en mi vida, y ahora estoy intentando de darles los mismos ventajas a mis hijos. Ojalá que todo salga bien!

[@RonaldMcPaul]

@@AskTetsu Sí, tuve * 你的那麼多語言的小孩子應該幸福死了吧 ， 面試有趣謝謝。

[@RonaldMcPaul]

Interesting topic.

[@AskTetsu]

@@RonaldMcPaul Sí, "sí, tuve", ja ja. Gracias. 希望你說得對。幸福死了！

[@finkdifferently7763]

Amazing. And the videos on Tetsu's page are wonderful to watch. One thing that struck me was how the kids language of choice seemed to be Japanese. As the parent who speaks to them in another language, a language they are slightly weaker in, or less able to express themselves as fully; I wonder if they thus feel more comfortable opening up to mum more or if there are other such consequences of this dynamic?

[@AskTetsu]

Hi @finkdifferently, thank you so much for your kind words! And thank you for your question. The fact that their current strongest language is Japanese is probably the direct result of them spending more time with mom than with dad. ....well, and the fact that we all love our mama more than dad, right? Ha ha. That said, the difference between Japanese and Mandarin had thus far not been so extreme that they'd have significant differences in ability to express themselves in these languages. However, with the corona situation, they have been in Japan since Mar 20, and will only come back on Aug 19. I have been in Canada separately this whole time, so I do expect their Mandarin to be significantly behind their Japanese when they come back, despite me using Mandarin with them when we video chat, and despite us hiring Chinese-speaking nannies in Japan right now. I do intend on spending a disproportionately longer time when they come back to try to raise their Mandarin levels, so we'll see. By the way, when they do have difficulty expressing themselves in one specific language, they can borrow words from other languages if they know that the person they're talking to understands it. That is not forbidden. If they struggle in Mandarin in a specific expression and they say it in Japanese, I don't fake non understanding it, but simply acknowledge, and as necessary, repeat it back to them with the correct terminology in Mandarin. There is nothing wrong with that. However, if they completely switch the language on me, which has thus far never happened with any of my kids yet, then I'll have to find ways to overcome this differently. Hope this helps!

[@manuelsanchezmanuelsanchez3562]

Muy interesante Steve. Yo justamente estoy en la misma tesitura que ha puesto tu entrevistado, español, mujer francesa y viviendo en Escocia. Por supuesto hacemos OPOL, one parent one language, y ahora mismo los niños tienen tres lenguas fuertes, aunque imagino que el inglés acabará siendo la más fuerte. La pregunta es, como introducir una lengua alternativa tu mismo (no todos nos podemos permitir una au pair, dicho esto sin ningún tipo de resquemor)? Cómo introducir otra lengua, por ejemplo, chino? Algún consejo mágico? Un saludo y muchas gracias por tus videos

[@AskTetsu]

Muchas gracias por su pregunta Manuel. Entiendo bien que hay métodos que cuestan más que otros. Primero, diría que no...no tengo consejos mágicos...Tu satisfacción depende de 3 cosas: 1) el nivel de tu expectativa, 2) $$ o 3) tiempo. Puede tener 2 de los 3. Por ej, si tienes altas expectativas y quieres que no te cueste mucho $$, pues vas a tener que invertir mucho tiempo. Si no tienes ni dinero ni tiempo, tendrías que bajar las expectativas. Quizás un nivel para ordenar comida en un restaurant o algo así, pero no esperes que pueda trabajar profesionalmente con el idioma que está aprendiendo. Y también depende de la dificultad del idioma. Comparado al francés, el chino es uno de los idiomas más difíciles para anglófonos o hispanohablantes. Quizás conoce a las categorías de FSI (Foreign Services Institute)?

[@celinaduguay6484]

My family is from Poland. My grandmother immigrated from Poland as a teenager with her younger brother while her 4 older siblings stayed in Poland, it was her parent's decision. She was adopted by her aunt and she said it took her one year to learn English. She was sent to live in America. My grandmother never spoke Polish to either of her 2 children. Years later me and my 2 siblings were born and she never spoke it us either. The last time she went to Poland was in August 2009. Her Polish is very broken now and she only speaks Polish when she talks on the phone with her older sister in Poland. I've been wondering why she didn't speak Polish to her 2 children or even her 3 grandchildren, I don't know if it was because we live in Canada and speak English so Polish isn't needed. My grandmother's siblings know I am trying to self-learn Polish and last summer my grandmother's sister calls her and tells my grandmother to start speaking to me in only Polish after 17 years of me being alive, which makes no sense really. I don't have any real-life exposure to the language, the only resources I have for Polish is KZbin, Netflix, apps, and books I got for learning Polish in Poland when I visited for 9 days last summer.

[@gilmar-ac3247]

Muito bom , sou novo no seu canal !!!

[@AskTetsu]

Bemvindo ao canal de Steve! ;)

[@gilmar-ac3247]

Gostaria de aprender inglês no seu canal!!

[@davidwillsofthenorth]

I really enjoyed this video, and as someone from New Brunswick, Canada, I am constantly interested in how bilingualism and multilingualism is done in other places. I can not say that bilingualism here, in this "officially bilingual province" has been successful. It has not. I think that the main reason is that there are too many civil servants involved in the process, and they have created a statistics dependent boondoggle where anglophones almost universally see francophones as over-privileged, and it's been a disaster. It has been a breath of fresh air to watch this video.

[@AskTetsu]

Thanks David!

[@petrosstefanidis6396]

It would be very interesting to interview a kid or teenager (or even an adult) growing up as a bilingual. I'm wondering how does that feel from their perspective? Do they appreciate it as a skill or they see it as being subject to an experiment? Does it affect their relations with their family?

[@AskTetsu]

Great idea! Maybe we can get Steve to interview my kids! ;) By the way, being a multilingual myself, this interview was technically the interview you mention... ;)

[@annaesalhi5210]

I am one of these people who grow up with 4 different languages. The same thing with my children. I have never appreciated that as a skill, but I didn't consider it as an experiment either. It was just something very natural. By the way before going to the kindergarten at the age of 3, I thought that every person is at least bilingual. There was absolutely no problem with my family, at the contrary I could communicate easily with my grandparents (they were speakers of different languages). At the contrary in my schools ( I went to school in Montreal), I tried to hide that I could speak other languages. I was afraid that other kids will not accept me. So with classmates I spoke French only. I think for younger generation this aspect is easier to overcome, because now there are more children, growing up as multilingual.

[@vivianederrien7070]

Hi, thank you for this video. I was wondering what is your opinion about language awakening/ awareness. This allows children to discover languages and maybe by curiosity try learking it. Dulala has examples of documents used for such activities.

[@claudiaesparza3685]

By the way, if sombody wants Spanish classes online, I can teach you!

[@LTheEnglishTeacher]

Right now my kid is two years old, I'm russian and my wife is russian. We live in Russia, and none of people around us speak any other language. I try to speak only English to her now, it's been two weeks and it works pretty well but! here's my question: sometimes I feel like talking russian to her because there're situations when I need to comfort her when she's angry or cry. Should I be persistent and go on speaking English in all situations, or it's better to switch to my native language every now and then to make sure she understands me?

[@AskTetsu]

Hi, thank you for your comment. I think you need to weigh the pros and cons. If you stick with just English, her chances of refusing to speak English with you one day are reduced. But it may also be an issue if you can't truly communicate with her emotionally. Then you need to think about whether you want to improve your English ASAP, or find someone to replace you in teaching her English. If you switch around, she may just choose to speak Russian with you.

[@LTheEnglishTeacher]

@@AskTetsu Thank you very much!

[@SilvioGerinaud]

Very good chat

[@AskTetsu]

Thanks Silvio!

[@cesarbalanta4366]

Hablo dos idiomas y quiero aprender muchos mas y quiero que mis hijos también gracias por los consejos

[@AskTetsu]

La verdad es que es muy difícil encontrar niños a quién le gusta "aprender idiomas". Hay muchos que luego se dan cuenta que le gusta aprender idiomas, pero ya son grandes y ya no tienen las mismas habilidades de aprendizaje (no quiero decir que todos los adultos tienen dificultades en aprender idiomas, pero sí la mayoría lo creen). Por eso trato mi posible de darles a mis hijos un hogar lleno de idiomas para que lo utilicen diariamente para aprenderlos naturalmente. Sin pena, sin esfuerzo, sin darse cuenta. Suerte.

[@gilmar-ac3247]

Hello Steve , great hugs - Brasil

[@charlesweber3589]

With 5 different languages, some with drastically different writings systems, how does one go about teaching reading/writing skills? Is this something achieved later on in life after already obtaining proficiency in the spoken language?

[@AskTetsu]

Hi Charles, thanks for your comment. I get this a lot and may just have to make a video on this! Based on my own upbringing, writing is the least prioritized skill. Reading comes before it, but is still 3rd, behind speaking (2nd) and listening (1st). So this is the order in which I emphasize how I raise my kids and it has been working wonders. Listening is a passive skill that fully depends on how we as parents create the environment for our kids, and speaking is thus encouraged, but still actively chosen by the child. Together, these are skills that can and need to be developed (IMHO) from day one. How you provide compelling and comprehensible input (Krashen) will be critical for their success. We can all agree, I hope, that kids are not born literate, and so the skill of reading obviously only comes a few years later in their development. But again, we need to provide age-appropriate, COMPELLING reading material to them. We go out of our way to fill out our bookshelves with their favorite books in various languages, even completing all five languages for their top choices, like the Hungry Caterpillar. As for writing, my wife seems to be more concerned with it than me, so she does spend a lot of time downloading a lot of those writing APPs and exercise sheets from Google images. But we make sure we don't force it, but try to incentivize them to play by gamifying it, giving them rewards, etc. Either way, I have never learned to read or write academically, and today I am still as literate as any average Japanese person of my age. I learned to read by reading comic books, instruction manuals of my favorite toys, the newspaper TV schedule to find my favorite programs, etc. Once you can read, you can easily figure out how to type in Japanese. The same goes for my Mandarin, although I am not as proficient. Either way, my reading and writing have also improved (and continues to) signficantly after growing up. I think these skills are more cerebral/intellectual and can be learned just as well or better as adults. Hope this helps!

[@eh863]

@@AskTetsu hi ji

[@eh863]

@@AskTetsu hi ji

[@Peru-fc3bi]

What kind of levels of language proficiency do you think would be needed to raise a child bilingually? English is my first language but I have high B1/low B2 Irish and I am a little concerned I will pass on incorrect pronunciation, wrong phonemes, limited phrasing in Irish etc as I raise my daughter through both languages. My great grandmother was a native speaker. Unfortunately there are only about 50,000 native speakers left and they live on the other side of the country.

[@AskTetsu]

The more proficient the better, yes. But if you are fully determined, there is nothing stopping you from improving your level at the same time. If an adult really pushes to learn a language, I think the adult can learn faster than children. But this requires tremendous discipline. Good luck.

[@RonaldMcPaul]

I know all your common languages except for Japanese, would be willing to continue I think.

[@bobbylewis2]

You said in past videos both that a.) you have to speak a lot to become fluent, and b.) that if you read a lot you will eventually be able to speak. So which is it? Or both? Is it possible to become fluent without talking to other people?

[@legitprowrestling6653]

Amazing

[@AskTetsu]

Thanks!

[@lucysavachka4320]

I am Bulgarian and my boyfriend is American. We live in the United States and he's worried that if we have kids and we try to teach them Bulgarian they will get confused because he heard from someone that they tried to teach their kids and they got confused and they wouldn't speak for a long time. In the same time I have a cousin who lives in Germany and is Bulgarian and her husband is Russian and their kids speak all of the three languages. how can I explain to him that is a beneficial to the children to be exposed to the language at an early age? And how do I do this exactly if we have kids?

[@Thelinguist]

Look up Tetsu Yung.kzbin.info/door/5l2kc8cLQ284rmHC_6c2IQ He is raising his kids to speak 4 or 5 languages. The more the merrier as long as the kids are willing.

[@gonzapacini5668]

Should you raise your child in a second language? what would the psychological consequences be to bring up kids in a language you're not super emotional in as in your first?

[@AskTetsu]

Hi Gonzaz, thank you for your comment. Just as my comment to Ryan Jorgensen above, it all comes down to knowing what are your risks and tradeoffs when you decide on a strategy. Definitely, if you are not at a level sufficiently high to make a good emotional connection, you have to decide to either commit to improving your skills in that language, or find someone to replace you in teaching that language to you child. You can also try to switch back and forth with English, but the risk of the child developing a resistance to the speaking the target language soon is very real. And your tendency to forget to use the target language may also be an impediment. Good luck in everything!

[@irenemcnamara9699]

That is what I think. I think that having more than 2 languages imposed on a child will cause him emotional confusion.

[@LadyViolet1]

@@irenemcnamara9699 Based on what?

[@BrentStrathdeePehi]

I admire his family situation and his kid’s multilingualism but tbh I didn’t find this video or his advice particularly useful in a practical way - it seems he simply has a special personal background, wife being Japanese and situation that has created the outcome

[@AskTetsu]

Thank you for your honest comment. I get what you mean. And as I mentioned in the video, I don't deny that I have a special situation. But not all 5 languages are results of special situations that other cannot copy. For Spanish, we hire au pairs from Mexico. That is a choice that we made, and is working very well. For English, we get our kids to watch a lot of TV in English, we go out of our way to find people outside of the family to speak to them in English, e.g., skating coaches, horseback riding coaches, and we sometimes have au pairs in English, and when it's too tough financially, we have exchange students who speak English.

[@jonathanemslander6896]

Steve, I have a 2 year old and I really would like to teach her German. My grammar and pronouncition is imperfect and sometimes I’m not sure things like „I’m gonna get ya“ and I got chya „ and it seems like she doesn’t understand me because I speak English to her more than German. Any suggestions?

[@graemep7729]

You gotta find German TV/videos/kids youtube German videos, or make kids shows on Netflix German so your child learns. Have them watch a lot. I have a friend who learned English this way before coming to the U.S..... hopefully you get more insight and advice!

[@prince223681]

Hindi on lingq dear God?

[@AussieAnnihilation]

What are opers?

[@irenemcnamara9699]

I would think that having all these languages would cause emotional confusion.

[@AskTetsu]

Thank you for your opinion. Having grown up learning 10 languages and now still fluent in 5, I can attest that it does not cause emotional confusion in me. But I may just be an anecdote, so you may be right. I would love to see evidence of that in a study. Meanwhile, I see that it is not causing emotional confusion in my kids so far, so I will continue. I certainly see many concrete advantages for them already, including friendships across multiple cultures. Cheers.

[@RitiksVideos]

@@AskTetsu Agreed. For the record, my parents had 3 languages together to teach me and didn't teach me any of them. Being cut off from that world of literature, family, and whatnot is probably far more emotionally confusing than any of the silly mythology that would otherwise occur.

[@jeffreyd508]

When you try to raise your daughter to be bi-lingual, and she turns out bi-sexual....

[@bobbylewis2]

Steve LingQ French is broken! None of the Advanced 1 content lets me open it, when I click on the guided course to look at the lessons to click on one, it just shows a blank screen!

[@Thelinguist]

I just tried it and had no problem. Can you send an email to [e-mail]. Maybe they can help you. Thank you.

[@teejay5516]

does lingq have hindi? popular language id think so

[@Thelinguist]

Work is proceeding on mini-stories for Hindi and Urdu. I expect to start on them next year if we get them up on LingQ.

[@RitiksVideos]

@@Thelinguist That's awesome, Steve! I was never taught Hindi so we can start together haha

[@stefanyvaleriaserpapasache3740]

Haganlo en español por favor!

[@AskTetsu]

Esperamos que el eSteve ve tu comentario! ;)

[@misscamay]

nice topic but beyond boring interview...