Raising Bilingual Children, IT'S NOT EASY! What Worked & What DIDN'T! Kids Speak Croatian & English

[@aleksandarljustina978]

This is a great video. I am Croatian, raised in the US, living in China. My wife is Chinese and my daughter is doing good with both English and Chinese. She is just like yours when it comes to Croatian. She understands, but responds with this complex mix of Chinese/English/Croatian, sometimes she uses all three in a single sentence. Little kids speaking Croatian is the cutest.

[@tequilabumbum4373]

Koliko je stara vasa cerka? Da li sada bolje govori Hrvatski? Sa koliko godina bi ste rekli da je naucila tecno da govori neka od ta tri jezika?

[@aleksandarljustina978]

@@tequilabumbum4373 sad ma cetri g. A zadnju godinu Dana zivimo u HR I sad najbolje govori Hrvatski.

[@julierehoric3856]

aleksander, I just made a met a lady name Silvana and her son is the same exact

[@julierehoric3856]

Bilingual people can become certified medical translators and you can make six figures easily via computer

[@o.k_2758]

It's so good to grow up with multiple languages! I was born in NYC so I grew up with everyone around me speaking English. But both of my parents were Estonian so they always spoke in Estonian when speaking to me. Now I can speak and write fluently in both English and Estonian.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

That's great!! :)

[@sherinsamuel8125]

Tallin is such a beautiful place...

[@davidfletcher8335]

instaBlaster

[@dasadasa1792]

My mother is Slovenian, and father was Croatian. For as long as I can remember, we have used both languages at home. My sister and I always spoke Croatian with father and always Slovenian with mother. It must have been so funny watching us, all seating together and talking, while me and my sister were constantly switching languages :)

[@jaskobut9335]

Understanding a language is easier then speaking it. With a lot of TV programs and especially cartoons being in English on Croatia TV must help a lot, they can hear and follow the language but getting them to speak Englsih is most important where they have to learn pronouncing words and forming sentences naturally . The earlier the better. Great job and the kids are too cute.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much!

[@shanias.3915]

They are so stinking cute. My future husband is Hispanic, and our family will certainly grow up speaking, reading & writing both 🥰

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you! Yes, knowing both parents' languages is important :)

[@realtalk675]

Thats so cute

[@peterstewart4580]

That’s awesome!!! You’re doing an incredible job!!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

[@davorlekenik9563]

@@RoyalCroatianTours iz kojeg kanadskog grada dolazite,ako nije tajna ??

[@ivancosic5451]

Burlington, Ontario

[@stevensgirl85]

I am Canadian too with no Croatian roots as far as I know.. you are doing a great job! It inspires me to learn more. Thanks you for sharing !

[@dfensy1]

Stvarno ne znam kako sam završio na ovom YT kanalu jer ovo nije content koji inače pratim, ali od kada sam pogledao prvi video samo sam nastavio pratiti. Sarah, ovako preko ekrana, ima neku odličnu karizmu, rekli bi: "Its hard to look away" i ne bi se čudio da je uskoro gledamo i na velikom ekranu!! Čiča miča, gotova je priča... hahhahahaa komedijašica mala :D

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Puno hvala na lijepim rijecima :)

[@Mesko035]

Ja sam isto slučajno naletio i nije mi žao. Zanimljivo i dobro odrađeno. Pohvala!

[@marijagraso1756]

Fenomenalno, love it ! You guys are great. Volimo vas youtube kanal. Samo napred ! Hvala za posting ☺

[@evataler9909]

presamodopadna je , priča 109 na sat. uglavnom dosadna

[@ea5744]

im trying to learn Croatian and Croatia is my dream country so i started watch your videos. Then im also a mother from Asia and my husband is Caribbean and we hope my kids learn both language. This video is help me a lot. thank you

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

:) No problem!

[@TheLnGirl]

I had a teacher who's whole family moved from Korea to Croatia. Both him and his wife Korean, with 3 kids ages pre-school to 4th grade (around that). None of them spoke any Croatian prior to coming here, but kids are little sponges and month into their move their kids where singing Croatian children songs. Kids are often very good about this, us adults struggle more. From converstaions eith them the key is to find a good school that will accomodate kids during the initial struggles. (They also obviously speak Korean, since that is ther "home" language) Hope that helps too

[@ProIvanPro]

How did you find out about Croatia and what made you like it so much that it became your dream country?

[@AK-ij1ll]

Croatia is a racist society and there are no immigrants, think twice about moving to Croatia or any Eastern European country

[@CrvenkapicaIVZNG]

@@AK-ij1ll Das sagt ein serbischer Nationalist (AK 47), nachdem es den Serben - Trotz 70 Jahre Unterdrückung - nicht gelungen ist Kroatien zu unterjochen. Das sagt ein Serbischer Nationalist, nachdem es den Serben nicht gelungen ist, die Völker um Serbien herum auszurotten. Das sagt "AK 47" übrigens das Synonym für "Avtomat Kalasnikova" oder Russisch Автома́т Кала́шникова. Also das Synonym für die "Schurkenwaffe", mit der die Serben versucht haben ihre Nachbarn auszurotten und das nicht nur in Kroatien, sondern auch in Bosnien, Hercegovina , Kosovo einfach in der ganzen Gegend um Serbien herum. Ich nennen nur zwei Orte des Grauens, welches die Serben an ihren Nachbarn begangen haben. SREBRENICA und VUKOVAR! Auf der Balkanhalbinsel gibt es kein nationalistischeres, kein rassistischeres Volk, als es die Serben sind. This is what a Serbian nationalist (AK 47) says after the Serbs failed to subjugate Croatia despite 70 years of oppression. This is what a Serbian nationalist says after the Serbs failed to exterminate the peoples around Serbia. This is what "AK 47" says, by the way, the synonym for "Avtomat Kalasnikova" or Russian Автома́т Кала́шникова. So the synonym for the 'rogue weapon' with which the Serbs have tried to exterminate their neighbours, not only in Croatia, but also in Bosnia, Hercegovina , Kosovo simply in the whole area around Serbia. I mention only two places of horror that the Serbs have committed to their neighbours. SREBRENICA and VUKOVAR! There is no more nationalist, more racist people in the Balkan Peninsula than the Serbs. Da smo mi Hrvati rasisticko drustvo, o tome nas poducava "AK 47", ocigledno Srbin. Potomak i pripadnik otomanskih hordi, koje su igrom slucaja Turci zaboravili na Balkanu. Pripadnik etnije, koja nakon objelodanjena "Nacrtanija" ima samo jedan cilj. Cil iztrijebiti sve svoje susjede, koji se ne zele posrbiti. Na "Balkanskom Poluotoku" nema etnije koja je ili u proslosti ili danas bila u toj mjeri rasisticka ili nacisticka kao sto je to Srbija. Od onog dana, od kan ih je Osmansko Carstvo zaboravilo na Balkanu pa do danas.

[@sonja8282]

Your kids are super cute. Awesome job with teaching them both languages. Bravo!!!! .... Predivna porodica! Volim gledati vas kanal. Uvijek je nesto novo i zanimljivo. 💕

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Puno hvala, Sonja!

[@SuperPapafigo]

I was born in an bilingual family in Istria. My first language is Italian, than may parents sent me to an Croatian kindergarten to learn the language and integrate with others kids. I was 3 at the time and I can't remember not knowing both languages. After that I finished all the schools in Croatian and finally the university in Zagreb so, as you can imagine, I speak fluently Croatian, but with my parents, sister and a couple of friends cant help myself but to continuing just in Italian. Beautiful children's, sve najbolje vam želim!

[@davorlekenik9563]

Sei grande !!!👍👍

[@kirksdva8310]

Rodjen u Istri Kako Sam razumio tvoji braca I sestre I neznaju Hrvatski pa Kako zive

[@Burekpita212]

@@kirksdva8310 nije nigdje spominjao da roditelji/sestra ne znaju Hrvatski, nego jednostavno u kući pričaju Italijanski međusobno.

[@ReginaMcDaniel]

I think the Four Walls approach makes the most sense for your family. Since the kids are heavily exposed to Croatian outside the home, it makes the most sense to speak the other language only within the home. I grew up in a bilingual family. My dad's native language is English, although he studied in a language school overseas to learn Arabic. My mom's native language is Arabic, although her side of the family also knows English, French and Italian (although not everyone spoke all of the languages fluently - different individuals spoke different combinations of the languages). I grew up predominantly with English, Arabic and French (with some Spanish and Italian influences mixed in). My mom used the OPOL approach, not because she was concerned I wouldn't learn the languages, but because she wanted me to learn accurate pronunciation. Even though my dad knew Arabic, she did not want him to always use Arabic with me as she wanted me to be able to pronounce sounds accurately and vice versa. I sound completely American when I speak English and Jordanian when I speak Arabic, so I would say she met her goal. :) Living in a mostly English language context, my English skills are the strongest, but I find it hard sometimes to only express myself in English. There are words in Arabic that I feel English does not have a strong equivalent to that I use more in my everyday vocab because I am bilingual. At home, we mix languages. Same with my mom's side of the family. It all boils down to what is going to be functional for you as a family and what skills you want for your children. The early years can be hard (one of my little cousins refused to speak Arabic when she was young as they were living in Canada - it's better now, but she still prefers English), but keep doing what works and keep encouraging them to appreciate both as they get older. :)

[@lindasejdijaj7077]

My parents spoke albanian to me from the beginning and I replied in albanian. When I was four we came to Sweden and I started school at the age of six. So, in school I spoke swedish and at home albanian. Then half a year later my dad switched all the kids channels on the tv to german ones. This, because I was born in Germany but we only lived there for a year. I asked for it because I wanted to know how to speak german. Three years later we started to learn english in school and I did. So at the age of 15 I was fluent in four languages. It took time but it worked. I have three siblings, the first one who is 1 year younger than me speaks swedish, albanian and english, and understands german. The other two are 18 and 11 and speak all of the first three languages but don't understand german. The youngest one who is 11 spoke only swedish until the age of 7 but understood albanian. Our parent's never spoke or speak anything else than albanian to us. Our parents never told us that we had to speak albanian at home. They learned swedish through us, the kids and we learnd albanian from them. I really think that If you just give kids time they will eventually start answering in the language that you speak to them. Except of the languages that I'm fluent in I understand bosnian and almost all languages that are similar to german, swedish and Bosnian. I'm not sayying that it's super easy to learn a language but rather that if you're surrounded by a lot of people that speak different languages the chance of you learning the language is big.

[@seaofroses8888]

So you learned German simply from watching German tv? Cool, but I think this doesn't work for most people. I watched Turkish series for years and learned like 5 words Lol. I have to actually study a language or speak to someone everyday in that language in order to learn.

[@ainoilona5611]

@@seaofroses8888 I think it does if you watch without subtitles. Cause when you have subtitles on you focus on them and not really the language that they’re speaking. I have studied English at school for many years now but I think how I’ve learned it the most is by watching KZbin in English without subtitles. That is how I’ve become more fluent in it and learned how to express myself more naturally.

[@seaofroses8888]

@@ainoilona5611 the fact that you studied English in school helped you more than you think. When someone tells you, this is the word and this is the translation, you are a lot more likely to recognize that word once you watch videos than if you watch having 0 knowledge of the language. In my opinion, it would take a ridiculous amount of time(years) to decipher what is being said if you watch with no subtitles from the start. You need a foundation first. Even now that I'm studying turkish I understand very little when I go no subtitles, However, my progreas these past months studying and watching has been 10x more than I learned in years of watching only.

[@seaofroses8888]

@@ainoilona5611 I’m skeptical that watching videos alone does the trick. I have watched a lot of language learning tutorials on KZbin, and I’ve never seen anyone recommend watching videos only as a good method. It would never work for me, but thanks for sharing

[@ainoilona5611]

@@seaofroses8888 Yeah, you’re right. It would take years and it’s also easier the younger you are because learning is easier when you’re younger.

[@kaoutermouslimhaliba7145]

My nephew had his mom speaking with him in Spanish, we are from Spain but with Arab background. Since my sister spoke only in Spanish he never wanted to speak in Moroccan /Arab. The rest of us would talk to him in Moroccan /Arab so he understood everything perfectly in spite of not talking back in that same Language. So one time he travelled to Morocco to visit extended family and he realised he had no choice and that was the first time he spoke in Arabic. From there it was easier for us to make him speak. Later on he travelled to France because my sister got work there and now he speaks three languages pretty fluently.

[@laya911]

I absolutely love this!! I was born in Zagreb, moved to Toronto just before the war broke out. I can totally relate to this situation except when I started daycare, I was telling stories to all the children in Croatian. As time went on, I learned English but was not practising much Croatian at home. To this day, my parents speak Croatian to me and my responses are always in English lol Wish I was pushed a bit more to keep speaking Croatian but I didn't have Croatian friends or cousins around me to kinda force me to practice - everytime I come back home to visit, everyone I know there wants to speak English with me. ugh. Hoping to brush up on my language skills over the next year and watching you and your children learning is really inspiring!! :)

[@letti811]

It was such an amazing to see how your children are actually became bilingual. Congratulations, good job, bravo. 🙂

[@michikuji298]

i'm bilingual twin. my mum is japanese and my dad is polish and we live in Poland. my mum speak to me only in japanese and yes, she was also pretending that she doesn't know polish (she didn't have to pretend that much haha) and now we fluently speak japanese and polish (and english 😏) i'm very grateful that my mum didn't give up and kept speaking in japanese to us. because even if we don't speak polish that well until we are in kindergarten or school, kids around us will speak in polish and we will naturally learn it.

[@dora125]

Oh my god! Glad to see another Slavic-Japanese mix :D My mom is Japanese, dad Croatian and my parents kept talking to me in their mother tongues. I also added English for myself later so now I am fluently trilingual :))

[@michikuji298]

@@dora125 hi! i'm working on being trilingual ;D

[@dora125]

@@michikuji298 High five to fellow multilingual! ;D

[@sassan7278]

Just curious, how did your family communicate, when you and both of your parents are talking together at a table, when your mom pretended not to understand your dad?

[@sonjapapaglastras7729]

I do so understand you. I am Dutch and live in Greece. In our house, I always spoke Dutch to my kids and my husband and MIL Greek. This method worked well with my son, at 2 years he could already interprete between my parents and Greek relatives. But with my daughter it didn;t work She understood me, but never spoke a word of Dutch until she was about 10. But we should know that first you Listen, and then you Speak.That's how kids learn to speak all over the world. The result of kids being bi-language is that they understand the whole structure of different languages easier. Now my kids are adults and they each speak 4 languages fluently. So don't dispair, it will come. Love you!

[@kateincroatia8724]

You are becoming a language acquisition expert, my dear! Love the bit about your kids not thinking you speak Croatian and congratulating you when you do. Hilarious!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

:D they're hilarious. Olivia is starting to catch on!

[@thatgirlblack]

My parents each spoke their own language to me as a kid and apparently I started speaking as if both were one language (mixing words in one sentence) and it apparently took a couple years until I completely differentiated the languages. Now I have no problem speaking either.

[@elsol777]

Omg me too!

[@denisehoenjet3024]

I haf a linguistic class years ago and was told that this was the best way to be raised bilingual

[@carinachristel8563]

My daughter is doing the same! Sadly my husband doesn't speak.my native tongue (German) so we have to use the O.P.O.L. She is 4 now and English is in the forefront a lot... It's hard for her to communicate with my family back home so I totally would change to the 4 walls approach if I could! Your kids are awesome! Way to go!

[@akinom91]

Me too... I started to speak relatively late (around 2-3), but in both languages at same time, almost completely separating them. My mother knew 1, father 2. Although the mother language was used by everyone in the family, I grew up learning, thinking, dreaming, counting etc in my father's language. Mother's language was my 2nd mother tongue and national language. I pretty much hated learning 2 more languages in school (English and French), and ironically now I did not speak mother's language fluently for 6 years almost, only very little, occasionally, and English replaced it (maybe not in vocabulary, but in everyday use and speed of thinking during communication for sure). I moved to my father's language country, husband is local. I am quite worried, that my children probably will not speak one of their roots language. :( Schooling multilingual is also important.

[@jessicaely2521]

@@akinom91 I know this is old and maybe things have gotten better for you. If not something my husband and I did was we would get flash cards and I would say the English word and he would say the Basel German word (this is a dialect of German). With ordinary household things, counting, colors, ABC's, etc we would do the same. Our daughter started saying both words when speaking. I caught her practicing counting in bed. It was one eins, two zwei, etc. My daughter is 3.5 and has dropped saying both words to everything. We live in Basel Switzerland so my daughter hears Basel German from my mother in law, husband, and outside world (it was difficult to get her to speak English). My daughter never went to school. I know I was in way lucky. My daughter was starting to speak right when the pandemic started and my husband got to work from home, so this was easy for us to do.

[@katrinastewart5456]

I grew up bilingually (English and Dutch) and realised the advantages from an early age. When I had kids of my own I was living in Norway with Dutch husband . I spoke English with the kids and Dutch with my husband, while he spoke Dutch with the kids. Living in Norway we knew that that language would become their main language, as school and peers/friends will decide that. We have four kids and they all responded in their own way. Child one used correct language with respective parent, but switched to replying in Norwegian from age 13. Child two only spoke English to start with, then only replied in Norwegian at home and eventually started using English at home again when he wanted to improve his English. Child three consequently spoke Norwegian at home until he was 17 and Child 4 started using both Dutch and English at home from the age of about 13. The kids are young trilingual adults now. They speak Norwegian amongst themselves. We speak English, Dutch and Norwegian to each other, without thinking about it. We do notice train carriages falling silent when we travel together, as people around us whisperingly try to figure out where we are from!

[@Ctewa01]

I grow up in Italy, so I was surrounded by Italian speaking people. My mum is Russian, and was really hard for her to teach me Russian because as a kid it didn't make sense to me to learn it, I thought only my mum spoke it. Even if it wasn't easy for both of us, now that I know the value of knowing different languages, I am glad that she tried everything to teach me that language.

[@tequilabumbum4373]

So you do speak Russian right now?

[@slatina1985]

Boli je oko 😄 Tako i kod nas, sto izgovora, samo da ne moraju spavati 🤣

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Lol tako je!!

[@butterflytouch]

🤣 Naša malena, kad treba spavati, kaže da ona ne može zatvoriti oči, može samo gledati 🤣🤣

[@1alojzije]

Hi! I am a Australian with Croatian parents living in Canada. I have been living in Canada for 6 years now and I really miss speaking in Croatian to my parents and their friends. Your channel brings a lot of nostalgia and happiness. Your Croatian is amazing! I have really come to appreciate the language now that I barely use it. Hvala za tvoja video! Bas me donosi me radost!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Aww, thanks for your lovely comment :)

[@johnnycroat]

I never thought of it before. As a Croatian kid growing up in Canada, my parents would speak to me in Croatian and i would respond back in English

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hahah the opposite problem I was having with my kids! :)

[@magicmike_]

@johnnycroat SAME

[@Zeljana93]

Same with my daughter. Still struggling to make her say anything in Croatian even though she understands a lot.

[@a.r.4707]

Are you still responding in english?

[@johnnycroat]

@@a.r.4707 I am quite grown up now...trying to speak as much croatian as I can with my dad. struggle trying to find the right words at times. my dad now responds to me in english , speaks english to his croatian wife and she does not speak english he lives now in croatia

[@olympicsongcontest7117]

For me it was very simple. My parents do not speak English, but back in the early 00s a lot of the "good" cartoons were only available in English and there were no Croatian subs so basically I learned English and Croatian simultaneously from like age 3. Now I am at the point where I don't speak Croatian or English well🤣 it's more of a Crenglish now

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hahah that's great!

[@MB-dg3lr]

I'm Croatian, living in Denmark, most of my work is in English. And sometimes, I can't remember a word in any language. I call it By-lingual 🤣🤣

[@lynderist]

Sofia is soooo cute i loved her giving kisses to her sister though they’re all beautiful.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks Lynder!

[@jamesebola1250]

Children are like sponges. They don't question or complain that something is too hard. When I was a young boy, I lived on island Vis (Dalmatia), and spoke local dialect and Italian. In school official language was Serbo-Croatian, with Latin alphabet. My grandmother lived in Slovenia, near Austrian and Hungarian border. I would spend my summers there, speaking Slovenian, German and Hungarian. In the 4th grade we were taught how to read and write in Cyrillic alphabet. In the 5th grade we had to pick 2 foreign languages. I picked English and Russian. Page forward...I ended up coming to USA, marrying great American lady and starting family. My wife quickly gave up trying to learn Croatian. She thought it was too hard. My children speak it, with cute English accent. They started off with some juicy Croatian swear words (my bad for not paying attention) and progressed from here.

[@omarcruz6326]

Hello. Your strategy of pretending to have forgotten the local language worked very well ! 👏 I am happy for you, for your kids and for all your family. Greetings from Belgium.

[@KarLa-wk8ne]

Our kids grew up in different english and german speaking countries. We always spoke in the house the opposite of the language that was spoken outside, school, kindergarten.....their father is American I'm German. This system worked very well for us. The first years they mixed things up but after starting school they learned to separate the languages better. During Highschool where they were required to take a foreign language, we actually encouraged them to take a different language again (french and spanisch). This was another enrichment of their knowledge. I would always do all this the same way again.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks for your comment!

[@rudyzoro]

Awesome! Congratulations! So nice to see happy people raising happy children. God bless. Cestitke od srca!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much!

[@ceca77789]

You're really doing a great job! I'm a single mother living with my 4y old son in Switzerland. So he's speaking German/Swiss German outside the house and Serbian/Croatian with me and our family. And by watching different cartoons on yt he's also learning to speak English. I'm so happy and proud seeing him making such progress in this area as I myself love being able to understand and speak all those languages (more or less^^) Soon he'll learn at least English and French at school as I did myself. A great tool to see the world and get to know different countries, people and cultures. I like your yt channel, you got a new follower. :)

[@marcomarco7212]

Divna obitelj , puno srece i uspjeha.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Puno hvala Marko!

[@Legitch]

As someone who majored in English and linguistics I find this endlessly fascinating. Also, Olivia's accent is perfect. She's gonna ace English at school. Good job.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Aww, thank you so much Domagoj!

[@MarijaCZadar]

I really love your videos. When I start watching, I just have to watch them all the way to the end. The way you speak is very clear and immersive for the listener, you know how to express really well and relatable. I am Croatian and live in Croatia, and I've recommended your channel to my cousin who lives in the US. She grew up bilingually, spoke mostly English but as she got older, Croatian became more and more interesting. Especially since her parents speak a strong Dalmatian dialect, so standard Croatian - the one you are using so eloquently - is like a whole new language to her. And to see you master it so well; we are both in awe :) Keep up the good work with the videos!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hi Marija, thank you so much for your sweet words! I'm so happy you're enjoying our videos :D Pozdrav iz Zagreba!

[@ItsJustFashion]

I think it's great to teach children other languages as soon as possible because they will learn it as a second mother language, which will help them to learn even more languages when they get older, not to mention how their brains will function better!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Absolutely!

[@SuperIraklion]

Gospodjo ovo je fantasticno. Vi bi mogli da drzite on lajn casove Englesko- Hrvatskog jezika. Mnogo bi pomogli i nama da ucimo od vas.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala! :)

[@mikasadaiki702]

Valjda satove, a ne časove.

[@SuperIraklion]

@@mikasadaiki702 Pa mi iz Beograda kazemo casove. No svejedno je razumemo se.

[@mikasadaiki702]

@@SuperIraklion ok. Oprostite

[@CrvenkapicaIVZNG]

@@SuperIraklion @SuperIraklion mi se - a to se jasno vidi - nikad nismo razumileli. Da smo se razumijeli, Vukovar i Srebrenica se nikad nebi bili dogodili.

[@mandrilmandrilski7319]

God bless you and your wonderful family🙏🏻😊 Prekrasni ste

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much! :D

[@nickyschmidt2814]

I so get all this. I'm Irish, living in France and always intended to only speak English to my 3 kids. But they always answered me in French and after many years of constantly being angry (cause they wouldn't reply in English, or because I was speaking in French), I decided that life is too short to be permanently cranky with them. My husband's Engish is really bad, so all speaking English was not an option, the home langage is therefore French (as is school, friends, sports etc). I just had to get used to the idea that they had the basics and we could go from there. I always read to them in English and they watched english language DVDs rather than TV. Communication with my family was never very natural, however my 20 and 23 yr old daughters are now pretty fluent in English, and both are following studies/careers fully related to English. My 17 yr old son is not so great, but better than most kids his age who don't have English at home.

[@Antonia-uc1iv]

My father grew up speaking italian with my grandparents here in the german speaking part of switzerland and he speaks it sooo well! But one of the main reasons was probably bc my grandparents didn't speak any german back then and my father could only reply in italian in order to communicate and i think acting like you don't know any croatian was the best decision you could ever make!

[@readwithme-sloweasychinese9918]

Learning a new language is not easy, but as long as you keep trying you will be there one day. All the best to the parents who want their kids to master multi-languages. I am one of them.

[@tatumhamernik]

Your kids are adorable! Really enjoyed this video. You do a great job of flawlessly editing your videos. For being such a new channel your videos seem so professionally made. Love that every video is informative but also very interesting. Can’t wait to watch more! Thank you for making these

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Aww, thanks so much for your kind words Tatum!

[@veronikamarsland]

Fantastic job. Thank you for sharing the ups and downs. Are there any approaches for a situation when you're the only speaker of your language? We live in Canada but I'm from Slovakia. My husband can only speak English.

[@AlanMeksikanac]

I live in Mexico and I only speak Croatian to my girls, my wife only Spanish and between us, we speak (broken) English 😁 So we will see how will my poor babies speak when they grow up Puno pozdrava iz Meksika 🇭🇷🇲🇽

[@tanjahuni8273]

Interesting topic.We also switch in between 3 languages. German,English,Croatian.

[@rachaelo505]

Great to see a personal experience with raising bilingual children. I’m having similar challenges, so this has inspired me to try the 4-walls method. Wish me luck!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

You can do it! Best of luck!!

[@Sara-V-SunKiss]

this speaks to my heart, i am facing the same issue and feeling the same guilt. Kids speak English at school and at home, but I wish for them to learn Italian, so they can communicate with my family. Please share more about your Four Walls approach. I am really interested. Thank you and well done!

[@Innessofficial]

I agree, I m looking for a system for my children to.speak, I know Russian and my man Portuguese.we speak English to each other, and I want my kids to know all 3 language from the get go.

[@joaninha3484]

Wow! What a fantastic gift you are giving your kids

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much!

[@Dionysius1975]

Oh my god I laughed so much when you said your kids clapped and said bravo for speaking Croatian well lol What a journey and process you have been through.

[@velebithost]

Very nice story. Good job mum! Tata pomozi i ti 🤣🤣

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala!

[@pavlal.4552]

Great job. I'm Czech and my husband is Irish, kids speak only English but understand Czech too. My husband doesn't speak Czech, so your approach would not work in our house. Sometimes it is indeed easier to just switch into English, as it is quicker and I don't have to explain myself or use both languages with them.

[@franciskatadic6802]

Good kids. Especially when she said that end of the story my favourite part.

[@sanja6941]

Mee to! 😍

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

[@aminag9200]

It brought me that back to my childhood when we read stories, super cute!!

[@rilviatetzer4728]

I grew up in germany and my parents spoke only in croatian till i went to kindergarden with three years. as a kid it was easy to pick up the second language (which was germany that time). now things changed and im better in german than in my mothertongue. i started to reduce my "linguistic deficits" on croatian by reading shallow novels :)

[@realtalk675]

Omg so cute. Much blessings and love for you and the family

[@pileknezovic7531]

Kod nas se u Dalmaciji kaže...Od doktora doktor...od sudca, sudac....od zemljoradnika ,zemljoradnik...A za vas ću reći:;Od pametnih roditelja,pametna , dica!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

[@cocolocofamily759]

In Bali people use two languages, my kiddos use english as their first language and also serbian so they know mom's language too, and they are learning mandarin in school too. ❤💚

[@gerafam]

Im so impressed!! Well done

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks Stevie!

[@anthooktt1403]

I will try to use this method, kids can learn 2 lenguages before they hit school.. and that is going to help them sooo much... am Croatian, really like your vids so far. earned a sub :)

[@Gabrijela_L]

Awesome video! A a woman who was also raised bilingual (hrvatski i njemacki) it's so interesting to see the kids and remenbering my youth. Thanks ;)

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@aidanwalsh1411]

Hello, your video was really interesting. I am really impressed that you changed tack. Unless you have a multilingual family it is difficult to understand the challenges. My wife is Polish and I am Irish and we live in The Netherlands so we followed OPOL strictly since the community language was outside of our home. Our kids first learned Dutch in preschool and gradually Dutch became L1. English became the dominant L2 since it is a prestige language here. Over time Polish became weaker as L3 and now they are teenagers there Polish is mixed with Dutch and English words. Even though everybody assumes that being trilingual is a big advantage, it has not worked out quite as we expected. My daughters are not really so interested in Poland right now and English is attractive because of the US, they no very little about Ireland despite my best efforts.

[@teodoratodorova5043]

Well done, all of you!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thanks!!

[@grayvarda]

I’m living in Slovenia and I have a daughter (2years) I don’t speak good slovenian and I always speak Spanish to her, she is learning it like that and when she tries to speak to me on slovenian I just told her “I’m sorry baby but I don’t understand what do you want” and I started to ask If she is thirsty or whatever that she is asking for and I told her to tell me how to ask for that on Spanish, she is learning slovenian at kindergarten and with her father, and because my husband and I communicate on English she is also catching some words. When she is playing alone I can hear her speaking the words she knows or Spanish or English or slovenian, what is easier to remember for her. It’s not easy for parents but kids are so smart

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Agree - kids are super smart, and they are definitely capable. We as parents just have to be consistent! Great job to you and your family for raising your daughter with 3 languages!! A big advantage for her!

[@qvantumleap]

Oko 1:30 - "Voji nananas!!!" Diiivno! 😍

[@TheTecek]

Živjeli smo u Italiji, tamo su nam se rodila djeca, u Hrvatsku smo išli na 2 tjedna jednom godišnje, djeca su bila u okruženju s Talijanima i par obitelji iz Makedonije, a s njima sam pričala samo hrvatski i djeca su normalno i bez ikakvih problema naučila hrvatski. Kad su krenuli u vrtić, sin s 3,5, a kćer s 2,5 godine starosti progovorili su talijanski nakon 3,5 mjeseci stariji, a nakon 5 mlađa. Bili su kompletni, tj s naglaskom, gramatički usklađeni sa svojim vršnjacima. Djeca urednog razvoja u toj ranoj dobi bez nekih problema nauče više jezika. Nema tu neke posebne mudrosti. Samo treba s djecom pričati na svom jeziku, a oni će sa svojim društvom i kroz školu naučiti i usavršiti jezik zemlje u kojoj žive bez problema.

[@NNNN-yj7qz]

Niste imali problema zbog toga da su vi i vas muz pricali isti jezik kod kuce. Ima situacija kad muz i zena pricaju razlicite jezike i jos zivu u zemlji sa drugim jezikom. Moj materni jezik je ruski, muz prica hindi, a zivimo u Americi pa meni je tesko biti samo jedan izvorni govornik. Drugi problem je da malo dijete ne moze razumijeti zasto su strani jezici vazni i ne zeli se baviti proucavanjem jezika svojih roditelja.

[@Eduardo_Music8560]

Great video, very interesting! I liked it much! Congratulations for your work

[@BojanaS86]

My problem is our kids won't speak Croatian anymore. We moved to Ireland about 4 and a half years ago. My son was 5 and my daughter was just under 2 years old. They understand the language because I still try and speak it to them, but are answering me in English. I mean I love that they almost immediately spoke English when we came as it made it easier to adapt but now I just want them to keep our language and not forget it. It was great when my mom was here or when they could spend the summer with baka, she doesn't speak english and it makes them try more, but with all this pandemic stuff we haven't been to Croatia last year and this year is not looking good either.

[@nista67]

Ireland? By choice?

[@BojanaS86]

@@nista67 Yes by choice

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

I totally understand. Is your husband also Croatian? Can you do the 4 walls, and really just stick to Croatian only at home?

[@BojanaS86]

@@RoyalCroatianTours Yeah my husband is Croatian as well. We try to both speak Croatian to them, but I have to say that I sometimes find myself switching to English, I have to keep correcting myself back and reminding myself not to do that. Thry know we both speak English and won't try, they are a bit older then your kids as well (9 and 6 years old) so I don't think pretending to not speak English would work 😅 They do have Croatian afterschool on saturdays where they get to be with other kids who are Croatian so that helps a bit. I know I just have to be persistent, hopefully they will keep the language. Thanks for the video 😊, your kids are adorable and they are doing so well in both languages.

[@scherzkeks7524]

I had the same problem, but my sister and I were the kids who wouldn't speak the other language (french) but only german. My mom used to repeat what we said in french, but wrongly (for example I could have asked for water in german, my mom would reply in french: "WHAT? You want to drink beer?"). We usually spoke in french then in order to get what we wanted. Also she NEVER gave up (even during the time I actively refused to speak french for about 8 weeks) and to this day almost only speaks french with us

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Good for your mom with being persistent!! Bravo!!

[@vlntd5221]

I am a bilingual child. My parents spoke Serbian with me at home, but outside in public and at school I spoke German. Both languages are fluent and without accent. Of course, one language is usually easier than the other (in my case German). But that's because I live in Germany and speak German every day. But apart from the languages, the most beautiful thing is the difference in culture. You combine two worlds and you take the best of both worlds. You will see when your kids are older that it will be more and more beautiful! :)

[@nevencuca1680]

I can relate to that, though I learned German first as a 12 year old. As a kid I needed just a year there to be fluent without any accent. Then both English and German helped me to learn basics of Danish but I never learned to speak it because I moved out of Denmark, but if I stayed, though 30+, I could’ve learn it in another year. So I really think it is not important how old you are as long as you are exposed to culture speaking different language.

[@eltonsalvador7620]

I notice in their early stages, they have a slight croatian accent when talking in english, but little by little it starts to disappear, in the end though they will be fluent in croatian and english, spanish was my first language and when I started learning english at school, my spanish accent was still there, but overtime that accent went away and now i am fluent in both

[@Khatoon170]

How are you doing god bless your family iam new subscriber Arabic lady citizen actually i studied English language and literature till second year and left college since 1998 but think since Christmas 2019 I began to subscribe to British and American KZbin channels I learned so many things iam still learning honesty English language is most easiest language the grammar is simple and vocabulary too it’s need effort reading listening. It’s great help think god KZbin channels makes us as tourists around world or university students good luck to you your loved ones stay safe blessed

[@Khatoon170]

Imean think god sorry iwrote in hurry

[@Antonio_Serdar]

I grew up with Croatian parents in a foreign country and we had this approach (for us it was obviously natural since they are Croatian) and I didn't know a word of the language of the country we were living in before I started school. Today I speak both languages at native level. My sister doesn't speak Croatian nearly as well as me, so I guess after some time it becomes your own responsability to maintain what you have learned.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Yes, that makes total sense!!

[@TheTasha83]

Jako mi se sviđaju tvoji videi, klinci su preslatki i mislim da je fenomenalno da klinci tako rano uče što više jezika jer lako upijaju kao male spužvice. Svaka čast kako dobro govoriš hrvatski, hrvatski je težak jezik za naučiti pogotovo strancima, tako da BRAVO samo tako nastavi. I love english language and have been learning english since elementary school but I don’t have a lot opportunity to speak in english so after this pandemic subsides or at least when we all get vaccinated I would love to meet you and get coffee with you and speak in english. I’m born and raised here in Zagreb. Keep up the good work with the videos I really enjoyed them.🤗🤗

[@TheArtsHunter]

I grew up bilingual (croatian/german)😁

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Super!

[@faetont]

It's funny to see four walls method reinvented :-) 100 years ago that was normal and it didn't have special name attached to it. Children would spoke language of the hause they were visiting as guests. When they were visiting house where german was spoken, they would spoke german. Back home Croatian. But, don't you have in Canada also some kind of billingual situation? I thought that because of Queebec, French also has some kind of official status in Canada. Are there some areas where children learn English and French simultaneously?

[@MsCroatianCanuck]

I actually did really well in French coming from a Croatian household. Somehow the croatian was an advantage as a helping aid phonetically. I still can read French as it was mandatory from grade 5 throughout highschool back in the day.....its not mandatory now in Ontario....but its certainly an asset to know the language for higher pay

[@mariot5011]

svaka čast, impresivno

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala Mario!

[@AlphaSigmA1]

My daughter at the age of 6 is Multilingual......speaking 3 languages. Dutch, Greek and English. She is also trying to learn a little Spanish and German.

[@LordChaos36]

As someone who graduated languages and is a bilingual (cause of watching German TV, my parents are Croats) I have to say that you HAVE TO speak with them in English and not Croatian. The reason is that children and babies react to sound and not to the words you speak. If they hear you speaking in one language and in 2 min in another language, they get really confused. The best thing you can do is that you speak in your mother tongue with your children and no other languages, and your huby Croatian ofc. Don't listen to "they will learn It in school", It won't be a native level and we want them on a native level =). The result will be that they will know both languages a lot better, than someone who speaks just one language. Thank you a lot for your video, because we did studies about this topic and we were speaking with families that had this situation, and they were really worried about it. I know, for you, It's maybe just a video, but for me and other families, It's pure gold! I will share this, because It's just too good not too! =)

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much for your kind words and support!! :)

[@davorlekenik9563]

@@RoyalCroatianTours ....kanađanka koja savršeno govori naš jezik....svaka čast i naklon do poda....za razliku od našeg bivšeg (nazovi)"premijera" Oreškovića koji GLUMI da je zaboravio materinji jezik....SRAM GA MOŽE BITI !!!!

[@mariomusic3058]

Bravo! My children are also bilingual. The most important thing is that the parent who does not live in their country speaks to the children in their own language. Unfortunately, I have a lot of friends who live abroad, and their children do not know Croatian, while some of them have women and children speak Croatian perfectly.

[@Pepa14pig]

It’s amazing that they speak both languages so well! I’ve seen kids that parents tried to teach english while they still haven’t spoken much croatian and now they have a problem because children don’t want to speak croatian at all...

[@leidybecerra9242]

I identify so much with you 🥰 thank you for this video

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

You are so welcome!

[@view05nys]

My brother and I were spoken to in both Spanish by our mother and English by our father from time of our births. A significant factor is that our parents spoke Spanish between them, as well as Gallego, with is also a Spanish language which we also understood. It was an unnatural feeling to not speak to each parent in the language they each used with us, until their days of passing. A difference for us is that we were born in New York City, in an English spoken environment. The added benefit that we were also "soaked" in other languages and cultures in our city, particularly from other Spanish speaking countries.

[@sofiJa1363]

Super video! Nemam još djecu, ali živim u inostranstvu i baš mi je frka od dvojezičnog vaspitavanja djece :) Odlična metoda, a djeca su med medeni!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala!!

[@andiluzaic9385]

90 riječi 😄 mama priča hrvatski prva liga 👍 ovo je poučan kanal na kojemu sam zapeo

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hahah :D

[@vladogts]

Čiča miča,gotova je priča...preslatko 🙃

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

[@gob8399]

My kids learnt 2 languages parallel. They are really bilingual now but at the age of 3 nobody could understand their language which was mix of two languages words and grammars. But it was also one parent- one language, and not to give up because it is sometimes easier.

[@Flauschbally]

That is such a cute, sweet and interesting video. Thx for sharing your education. Your family in Canada will be so happy that they can communicate now. 😍😍

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you so much!

[@jelashix8385]

Pozdrav. Jako zanimljiv video i iskustvo. Moje licno je npr. ona prva verzija koju ste pokusali. Naime, bila sam 2g. dadilja u Svicarskoj, majka je govorila hrvatski, tata njemacki a moj zadatak je bio malenu uzrasta 2g. nauciti engleski. Na pocetku sam se bojala u nekim situacijama kad smo bile vani da me nece razumjeti pa sam govorila hrvatski pa prevodila na engleski :) posle nekih pola godine sam se skroz prebacila na engleski i dosta dobro ga je savladala. Inace, ona je bez greske znala sa kim koji jezik treba pricati i nikada nas nije pomijesala. Sa tatom je samo njemacki pricala, sa mamom hrvatski a sa mnom engleski. Cak je i sa bakom na madjarskom komunicirala, doduse nije ga puno pricala ali ju je sve razumjela. Ne znam je li mala samo genije za jezike ili su jednostavno kod nje taj pristup i podjela savrseno legli. Ali bas mi je interesantno cuti i za ovakve druge nacine. Lijepi pozdrav

[@sunnyb7228]

This is quite impressive! Your children are able to speak each language without inserting English words when they speak Croatian and vice versa.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Yes! At first there was a lot of mixing, but it didnt' take long for them to straighten everything out in their heads :)

[@rufinosumampung913]

Wow? Smart kids like mother and father

[@samobozja9086]

Gospođo vi simpatični, u očima vam se vidi pozitiva i radost. Djeca ijako mala lijepo odgojena. Vi ,Ivan djeca ,baka i dida prekrasna i sretna obitelj. Mogli biste biti dobra promotorica za Hrvatsku. Hvala 🌹👏🏻.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Puno vam hvala na prekrasnim rijecima

[@sofiamichalopoulou4883]

I can totally understand the feeling of pressure and responsibility about learning our mother language to our kids. You are doing an excellent job. I raise two bilingual boys (French and Greek) in France and I know that this is not an easy task! Congratulations for what are you doing!

[@branislavkonjevic9159]

You're a wonderful mom! Of course, your kids are too. I can imagine how hard it feels when your kids can't speak with your closest ones and other relatives. Seven of my cousins are born in other countries. Two are born in Germany to my uncle, three are the kids of my aunt. Finally, the last two are born in Australia. It was so funny listening to one of them calling a rooster "muška kokoš." :) Right now - he speaks Croatian almost perfectly. Since our language isn't exactly global, it wasn't a school where he learned the language. When your children start to learn English in school - it's possible that they will teach a teacher how to speak fluently. ;)

[@stojanovich]

This is awesome,and your children have 0 accent residue when they speak in English. Good job, I myself speak 3 languages fluently (italian,english and croatian). The secret is in starting very young, I have started to learn english at 6 years old. Italian was an easy transition since I come from Istria + studying aborad in Italy helped a huge deal. Wish you all the best. Ciao

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Thank you!! Best wishes to you! :)

[@momirkoo]

Veština govorenja određenog jezika se ne nasleđuje niti je to upisano u genima, nasleđuje se sposobnost da se jezik nauči a koji će to jezik biti zavisi od drugih faktora. To se uči kroz život a najbrže i najlakše u prvih nekoliko godina života, kad dete formira veštinu govorenja oponašajući roditelje. To je rezultat težnje inteligentnog uma da se izrazi i komunicira. Sasvim je normalno da hrvatski govore lakše od engleskog jer im je PRVI/maternji jezik.

[@zlajo1964]

Odličan posao mama! Nono i nona u Kanadi, će biti oduševljeni!

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Puno hvala Zlatko! :)

[@amatije]

Dobro da ste prešli na metodu jedan jezik u kući.to je nekako logičnije.a mala djeca brzo uče jezike. Klinci su vam preslatki. Lijep pozdrav iz najljepšeg grada na svijetu,suseda😃

[@cynthiariostonc9875]

I am a spanish speaker, mother of a 5 yo toddler living in Croatia fo more than 8 years, husband is Croatian as well. From the day he was born, i spoke to him in Spanish only, same as tv and songs( I don't really know any croatian kids songs) and in my case was the opossie, he would understand Croatian but he wouldnt speak or he will mix it, he will reply only in spanish or 98% in spanish. I was not really worried about the Croatian language because i knew he would speak it as soon as he started kindergarten. It was very important for me that my son comunicates with my family, so i tried to maximize the use of spanish, i got a little bit worried before he started kindergarten, thinking that the teta wouldn't understand him. 2 weeks after he started school he was already speaking croatian. He did stop using spanish, and i was so frustating, so i decided to tell him that i dont understand him when he spoke croatian, so he was forced to talked to me in spanish. We have that struggle but i do see he is using his spanish better, so right know he knows that with tata is croatian and with mama is spanish.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

That's great and really cute!! Thanks for sharing, Cynthia!

[@snow-white1853]

You are extraordinary beautiful, your children and your family 😍 Awesome job 👏👏👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

You're so kind, thank you!

[@Valnjes]

Well, my cousin is born in Austria, her mom is Croatian and dad Austrian. Her dad never speaks Croatian, but he understands (now) everything, and he uses some Croatian when they come to Croatia, like "Molim jedno piva i jedno cevapi", besides that - he dont use it. My cousin learned Croatian with her mom and our Croatian family. But still its not perfect, its hard for her - she gets confused with genders, like "ja sam bio u trgovina", instead "ja sam bila u trgovini", but we all get it what she says. On the other side, i was growing up in Croatia, learning German besides her. I speak it fluently, but still get confused on the German grammar, because im used to think and write in Croatian and English, and German is so similar to English, so i always get confused with some words. But yeah, Bilingual is great for kids and it will help them in the future.

[@HrcoslaF]

I was born in Slovenia to Croat folk. We spoke in Croatian at home and still do when we get together... So I had to learn Cro and Slo at an early age. Wasn't easy... And now the plot twist... I would say my native language is English 😃 Seriously... My English is much better and I feel more comfortable speaking English... Your little guys have great Croatian accents... Well done, all the best

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

So interesting!! Thanks for the comment :)

[@nemanacemu2024]

Great video !!! I have watched a lot of your videos and love them. I know this is a dumb question but how have you lived in Croatia so long knowing the economy is horrible and not very many jobs.

[@angeladobromislic9521]

Bravo svi ste predivni puno srece svima i neka vas dragi Bog blagoslovi.

[@RoyalCroatianTours]

Hvala! 🥰🥰