When Did You Know This Was All Worth It? (THANK YOU + GIVEAWAY) | Raising Multilingual Children

*Thank you all for your wonderful entries! The contest is now closed and the winners have been notified.*
Raising a child in your non-native language can be so hard some days and you can really doubt if you're making the right decision. But then, there are those glimmers of light that make you know that you definitely made the right decision. In this video (and for the giveaway), I want to hear all about those shining moments of hope and how you knew that all this hard work was worth it.
A sincere "thank you" to each and every subscriber who made reaching 1,000 subscribers possible. There is a lot competing for your time and attention so it really means a lot to me that you'd take the time to hit that "subscribe" button, watch my videos, and leave wonderful comments.
As a way to say thank you, I am giving away something special 🙂 . Please leave me a comment below with your response and I'll choose one lucky winner for the $50 USD italki gift card.
Italki.com is a wonderful resource to find language teachers and conversation partners that you can schedule at your convenience for reasonable rates. I have been using them for YEARS and even taught as well. This is not a sponsored post; I just love this company that much.
If you're new to italki.com, check it out here:
www.italki.com/affshare?ref=a...
This is an affiliate link and purchases made from this link may provide me with a small commission at no additional cost to you
Once you make your first purchase, you'll be offered $10 of italki credits for free! Definitely check it out.
SUBSCRIBE
subscribe: bit.ly/3BGFnyP
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:
In 5 sentences or less, tell me when you knew that you made the right decision in choosing to raise your children bilingually in a non-native language? Please leave your entry as a comment. Among the comments, I'll choose one poster to win!
I look forward to reading your responses and good luck!
MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO (contains affiliate links):
Bilingual Children: Guidance for the Family by Dr. George Saunders
amzn.to/42Oo1hC
Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens by Dr. George Saunders
amzn.to/3IoAfFM
Italki.com - find a language tutor
www.italki.com/affshare?ref=a...
MY WEBSITE
liveyourlanguagenow.com
PLAYLISTS
STARTING YOUR BILINGUAL PARENTING JOURNEY: bit.ly/3q6M3nP
BILINGUAL PARENTING TOOLKIT: bit.ly/2ZM4i6G
#raisingbilingualkids #bilingualkids #bilingualism #multilingualism #nonnativespeakers

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Congratulations Stephanie! The quality of your videos and the importance of your content means that 1000 is totally deserved. I recommend your channel to people all the time - and I watch literally all of the youtube channels about bilingual children! As you know the number of people doing this (raising their children bilingually in a language that isn't their native language, for the most part using OPOL) has a huge attrition rate. By that I mean relatively many people start on the journey and relatively few make it far past 5 years old and quite few make it all the way. The only way to improve success is to educate and empower parents but also to show them they are not alone. By definition as a parent in this situation you are a single drop in an ocean of the majority language - and only the most persevering can do that alone. So just know that you are a hero!!!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for such kind words! Also thanks for following me and this channel for so long and for your comments and interaction with me and other subscribers. You always have great things to add! I agree 100%. By doing research for this KZbin channel, I have the added benefit of knowing about and personally knowing people for whom foreign language parenting has worked. Some of them are linguistics professionals too and know that THIS CAN WORK. It's just a matter of helping others know what is possible and offering encouragement for the long, hard road. So very well said.

[@andrewoliver7095]

I will be raising my first child to speak Scottish Gaelic (not my native language), so your channel has been an incredible resource. Thank you so much for what you do! Once I started learning Gaelic myself, I knew it was the decision for me. I actually have not had a child yet, so who knows how it will go, but I am confident in my choice, as I want my child to speak the language that my ancestors spoke.

[@CarlsLingoKingdom]

I'm doing the same! How are you learning Gàidhlig?

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Go n-éirí libh :)

[@LiveYourLanguage]

That is great to hear! Did you know that heritage languages can disappear from a family in just 3 generations? It is awesome that you're reclaiming your heritage language this way. Keep honing your language skills and learning about early bilingual education and I'm sure that, when the time comes, you'll be having conversations with your little one in Scottish Gaelic. 🙂

[@jeyaprabhasanjaypragash5828]

Happy 1K! Myself being the child raised bilingual, I got to learn 4 different languages in my youngest years! My parents are from very distinct cultures, my father's ancestors speak Telugu and my mother's ancestors speak Tamil! However, I was taught English and Hindi when I was raised! Being bilingual, I got too much interest in languages! My parents never wanted their mother tongues to be abandoned. To my appreciation, I am now learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese! Congrats on your future achievements!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

This is wonderful news! How fortunate you are to have been taught so many languages at a young age! So many of us here are probably wishing this were the case for us, too. I'm glad your parents were able to make that big commitment to pass those languages to you and that you are using that interest to pursue other languages and make the world just a little bit smaller. Thanks for the congrats and keep it up!

[@giovsenaworld]

I wish I already had a kid to be able to participate haha Congrats on the 1000 subscribers!!!

[@nadelacchi]

this channel deserves more subs! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience through this channel ❤ it means alot to me, a newmom trying to raise my daughter as bilingual

[@ter8330]

YAY!! GOOD FOR YOU! Love this channel!

[@joseprevite]

Congrats on 1k! The moment for me was when I was teaching my daughter how to turn on/off the light in Spanish and she understood me. It still blows my mind that I speak to her in my non-native language and she understands me. It's incredible. Thank you for making your videos! So nice to know we're not alone :)

[@trentonphillipsoneil1446]

Bonjour ! Chaque fois que je vois un notif "Live Your Language posted..." je mets tout à côté ! J'aime vos vidéos ! Merci beaucoup ! À mon avis, il a été difficile à s'engager à parler français avec mon fils. Le français n'est pas ma langue maternelle et il n'y a pas beaucoup de gens dans la communauté qui le parle. Néanmoins j'adore le français et j'accorde l'importance au français avec mes enfants. Récemment j'ai convaincu mon cousin et sa femme à apprendre le français ! Nous aurons un petit communauté français bientôt ! Merci encore pour vos vidéos !

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

À quel moment tu t'es convaincu à toi même ? Bonne chance :)

[@halymam3485]

I’m not sure if I count as a parent raising my child bilingually, as I’m not considered fluent in either of my two minority languages. However I’ve consciously exposed my daughter to Arabic and Turkish from infancy. Moments like hearing her trying to construct sentences on her own mixing English and the target language really excite me. Also she has this beautiful curiosity and awareness about languages in general at 4yrs. I love it because it’s not status quo for Americans , and certainly not African Americans.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

It's wonderful that you're exposing your your daughter to foreign languages! Woo hoo! Yes, you're right that it is much more rare for African-Americans to study or speak foreign languages for a number of reasons. (I've looked into this as well because it has also perplexed me!) This awareness is going to serve her well in the future and it will provide a great launching pad for future study, especially of less commonly taught languages like Turkish and Arabic. Keep it up!

[@guaridadelabestia]

Haha when I saw "Giveaway" in the title and your kids in the thumbnail, for a second I thought you were giving away your kids 😂

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Hahahaha! I guess that could be misleading 🙂

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Ah yes, Stephanie has learned so much from her experience so far raising bilingual children that she has decided to give these ones away and start over fresh with all her hard-won expertise.

[@jahsoka8307]

Thank you for what you do! You are very encouraging to me, and your words help me keep out the negative voices. I only speak English fluently, but I am raising my baby girl with English and Hmong. My husband speaks Hmong, but he is slowly losing Hmong. There are not many resources out there for Hmong (especially Green Hmong dialect which is less common than White Hmong), but I try to play with my 11-month-old for 1 hour each day. As she gets older, and I get more competent with my vocabulary, I will add more hours of Hmong exposure.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for watching! I'm happy to know that I can inspire you! It's wonderful that you are exposing your daughter to this less commonly taught language and that you are probably helping your husband pass along a piece of his heritage. I love your approach of scaling up as you develop as well. Keep it up!

[@anaf.8901]

Congraaaaaats! So exciting :) Your videos have been amazing and very inspiring for us as a couple to prepare to raise our baby in English while living in Mexico and not being native speakers. I am a Spanish language content creator, and this has also opened my eyes and helped me see languages through a different light as well, so it has helped me professionally as well. Thank you so much ❤ About the moment I realized I was doing this was when through my job I had so many opportunities to connect to English speakers and travel too. Being bilingual opened so many doors for me and I just LOVE that part of myself. I knew I wanted to give my child that gift too.We waited a long time for him, so now that he's on the way it was a no brainer that we needed to do this.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for the congrats and for watching! I'm so happy to hear that you are inspired by my videos and our story. Congrats on the baby on the way! I know you can do it and one day your little guy will thank you for the advantage you give him.

[@headerahelix]

Not entering, just wanted to say a big congrats!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching and for your support!

[@Peru-fc3bi]

Congrats on 1k! My 2 year old understands everything I say (in Irish) but answers in English. She uses the odd Irish noun but that's it. She has started to speak sentences but they are always in English. Her mother speaks English to her and her daycare is in English. I'd say she gets about 7-15 hours of exposure a week to Irish (depending how busy a week it is). Any tips to encourage her to use the minority language? Is more input the answer? I read to her everyday and play with her through Irish. Thank you 😀

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thanks for watching and for the congrats! I think you know the answer already🙂. Yes, I think input levels may be the culprit. For the levels of input she is receiving right now, this is what I'd expect. However, you're doing all the right things--interacting and reading are key. You are laying the groundwork for more language development in the future and even if she does not speak the language this may not necessarily represent her level of language ability. Given the opportunity to have more input in the future, she may catch right up and start speaking it more quickly than someone who had just begun. Keep it up!

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Nach iontach an rud é uile go bhfuil Gaeilge á labhairt agat le d'iníon. An bhfuil tú i do chónaí in Éirinn nó thar lear? Tá seacht míle leabhar agus acmhainní eile foghlamtha/imeartha/teanga agamsa agus b'fhéidir go bhféadfadh muid roinnt smaointe a bhabhtáil. An bhfuil Gaeilge ag an máthair ar chóir ar bith? Ag an bpointe seo agus í sa naíonra d'fhéadfadh sibh éirí as an mBéarla sa mbaile agus an Béarla a fhágáil ag na páistí eile (agus ar ndóigh ag na múinteoirí) sa naíonra. Níl a fhios agam an bhfuil an fhéidearthacht sin agaibh, áfach. Níl sé agamsa (go fóill ar aon chaoi). Ach chuirfeadh sé ionadh ort (b'fhéidir) a oiread is is féidir leis an duine eile a fhoghlaim den teanga má bhíonn sé/sí i láthair agus tú féin agus an cailín beag ag labhairt lena chéile. Nuair atá páiste chomh beag sin ann bíonn an comhthéacs sách soiléir - ní bheidh tú ag insint scéal mhadra na n-ocht gcos di ar aon chaoi!!!

[@danielviera9145]

From the moment my son was born, I knew I wanted to speak English to him, even though English is a foreign language for me. The moment I knew it was all worth it was when he was 4 years old. We were watching Blippi on TV, and I said, "Look, there's an excavator on TV." He looked at me and said, "That's not an excavator, it's a backhoe." My 3-year-old son was correcting my English, hahaha.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

I love this example for so many reasons, but especially because it shows that you are watching TV with your son when it's so easy to set them there and do other things (which is fine, too!). You have also continued to the 3-year mark, which is hard. Congrats! You are a winner! I'll be reaching out soon for details.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

I'm having trouble finding your contact information so please email me at [e-mail]. I hope to hear from you soon!

[@kiahchism]

Congrtas on 1k! ~ My entry: English should have never been my native tongue because she wasn’t the tongue of my grandmothers five generations ago. Yet, by force, she is. And as a Black American mother, raising my child to be multilingual is both an act of privilege and resistance. Language was one of the first things stripped away from my ancestors that survived long enough to birth children unfamiliar with the words their grandparents would’ve spoken. So, as for me and my house, being multilingual is a way to connect with the communities around us and honor the communities we lost.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

This is wonderful! I am a huge advocate of reclaiming your heritage language and this is a great example of that. Congrats. You are a winner! I will be reaching out soon with more details.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

I'm having trouble finding your contact information so please email me at [e-mail]. I hope to hear from you soon!