Year Three Update | Raising Bilingual Children

I've been raising my oldest son bilingually in my nonnative language for 3 years now. Can you believe it?! I can't. Every year, I like to create a record celebrating how far we've come and mapping out goals for the following year.
These are by far my favorite videos I post on the channel. I prepare months in advance, collecting speech samples in all of our target languages and reflecting on how things are going as a bilingual family. I hope you enjoy celebrating our progress with us and that you feel inspired about how you can raise a bilingual child, even if you aren't a native speaker of your target language.
#bilingualkids #bilingualchildren #trilingualchild
subscribe: bit.ly/3BGFnyP
music credit: One Night Away by Patrick Patrikios
Mentioned in this video:
Spanish Binder from Mama Llama Linguist
liveyourlanguage--llamitasspa...
This is an affiliate link which means I may earn a small commission from purchases made from this link at no extra cost to you
Basho and Friends - En Español
• Día Bonito - Beautiful...
Year Two Update Video
• Raising a Bilingual Ch...
Pre-au pair French Speech Samples
• Bilingual Child Speech...
• Bilingual Child Speech...
website: liveyourlanguagenow.com
playlists that might interest you:
STARTING YOUR BILINGUAL PARENTING JOURNEY: bit.ly/3q6M3nP
BILINGUAL PARENTING TOOLKIT: bit.ly/2ZM4i6G

[@mikaylaw-c8823]

I love your channel and I have found it so encouraging as a black woman, a language learner, and someone who hopes to be a mom in the future to bilingual children. Keep on keeping on sis you are doing a great job.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching and leaving this kind comment! I am glad that I am able to inspire you and show that yes, you CAN do this! If I have learned anything in the last three years, it's that there are far more people out here doing this than we see on KZbin, Instagram, and other social media sites (but of course, not enough, IMO) and they are people of all different backgrounds. It is so rewarding when I see my child speak with family members and even strangers in French and Spanish. I hope you really consider it when the time comes and maybe then you can also add your own voice to the conversation 😀.

[@mayra9834]

Thank you Stephanie for sharing your family's language journey. This is such an encouragement to other parents raising bilingual children. His language acquisition in both languages is amazing.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Mayra, thank you for watching and leaving a comment! I'm so glad that other parents can feel encouraged by this because it's so tough sometimes. Yet, everyday I'm grateful that I didn't let my discouragement stop me. Hope you're doing well!

[@dailyitalianwords-italianw3970]

Thanks for this update! Your son’s progress in his two main languages is astounding! 😊 I wish we could welcome an Italian au pair into our home but Brexit has made it illegal to hire au pairs from Europe if they don’t have pre-settled status. Such a shame.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thanks for watching and for the comment ! Wow, that really is a shame! I had no idea that was one of the consequences of Brexit. I hope things change for you soon 🙁.

[@jayl.j.c.7506]

Thank you for sharing!! It is SO encouraging to hear your story❤ As a non-native Spanish speaker I have often felt not good enough to take on the endeavor of teaching Spanish to my kids. What is funny to me is that I had begun this last school-year introducing French to my kids as well because my grandparents were fluent and I've always wanted to be conversational in it (creole background) 😂. I plan to continue my lifelong learning of the Spanish language and thanks to finding resources like this, am more energized than ever to continue introducing my kids to two of my favorite languages!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Jay, first of all congratulations for making the effort to share these languages with your children. It's wonderful that you are reclaiming your heritage language and that you have built-in conversation partners! I find that that extra heritage connection can really make a difference with motivation, if not now (not sure how old your kids are), certainly when they're older. It's the reason I started learning French, after all! Good luck on your journey and keep it up! Thanks for watching!

[@aineskitchen]

Thank you sharing your second language acquisition journey. I learn a lot from your channel.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching! I'm glad you are finding my channel to be useful!

[@headerahelix]

What a treasure trove of information. I'm only in my first trimester but I'm hoping to utilise your tips here to raise our baby bilingual. 😊

[@LiveYourLanguage]

I'm so happy that you think so! Thank you for watching! It's also very wonderful that you are thinking about it so early. You will be off to a good start!

[@mariegomez6627]

I’m so excited to introduce languages like this to my kids! It’s inspiring to see it work for other people 😍

[@jaclynhirschey8037]

Thanks for sharing, so inspirational - and his accent is very cute :) I am torn between trying to teach my 1 year old French vs. Spanish, using the OPOL method. My French is pretty good and I can get by speaking with a toddler; however, I worry that I won't be able to provide sufficient ongoing support as my child grows since my fluency is limited, she will eventually attend school, and I'm based in the US where there may not be many opportunities for additional French exposure. On the other hand I am learning Spanish and though I am at a beginner level I wonder if I should try to teach my daughter along with me, since I imagine she will have more opportunities for continuing with Spanish and building her fluency (there are spanish speaking daycares near us and of course a lot more Spanish speakers in US). Interested in any thoughts you might have! Also interested in how you are thinking about continuing building your sons fluency in French as you try to also introduce Spanish - will you speak both languages to him at once, and have two languages you speak with him? Excited to have found your vlog and to follow your journey :)

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching and for your comment 🙂. These is a lot to consider so I'm not surprised that you are torn! You're smart to think about how to maintain a language. I think you have to return to your goal. Is it overall bilingualism or do you dream about your child speaking a specific language? Which language are you most excited about her knowing? Also, how proficient are you in French? A second thing to think about is OPOL probably would not be the best strategy for Spanish because you describe yourself as a beginner and possibly not French if you consider your fluency to be limited (but you also said you are pretty good, so maybe you are being modest 🙂). It doesn't mean you can't share your Spanish and learn together! But I wouldn't recommend it being your main language of interaction. However, if you're considering a bilingual preschool, it won't make too much of a difference. You can introduce the language in a fun way and keep it light-hearted as you learn together and she will do great there as well. Keeping up with it will indeed be easier. I will say if the motivation and determination are there, we multilingual parents have a way of making things work out. We often find the resources we need to keep going and get to the next level! French is easy to stop whenever you think it's not worth it or too hard to find resources, and Spanish will be easy to start at any age actually if you are considering bilingual daycare and maintain (but could be expensive since you'd have to rely on others) so if you really wanted to, you could in fact do both: Speak French as your main language and slowly and gradually introduce Spanish (not as a communicative language, but as another topic) in specific contexts as you learn together. I hope this helps!

[@ter8330]

Just so awesome!

[@Peru-fc3bi]

Brilliant video very interesting! My daughter is 15 months and in the last month or two her comprehension has really improved with English and Irish. Its very satisfying to see. Looking forward to your next video!

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Bail ó Dhia oraibh :)

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thanks for watching my video! Your daughter is at such a fun age because you can watch firsthand how language develops and how comprehension ces before being able to produce many words. Even better that it is in both languages! Great job and keep it up!

[@MsHorsenut]

Thank you for sharing this! It’s unbelievably encouraging and I’m thankful for the chance to celebrate your success and hope and try for my own with my little ones!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for watching and for the kind words! I'm hoping I can inspire parents to do the same if they are on the fence. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to be perfect but we can't be (linguistically in a second language or otherwise haha) But parents can be the bridge to bilingualism to get our kids ready for time with native speakers, whatever that may look like. Starting from scratch can be slower and more expensive to reach fluency depending on the age (there's a debate), but by sharing what you already know, you can use native speakers to maintain the language, which makes continuing much more feasible.

[@TitaAguirreGarcia]

Thank you so much!! I love your videos. Such inspirations!!! Im doing this journey wish my native spanish and adding italian. We are only 1.5 yrs in.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching this video! I'm glad you find them helpful! Congratulations on your journey so far 🥳. It isn't easy when your baby isn't speaking a lot yet, but I'm sure you can already see your efforts paying off. It's such an exciting time and your solid foundation that you establish now will pay off in the future! Good luck with your efforts and I'm excited for all the fun you will have adding in Italian 🙂.

[@ter8330]

I have Russian-speaking friends who nipped that whole English problem in the bud! The mother told me that when the children were younger, ONLY Russian was allowed in the house, Period, end of discussion. She has the type of personality to enforce that but some of my other friends chose not to and none of the kids speak the parents native languages. Very sad.

[@CarlsLingoKingdom]

So happy to see this! I'm only a month in with our first child and looking forward to a future like this with (hopefully) several languages.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Hi Carl and congratulations 🎉! I hope fatherhood is treating you well and allowing for some sleep! Yes, I hope the same for you and I'm sure with your determination you will see results over time. Keep it up!

[@tazaal8752]

Love this channel alot. Just popes up on my youtube feed and think it is fabulous.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave a comment! So glad you are enjoying my videos!

[@pianoandeden]

Can't wait for year 4!!

[@ter8330]

EXCELLENT!!

[@iamagrasshopper1920]

I started around 3/8 months hopefully my daughter will become a fluent Spanish speaker I am working so hard we are on week 2 now

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Keep it up! It feels very difficult in the beginning, but I promise you it will get easier and your skills will improve, too! Thank you for watching and for leaving a comment.

[@momoneymopoetry845]

Wow just started watching you and this progress is amazing!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you so much for watching our update video! I'm so happy with his progress as well and I hope we can keep it up! Being able to see how far we have come is really motivating for those difficult days and who doesn't need a little more motivation?

[@momoneymopoetry845]

Exactly! And btw I’m a very single 24 year old at the moment 😂 but I desire to have a bilingual child one day. So this is a great head start😁

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

Mille fois merci, Stéphanie !! I'm so glad to have an update from you :) I completely understand and agree with your choice of aupair - it makes complete sense that you want to establish French as your younger son's dominant language before bringing Spanish into your home. With one language strong, other branches can easily grow. With no language strong, no branch is strong enough to hold the others, and the tree will fall over.

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Mac, thank you so much for watching this video! I'm glad to have finally been able to post this update! It's not always easy balancing the language needs of two different people (the baby vs the 3-year-old), so it was a tough decision. However, *spoiler alert* things have changed even since recording this video and we have had to make yet more changes regarding our au pair. Parenting bilingual kids requires agility and flexibility, too! I'll explain in a future video 🙂. As always, thanks for following our journey!

[@Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

@@LiveYourLanguage !!! I can't wait! So much looking forward to your next videos :)

[@joseprevite]

Thank you so much for sharing this update! Do you have any tips for finding local groups of bilingual parents? I'm in Arizona, I'm a native English teaching my 18-month old daughter Spanish and would love to find native speakers whom she can practice with. Like a playdate or something but I'm struggling to find them. Any suggestions?

[@trentonphillipsoneil1446]

Thank you for your videos, they are very helpful! Could you make a video of how you would speak to your sons in French when they were newborn? Specifically, would you speak to them in full phrases in French or just certain words, etc.? Merci beaucoup pour votre aide!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Thank you for watching! I like your idea and I think that this is a question that a lot of people have so I will definitely consider it as a video topic in the near future. But until then, I'll provide an answer here. Are you suggesting speaking the majority language most of the time and using the minority language sometimes with isolated words/phrases or ONLY using the minority language in short words with the baby? If it's the latter, I'll say that babies need to hear ALL of your communication, not just isolated words and phrases. They're learning a lot at that point, even though they only start to speak in short words and then phrases. Things like intonation, word stress, and pitch and tone...these are all things the baby is learning. In addition, sentences are longer which means by speaking sentences, you are providing more input. Using short and simple words and phrases is helpful when trying to teach a specific word ("ball, ball, this is a ball. Buh-buh-BALL"), but I believe it is especially important for non-native speakers (who naturally produce fewer words in general), to speak in sentences whenever possible. However, this depends on your proficiency also and what your language strategy is. If you are not using OPOL, then my advice would be to try to keep the second language to a specific person or context if possible so that it's more evident that the word in question belongs to a different language. I hope this helps! Thanks again for the video idea!

[@kpopkimchi9722]

I'm 17 and I've made Korean friends and Spanish speaking friends on gaming apps/ language exchange apps for the past 5 years so I've naturally picked up a lot of both languages to the point I consider them my 2nd and 3rd languages. Recently I've really been considering speaking to my children in these 2 languages ( in the future of course ) but the idea of it is really embarrassing to me for some reason. Videos like this really make me feel so hopeful!!

[@AntoniaOkafor]

Hi! Just wanted to say that you are so amazing for this doing this channel. We recently decided to start learning French as a family. We are native English speakers in america. I have a couple of questions. One, In the video you said that your oldest son will inevitably surpass you in French. Why is that a given? Will you not be continuing your own French studies? Or is there something that happens when you start teaching someone at a younger age that others can't catch up to? Two, You said that your oldest will inevitably have English as their more dominate language when they get older. Is that because you plan on putting him in school? Where he will be exposed to more English speakers?

[@ter8330]

Could you tell me a few of the BEST websites to purchase dual language learner books from? Other than Amazon! Thank you!

[@evanneofficial]

Hey! Do you also want to make a 4 year update? I'd love to know how your boys are doing!

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Yes! I'm working on it! I'm battling between wanting to make a super thorough and long video which would take much more time or just simply telling you all how things are going (things are going excellently, by the way! All our languages are alive and I couldn't be happier with their progress!). Thanks for reaching out! I promise, it's the next video in the queue!

[@socialdogacademy]

Stephanie, j'ai besoin d'aide stp! Ta chaine est super btw... J'ai 3 enfants de 8, 5 et 3ans et nous vivons en Australie avec ma femme (english speaker). Je suis plein de remords pour avoir abandonné l'enseignement du français à mes enfants..😕 J'ai trouvé ça trop difficile et n'en est pas fait une priorité mais je suis décidé à y remédier. Quel sont tes conseils ? Est-ce que tu crois que c est trop tard?

[@LiveYourLanguage]

Adrien, bonjour et merci d'avoir regardé mon vidéo. Je suis contente de savoir que tu aimes ma chaîne. Concernent ta question, c'est jamais trop tard, mais ça demandera un peut d'effort pour toi et tes enfants. Il faut te rappeler qu'à part la langue, il y a d'autres chose qui sont importants comme avoir les expériences positives en français et avec la langue française. Aussi, recommences avec les petit pas-- petit déjeuner ou chaque fois vous êtes dans voiture, par example. Aussi, cherches de l'aide aux autres. Finalement, don't beat yourself up over this! Life happens and every bit helps 🙂. Je ferai une vidéo pour toi sur cette question dans quelques semaines et je vais te dire quand c'est disponible. Courage! C'est possible !

[@socialdogacademy]

@@LiveYourLanguage Merci beaucoup pour ta réponse (en super Français) et tes gentils mots d'encouragement. Ouai je vois... Positif et le plus souvent possible. Ce matin j ai dis à mon aîné que j'allais recommencer à parler français et lui ai dit comme ça elle pourra parler un language secret avec son frère et sa sœur, et ça lui a plu... Il me tarde de voir ta vidéo à ce sujet! Tu es une belle personne, all the best to you and your family!!! 😘