Thread: Educating a child from birth to be bi-lingual

Originally Posted by 9999

I would really like it, if she's totally bi-lingual in Thai and English by 8

No problem.

Originally Posted by 9999

I've seen farangs blokes speaking pidgin Thai with their young kids. Up to them how they raise their kids but personally I definitely don't think this is the way to go in terms of providing a bright future for your child.

I've also seen a bit of Farang blokes speaking pidgin / Tinglish with their kids. I also disagree with this.

So do I, but it's bloody difficult when your kid gets Thai at school, on the TV and from mum and only gets English from one parent for a couple of hours a day.

^ Not so bad if they're speaking back in Tinglish I suppose, but surely a father can make himself understood using correct English sentences, which would improve the child's English to some degree right? But yeah I haven't been there yet so don't really know.

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

but it's bloody difficult when your kid gets Thai at school, on the TV and from mum and only gets English from one parent for a couple of hours a day.

That's why you have house rules. Only English is spoken in the house and only English spoken programs on the TV.

I always speak English with my son, and try to buy mostly English movies for him.
My wife speaks Thai with him 95% of the time, and he does watch some Thai movies.
We live in a Thai neighborhood.
Now that he is 5, he speaks excellent Thai and English.
Of course he's smarter than most kids.

Originally Posted by aging one

So they went through pratom in a Thai environment. It was a small school that was more into making good humans than mindless clones, so we were lucky there.

They then went two years to a government EP program school where they learned English, Literature, Science, Math, and IT in English. The curriculum was great through a company called BFITS. All new McGraw Hill texts, and a good daily syllabus and curriculum. But we noticed the Thai side was so weak. During this time they had also progressed through basic Mandarin.,

They were invited to test for an academic scholarship by the Harrow school here, and were granted the scholarship. All we could get 50% each as they are twins. They do not have to take the Thai language component as they score too high already.

People who have met them that speak English do hear a strong American accent, and the Thai;s hear a strong Central Thai accent.

But the bottom line is today I take them and pay the final fees to enter the Harrow School in August. While they wait they study intensive Mandarin as that will be one of the courses they test for at pgsce, to go to the 6th form.

It would seem you have a long term plan for their education, which is admirable.
Do you envision them attending university in Thailand or abroad?

Originally Posted by superman

only English spoken programs on the TV.

Maybe Engish TV but Thai with Mum and other Thais (to achieve bi-lingualality)?

GF's daughter was born in Aussie but speaks Chinese fluently (from her mum). Her English is noticeably less developed than her pre-school pals but I think once she gets to school she will be fluent in strine within a year.

Khmer ex-GF's daughter was born and brought up in PP and is now 2 and can talk a little English (ex-GF and her Khmer hubby speak only English to her). The maids speah Khmer to her and she is picking that up too.

I think kids pick up 2 languages easily until age 3 or 4 as long as it comes from distinct teachers and isn't mixed, and after that age it will become difficult so don't wait until she is older to teach her Thai.

^ I suppose that would mean the TV too. It would have to be in English all the time, even with Mum. Sweet. No more lakorns - great excuse.

Originally Posted by Neo

It would seem you have a long term plan for their education, which is admirable. Do you envision them attending university in Thailand or abroad?

They were back in America this summer touring by themselves. It was their own idea to be taken to the admissions office at Stanford, UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and USF. They have been met by the officials, names taken, new school attending and the process has started.

They also know they will need scholarships as they have now to attend these universities. But at the same time I am a graduate of the Cal state university system, and it would be easy to slide them into one of those universities as well. Have not ruled out anywhere that would offer a good scholarship. The one thing I have going is they love to learn and study.

^ admirable

As a child I spoke Tamil and English.
After moving back to England and not having been exposed to Tamil I have lost nearly all I knew, although I recognise the language and still know a few words.
Maintain exposure to both languages.

The set up for speech starts developing while still in the womb.

If you and your wife speak your respective languages she won't have a problem. But speak correctly. Adding a third or fourth language while young is no problem either.

Children here grow up with Khmer and a Chinese dialect or two and start learning English and Mandarin in kindergarten. No problems.

If your child doesn't respond to you in your language there's nothing to worry about either, it's being lazy that's all.

Your first child I take it?
Don't worry about "teaching" her to be bi-lingual. "Nature" has already thought of that in 100,000 years or so of evolution.
Just speak to her naturally in English and let your wife use Thai. She will learn both, and probably will learn to use both. She will speak Thai to mom, and English to dad.
When she reaches the stage where she starts learning language, just hearing Thai will make her respond in Thai, and hearing English wil make her respond in English. The human brain is "pre-programmed" that way by those 100K years of evolution.

I live in Thailand and have a 2 year old girl who has just started pre-kindergarten. Both Mum and I speak English to her and she is responding back in English. Other family members that don't speak English are speaking Thai with her. Sometime she says both langauges in the same short sentence - 'come mai?'

I hope that she will learn English as her primary language and Thai after that. Her Mums English pronounciation isn't great and I am having to teach her Mum the correct way to say things.

One thing I don't want is her picking up too much Isaan dialect which is where the out-laws are from. No point learning that as we never intend living up that way.

The kindergarten school she has started has a program which is 70% English and 30% Thai so I will just have to see how she develops.

I would like her to learn Mandarin at a later stage which should open up more opportunities in the future.

This is something I heard about a couple of years ago which might be of interest here:
Babies can tell apart different languages with visual cues alone : Not Exactly Rocket Science
Most of us could easily distinguish between spoken English and French. But could you tell the difference between an English and a French speaker just by looking at the movements of their lips? It seems like a difficult task. But surprising new evidence suggest that babies can meet this challenge at just a few months of age

My daughter speaks Thai, even though the local dialect is Lao. My wife speaks Lao but reverts to Thai they're in Thai company. The thing my missus hates is that the locals try to teach our daughter Lao and find it funny in doing so.

Originally Posted by rawlins

I live in Thailand and have a 2 year old girl who has just started pre-kindergarten. Both Mum and I speak English to her and she is responding back in English. Other family members that don't speak English are speaking Thai with her. Sometime she says both langauges in the same short sentence - 'come mai?'

I hope that she will learn English as her primary language and Thai after that. Her Mums English pronounciation isn't great and I am having to teach her Mum the correct way to say things.

One thing I don't want is her picking up too much Isaan dialect which is where the out-laws are from. No point learning that as we never intend living up that way.

The kindergarten school she has started has a program which is 70% English and 30% Thai so I will just have to see how she develops.

I would like her to learn Mandarin at a later stage which should open up more opportunities in the future.

Interesting comment about the Isaan dialect. I think the out-laws come from everywhere, not just northeast Thailand. My son will be 1 soon and his uncle teaches him the most Thai and uses Bangkok Thai. It is unfortunate there is such a stigma against any local dialect. The same rationale that says all women from Isaan are bar girls. If you are serious, I would put you in this same pathetic category of profiling people on how they talk and what part of the country they come from.

That's my point. The ignorance comes from those who see this difference as inferior. As a westerner, I do not have the same generalizations that the Thais do and you should not either. If you count yourself in that group or are worried about what other people think, then you are ignorant.

Originally Posted by rickschoppers

Interesting comment about the Isaan dialect. I think the out-laws come from everywhere, not just northeast Thailand. My son will be 1 soon and his uncle teaches him the most Thai and uses Bangkok Thai. It is unfortunate there is such a stigma against any local dialect. The same rationale that says all women from Isaan are bar girls. If you are serious, I would put you in this same pathetic category of profiling people on how they talk and what part of the country they come from.

I just don't see the point in her learning the Isaan / Lao language as it will provide no use to her in later life... Also it is just another language that will add to her confusion when trying to get the grasps of English and Thai... Isaan / Lao is not very useful outside that region and we don't intend staying in that region. I may be in a 'pathetic category' for thinking like this but if she learns a third language after English and Thai then I would rather it was something useful like Mandarin.