Our children are young and so far speaking both English (I am American) and Italian (my husband is Italian). We live in Italy but spend almost every summer in USA. My four year old started stuttering when we returned to Italy this year and was wondering if anyone else has had this problem? Also do you insist that the child speak English with the mother tongue English person ? Hope to hear from you here or at my blog www.living-italy.blogspot.com
Raising Bilingual Children in Italy
lucia
25 October 2008 16:20:59
9
Jo Ann
25 October 2008 20:38:04
1548
Hey Lucia.
I am from Angola, I was raised in Cuba and going to the French school. By the age of 3, I was speaking Portuguese, Spanish and French as a native to the three.
It takes a bit to adjust when we are in an environment where we speak one language only and move to another. But it's just a matter of time.
One of my friends, who was raised in Angola but her father is from Peru and her mother from Russia, going to the French schools (making 4 languages to work it), stutters sometimes when she's back to one language only environment. But how precious it is to being able to speak so many languages :-)
(And yes, do keep on talking to your children in English !!! :-))
Take care !
lucia
26 October 2008 10:56:05
9
Thank you. This is the response and advice I have been getting from the experts. It is very precious indeed and I know the future will be awesome with these attributes. I try to continue speaking English but sometimes feel it is a losing battle since everyone else speaks Italian. I will keep it up. I look forward to hearing from you again. Lucia www.living-italy.blogspot.com
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