Language Barrier Between Mommy and Nanny

Hello M.,

I am really surprised by some of the responses you got here! I read your resquest because my husband's brother and his wife have language barriers with their nanny too.

My brohter-in-law grew-up here in California. He went to visit a friend in Peru and ended-up marrying a woman who is Peruvian. She only spoke Spanish when they first met (he is a fluent Spanish speaker). After they were married, they moved to China where they both have teaching jobs. She learned English in China!

This past fall they had a little baby boy and right away, they hired a full time nanny. Apparently, all of their friends have at least one nanny per child! Anyway, the nanny speaks Chinese only. Right away, everyone wanted to know if the nanny was learning English. "No, she is teaching us Chinese!," is what my BIL said. He said he feels like it is a great opportunity for himself, his wife and his child to have even more exposure to another language.

So, they are all apeaking a Chinese, English, Spanish blend at their house. They say it is going well, eventhough it is hard for me to imagine that they ever understand eachother. I guess they are somehow making it work.

I am telling this story to support your experience as well as to demonstrate to some of your other responders the wonderful example of being open to people who are from a different culture than yourself.

It really bothers me that someone thinks that your nanny probably can't read! Your post didn't mention how much EDUCATION you or your nanny have. I see your request for information as an effort to educate yourself for the good of your family.

It also bothers me that someone thinks that we should only speak English in this country. The attitude that everyone should learn English is very exclusionary and gives the impression of racism!

Also, as a teacher with a secondary degree in English as a Second Language, I know that children do not "need" to learn Lanuage in exclusion. Most people who are fluent in more than one language are so because they learned more than one language from birth on. It expands the brain in a way that nothing else can, and as one responder said, it really is a gift to be able to provide that exposure to your little one.

I hope that your positive example of sharing our cultures with each other will inspire others to be equally open.

Good luck!

I hope she's teaching your son Spanish, that's a priceless gift =o) I would go to Amazon and search the titles then read the reviews. I've gotten to the point that I will not buy anything without seeing what people on Amazon say.
I hope this helps!
C.

Well I agree with another mommy that indicated that it is a PRICELESS gift for the nanny to teach your son spanish. But for me, it is more important to have my child learn ENGLISH FIRST. I think it's best if the nanny learns ENGLISH too. Maybe you can help her by buying her audio tapes and having her watch TV in english. We are in the US and our primary language is English.

Good luck

It's great that you're trying to learn how to speak Spanish. It's very difficult, to be sure, but rest assured that having your son learn Spanish at such an early age will pay big dividends in the future. After all, you and your husband will speak to your son in English, and children's brains are so malleable at this stage of life. My first language was Cantonese, which was what my nanny and grandmother spoke, and I was at least 2 before I spoke English at all! I then went on to learn Japanese, when we lived in Japan, then French in high school and finally the Mandarin dialect of Chinese while in college. My husband grew up speaking English only, and he is hopeless with foreign languages. An early exposure to different languages is just about the biggest gift you can give to your child. That said, you could also encourage your nanny to learn some basic English, or pay for her to take lessons. Good luck!

What do you pay your nanny per hour? I am looking into one and am unsure of the going rate.