Raising a Bilingual Baby/moving to a New Country

keep using both. My friend uses both with her kids, and they switch back and forth very easily since they have done so from birth.

Both my kids are bi-lingual.

FROM birth... I spoke to them in English. My language. From birth... my Husband spoke to them in his language. My kids are now 4 and 8... and they are bi-lingual in speech, hearing it, and can sometimes read in the other language. They can converse with my Husband in his language too. They are FLUENT, in both languages.

YOU speak to him in English.
Your Husband should speak to him in HIS language.
Don't use both languages in the same sentence... that is improper "grammar." You don't want them to learn incorrect grammar.
For example, when I speak to my kids in my Husband's language... it is only 'teaching' them the wrong pronunciation and sentence structure. A "pidgin" version of it. SO... I only speak to them in MY language, which is English. My Husband is fluent in both English and his language. I am not.... however, fluent in his language. And if I do say things in my Husband's language... my kids will often correct me.... on it.

YOU read to him in English.
Your Husband reads to him in HIS language.

Kids are sponges. They learn just from daily life, about both languages.
Easily.

all the best,
Susan

I think what you are doing makes perfect sense, and I think that what you suggested for when you move back to the US sounds fine too.

I have friends whose children are bilingual. They lived in the US and both parents speak English and Serbian. They used both in the household, but typically spoke in Serbian at home, to ensure the kids had enough exposure to the language to learn it. Both kids are fluent in English (naturally) and Serbian.

At such an early age, they can't be confused by language. It's all just learning to them. They can't distinguish or differentiate between the nuances of different languages until early childhood. I'd say he'll be bilingual without much effort, since both languages are a part of his daily life. Kids learn what they live. Little sponges, they are.

My husband is from Mexico and I am from the US and we live in the US. With my LO, he speaks to her mostly in Spanish but also times in English. I speak to her in English mostly. I do speak to her in Spanish sometimes but not always. I do want to keep up my own Spanish :) Anyway, she is learning both. At times she will use both languages in the same sentence but that is expected with her age. As she gets older, she will learn to separate them. Just make sure that YOU don't use both languages in the sentence. No Spanglish.

My kids are bilingual. We are living in Sweden (my husband is Swedish). When we started to look into how to raise bilingual children it was always suggested that you speak to children in your mother tongue. So I speak English with my girls and my husband speaks Swedish. Even if you are good at Spanish and your husband may be good at English you should stick to your own languages for the sake of routine. You should expect them to speak to you in English and expect them to speak to your husband in Spanish.. It's kinda hard for them in the beginning of course it will take them awhile to become as fluent in both languages. I ask my girls (well just the oldest as the youngest is just starting to learn to talk) to talk to me in English if they start to speak in Swedish. She can't always say the whole sentence she wants to say in English but she tries and I will help her out.

Spanish is still a very big language in The US so I'm sure your son will come in contact with Spanish quite a bit. My oldest daughter is very good at English even if Swedish is a little stronger because we live in Sweden. I would really not change what language you speak with your son, keep it the same and it will be easier for him to learn the difference between the languages.

I think it's great that you are teaching them both languages.

If you're final home is US, then let him learn English. If he was going to stay in Mexico, I would let him learn Spanish. Since your husband already speak Spanish to him and he is learning English from you, then in time, he will pick up on both languages. They mimic what is in the home. I think the baby will adapt.

Babies are like little sponges. They pick up on soo much information.
My sister is married to a Cuban man.
They have a 2 y/o son. Now over the years of them being together my sister has learned spanish. When it comes to their son, they speak both English & Spanish to him.
Most of the time it's daddy talking to him in spanish, but mommy does it too.

Right now he understands both. He will speak either if you ask him.
"Say horse" "horse"
Then said to him in spanish "say it in spanish"
he responds in spanish.

I have bilingual cousins (English and Arabic) who were that way from the very beginning. Their mother spoke to them only in English, and their father spoke to them in both English and Arabic. They went to live in Jordan for about two years not long ago, and they did just fine with their Arabic in school and with their family. Now they're back in the States, and their English is also just fine. From their example, I'd say keep speaking both languages with your son, especially since you're moving back to the States.

We have 2 friends that are raising bi-lingual children. In one situation, the family lives in Norway, the husband is Norwegian & the wife is English. The wife speaks to the kids in English (and expects them to reply in English; they kids are now in high school), and the husband speaks to the kids in Norwegian and expects them to reply in Norwegian.

In the other case, the wife is US/English speaker, and the husband is German. They followed the same as above: dad speaks to kids (ages 3.5y and 4 months) in German, mom speaks to them in English.

If you do the same (and it's been studied somewhat I believe, that this method works well), the baby may be slightly delayed in talking due to the bi-lingual issue, but by the time the child reaches preschool, they will be bi-lingual & caught up to the norm of # of words/lenght of sentences, and by 1st grade will probably be 100% bilingual.

Also, from some of the reading I've done, apparently being bilingual at an early age gives the brain a kind of flexible that most of don't have and actually can help the child in a lot of other areas of learning (the most obvious being other languages, but the benefits are not limited to language).