Does anyone here have direct experience raising multilingual kids? Specifically the situation where one partner speaks English natively and the other speaks two languages natively? For sake of example, let's say they're German and Spanish. (And you want the child to learn all three natively.)
My plan is to divide the languages by person and place:
- always talk to Parent 1 in English, no matter the location
- talk to Parent 2 in Spanish at home and German when outside the home, adhering strictly to this location-based method. The extended family mostly speaks Spanish, which makes the "home" association stronger.
This seems easier to me than dividing the languages by time (only speak Spanish on M/W/F, German on Tu/Th/Sat) or other divisions, but I'm open to any suggestions.
My plan is to divide the languages by person and place:
- always talk to Parent 1 in English, no matter the location
- talk to Parent 2 in Spanish at home and German when outside the home, adhering strictly to this location-based method. The extended family mostly speaks Spanish, which makes the "home" association stronger.
This seems easier to me than dividing the languages by time (only speak Spanish on M/W/F, German on Tu/Th/Sat) or other divisions, but I'm open to any suggestions.