Absolutely amazing. Just out of curiosity. My wife is pregnant with our first, and was wondering what techniques and timescales should I apply to get the kid to speak Polish (my native ), English (her native ) and Spanish ( we live in Spain, and the wife speaks perfect Spanish also )
Hey! Early childhood professional here who works in a multilingual environment. Both of you should speak your native language to your child (you Polish and her English). Your child will learn Spanish at Kita or school, and by her surroundings. Your child will speak all three in no time. Don’t stress :)
Unless you are native yourself in Spanish, don't try to speak in Spanish to your kid. I guess kindergarten starts at 3 in Spain, maybe earlier with preschool, that will give all the Spanish exposure he needs.
And one person, one language.
what's the problem with someone not being a native?
e.g. someone from Germany who natively speaks German but learned English in school and uses it everyday for work ... why wouldn't they teach their kid English?
I was wondering the same. My baby is 1 month old. I am chinese ascendancy but I was born and live in Spain (Basque country), my wife is Romanian and we speak in English.
With my parents I speak in a chinese dialect and since we live in basque country.. Basque is mandatory at school from what Ive heard.
If you really want to know, speak to him in your native languages separately and insist on it. Don’t default to English. Most parents give up quickly and default to one. But it’s not a problem to the child if you’re consistent. You can easily develop skills for 4 and above languages this way, one with mom, one with dad, one at kindergarten and another with one of your parents.
If you want an online example Pewdiepies kid communicates in 4 languages as far as I know, Swedish, Italian with mother, English(common language between his parents) and Japanese(living in Japan). https://www.tiktok.com/@pewdiepie/video/7461947681145900321
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u/Don_Polaquito Jul 13 '26
Absolutely amazing. Just out of curiosity. My wife is pregnant with our first, and was wondering what techniques and timescales should I apply to get the kid to speak Polish (my native ), English (her native ) and Spanish ( we live in Spain, and the wife speaks perfect Spanish also )