[MMM]

Originally Posted by iPhantom

Tsk tsk... goes back to what I said, don't talk to your kid in two different languages, but only using one. I guess you haven't paid attention to what I said before. I know this from experience.

Tsk tsk...seriously?

Maybe you need to read what I wrote and the study I posted.

There is nothing that says you shouldn't talk to children in two languages. I understand your personal experience on the matter, but I think those are isolated cases and I personally know dozens of cases where bilingual usage is a POSITIVE experience, and more importantly NO cases where it was a negative one. The study shows that children can make those language distinctions at an early age. Yes, children will mix the two languages, but that is usually NOT because they don't know they are speaking one language or the other, but because they don't know the word they are looking for in the other language YET.

Originally Posted by iPhantom

A cousin of mine lives in Austria and he always talked to his kid using his native language. His kid got used to it properly BUT also got used to German language due to his surroundings and friends. Of course his German wasn't the same as his father's native language. But soon his dad started to teach him German more and talked him more using German. The son was able to distinguish languages really early... and then he went to kindergarten which helped him further getting the accent.

If his father had used both languages to him since the start, the kid wouldn't be able to differentiate them because he would think his father speaks using 1 language, so he would mix them and not be able to communicate.

No. There is nothing to support the idea that a child will not be able to differentiate the two languages when the time is needed (entering school)

Considerind the number of children raised in bilingual homes over the last generation or two, shouldn't there be a growing number of "language handicaps" in society today? No, there aren't. What I do see more of is adult children of bilingual parents who wished they had used both languages when they were younger, so they would be bilingual today. This is especially true of Asian wives who move to America with husbands who don't speak the Asian tongue.

Originally Posted by iPhantom

But his dad used only one language, and his friends used another. This way he was able to distinguish they used different languages... and learn them properly.

Again with "proper". You didn't answer me the first time about "proper communication" from a four-year-old.

You are making the conclusion that if a child is exposed to two languages when they are "too young" they will never be able to distinguish the two. There is no evidence to support that, and I would say the opposite is true. The sooner you start exposing children to multiple languages the sooner they will become bilingual.