Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
The reason for separation is that without any firm rules there is no way for a child to know which language is which and to use them separately. Using them in a mixed jumble will leave the child with one language - a mix of the two that isn`t a real language and that would be of little use outside of the family environment.
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I think you're underestimating the brain of a child. I was brought up speaking two different dialects of Berber, Arabic and French. I had no problems separating the languages. My parents as a baby started speaking to me in Berber and apparently the moment I started forming sentences and speaking (2 to 3? At what age do kids start forming coherent sentences?), they spoke to me in all three. To top it all off, at around 7, 8ish, we moved to England where I spoke ONLY English with my dad for about a year.
Now, I speak 2 dialects of Berber, even though I count it as just one. I speak an Algerian dialect of Arabic and Literary Arabic. My French was the worst of these languages, but it was still good enough to not be allowed to take French lessons in school because the teachers said I was too advanced. And of course, English!
I will say one thing though, for me I think it was too much! By the age of 8, I was jumping between 4 languages. This made my French very weak, whereas my brothers were extremely good at Arabic, Berber and French at the age of 8, 9, 10 etc because they didn't start English till they were at least 14! So I think you're right when it comes to mixing too many languages. But I think two, is perfectly ok.