Quote:
Originally Posted by hadron
ok you are starting to convince me  so what to do in situation when both parents need to speak with kid at one time?
which language should they speak? still each of theirs? |
Yes. If that is how they have been doing it, when they both need to speak to the child at once they should follow the same pattern.
Remember, for the child BOTH of the languages is their native language so it should not be hard for them.
If it has to be a family discussion, then the parents should stick to the language they use to talk to each other when talking to one another, and stick to the language they use when speaking to the child when they are doing that. Or if one can`t understand the language of the other, stick with the language they use when speaking to between themselves even when speaking to the child.
Really, it`s all about making a rule and sticking to it. Mixing languages based on how you feel or the direction of the wind isn`t a rule.
For example;
Mother speaking language A to the child. Father speaking language B to the child. Mother and father speaking language B to each other, and the "outside world" speaking language A (or even C!). This is a fairly common pattern.
Or... Mother and father both speak language A in the home, but speak language B outside the home. The "outside world" language is B.
It`s all a matter of giving the child a structure to work from to distinguish the different languages.
Something that probably wouldn`t work is mother and father both speaking language A and B without any pattern. The child usually ends up speaking the language of "AB", which doesn`t really exist.