How to raise a bilingual baby

Babies are sponges when it comes to language, and any young child who's exposed to two or more languages from an early age can become fluent.

But it doesn't happen by osmosis. Introducing a second language to your child requires structure, repetition, and, most important, consistency, whether it's through day-to-day conversation or formal instruction.

The idea is to expose babies and kids to language learning in meaningful and interesting ways that are connected to real life. To speak a language fluently, your child needs to engage powerfully with it and interact regularly with a person or people who speak the language.

How to raise a bilingual baby

There are various approaches to teaching babies more than one language. The first two methods are generally the most popular, but you can have success with any of these:

Heritage/minority language at home

The child speaks one language at home with their family and another language outside of the home, at daycare or school. This method works well if both parents speak the at-home language.

One parent, one language

One parent always speaks one language to the child, and the other parent always speaks the other language. This is a good approach for families where each parent speaks a different language fluently, or just one parent speaks a second language fluently. It's helpful, though, if the other parent is somewhat familiar with the second language. That way they can follow conversations their partner has with their child.

Challenges can arise, though, if children hear one language just from one parent, and the other language from many other sources. Kids will naturally start to pay less attention to the less-used language. If this happens, find other ways to expose your child to that language or create a need for them to use it.

Time and place

In this method, parents choose a time and place to speak to their child in a certain language. For example, they could speak English in the morning and Italian in the afternoon, or switch off languages by week, day, or even activity. They could also determine which language to speak in various places – one language at home, one outside the home, and so on.

Mixed-language policy

Parents generally use both languages with the child, switching between them in the same conversation (even in the same sentence).

Mixed system 1 or 2

One parent speaks one language to the child, and the other parent speaks both that language and a second language.

Families usually pick the approach that works best for their individual circumstance. But no matter what method you use, there are ways to supplement your bilingual child's language learning:

Bilingual playgroups

Experts and parents agree that playgroups are one of the most important and enriching activities you can engage in when raising a bilingual child. They're also free (because you can meet at a local park or at someone's home) and fun for children and parents.

A playgroup exposes your child to other children, usually around the same age, who are also growing up bilingual. And while the kids are playing, you get a chance to meet and share ideas with other parents raising bilingual children.

To see whether a playgroup of this type already exists in your area, search online. If you can't find a local playgroup, you might want to start one.

Bilingual story time

Reading aloud is another wonderful way to expose children to another language. Books open up a new world to kids and increase their vocabulary almost effortlessly – and they're a great way to spend time with your child.

While you can read to your children anytime, anywhere, there's something special about attending a structured story time at your local library or bookstore. You'd be surprised how many of them offer story time in other languages.

If none exist in your community, it might be a good idea to suggest one. You can even volunteer to do it yourself if there are no bilingual librarians.

Bilingual songs

Music offers another proven way to enrich your child's vocabulary in a second language. And like books, music can go with you almost anywhere, whether you're listening to your favorite playlist in the car or just singing as you walk along.

Most children love music and find it easy to learn lyrics, especially because they can listen to the same song over and over again. There's no lack of quality children's music in languages other than English. All it takes is a quick search online or on the shelves of your local library.

Bilingual games

It's well known that kids learn through play. Getting them to use their second language can be tough sometimes, but games make it more fun.

If you have a child who likes, say, puzzles and maps, you can easily find them in another language. While your child is completing the puzzle, you can talk about the names of the countries and what their citizens are called, for example, expanding your child's vocabulary and giving a geography lesson at the same time.

Puppets and puppet shows are another powerful tool for bilingual learning. Encourage children to make their own puppets and to give them names in the second language. Putting on a puppet show gives kids an opportunity to practice their vocabulary in a creative way through storytelling.

Raising a bilingual baby if you don't speak a second language

It's more challenging to raise a bilingual baby if you and your partner or family members don't speak another language, but it's possible. Every little thing helps.

Look for language classes and immersion schools, get your hands on as much music and as many movies in the language as possible, attend bilingual story time at the library, and become a member of a bilingual playgroup. Also, if you have any relatives who speak the language you're targeting, consider asking them to use it when they interact with your child in person or over video calls.

These activities won't ensure that your child will be bilingual, but they'll introduce them to the language and give them a head start on learning it later when new opportunities arise. Here are more tips:

Hire a caregiver who speaks the language

Exposing your child to both languages as much as possible from birth is the best possible route to bilingualism.

Even if you can't afford a full-time caregiver, regular exposure to the language, such as a few hours every other day, can make a huge difference. Just make sure the caregiver understands that you want them to speak the second language exclusively to your child.

Seek out bilingual schooling opportunities

Look for a bilingual or language-immersion daycare, preschool, or school, depending on your child's age.

Be prepared to make some sacrifices. If, for example, you decide to enroll your child in a dual language immersion school, it may require a bit of a drive. If you're serious about raising your child with two languages, though, a commute may be worth it.

One of the main advantages of bilingual education is growing up not only bilingual, but bi-literate: able to read and write in another language. This may open a lot more doors for your child professionally in adulthood.

Take advantage of language classes

Attending classes at a language school once or twice a week takes learning to another level. Depending on the age of your child, your choices will vary. Keep in mind that for younger children, classes that are play-based will likely work better than a very structured program.

Some language schools offer classes to children as young as 1 year old. At first, children learn songs and basic vocabulary, like the colors and the parts of the body. As they get older, the classwork becomes more complex. Eventually the curriculum incorporates grammar and reading comprehension, among other skills.

Because the best way for children to learn is through interactive play, many language classes use the arts or music to introduce or reinforce a second language.

Look for heritage language schools

Heritage language schools are typically Saturday or Sunday schools created by a community interested in passing its language and culture to the next generation. Children enrolled in this type of program may already be proficient in the second language, and most have some sort of cultural connection to it through their family.

You can find out more about heritage language schools at the Heritage Language in America website.

Hire a private tutor

There are several advantages to hiring a private language tutor for your bilingual child, most notably that it provides one-on-one instruction.

A tutor can assess a child's fluency and design a personalized program. If, for example, your child is learning Spanish and is already fairly fluent but needs additional help with reading skills, a tutor may be a great choice.

Something else to consider: To save on fees, why not split the cost of a tutor with another parent who's also raising a bilingual child? Ideally, both children being tutored would be at the same level of proficiency.

If your child is a bit older, online tutoring is another possibility. The best part of this scenario is that it doesn't matter where the tutor is located. You could even hire a native speaker who lives in another country.

Myths about raising a bilingual baby

Myths about raising a child with more than one language abound. Sometimes parents are discouraged from doing so. They're told it can lead to confusion and speech delays, or that they've missed the window of opportunity. Here are the most common myths – and the real story behind raising a child to be bilingual.

Growing up with more than one language confuses children

This is by far the most prevalent of all the misconceptions. Some parents think that if a child is exposed to two languages at the same time, they might become confused and not be able to differentiate between them.

But from just days after birth, all infants can tell the difference between many languages. This is especially true when the languages are quite different from each other – as different, for example, as French and Arabic.

The confusion myth is probably the result of older research that looked at poorly designed studies and drew the conclusion that early exposure to two languages put children at a disadvantage. This research prompted some immigrant parents to drop their heritage language and emphasize proficiency in English.

Raising a child to be bilingual leads to speech delays

Some children raised bilingual do take a little longer to start talking than those raised in monolingual households. The delay is temporary, however, and according to experts, it's not a general rule.

Unfortunately, parents who raise concerns about the speech development of their bilingual child are often told to stick to one language. This happens because in the past, bilingualism was considered the culprit in problems with language development.

Even if your child has already been diagnosed with some kind of speech delay, raising them bilingual won't make their speech any more delayed.

Bilingual children end up mixing the two languages

Mixing languages is both inevitable and harmless. But to some unfamiliar with bilingualism, it's proof that the child can't really tell the languages apart.

Most children who are raised bilingual do resort to mixing as they sort out both languages. In addition, one of the languages often has a stronger influence on the child than the other. Kids who have a smaller vocabulary in the minority language may draw on words from the majority language as needed.

Experts agree that mixing is temporary. Eventually, it goes away as a child's vocabulary develops in both languages and they have more exposure to each one.

It's too late to raise your child bilingual

It's never too late – or too early – to introduce your child to a second language. The optimal time, according to experts, is from birth to 3 years old – exactly when a child is learning their first language, and their mind is still open and flexible.

The next best time for learning a second language appears to be when kids are between 4 and 7 years old, because they can still process multiple languages on parallel paths. In other words, they build a second language system alongside the first and learn to speak both languages like a native.

If your child is older than 7 and you've been thinking about raising them bilingual, it's still not too late. The third best time for learning a second language is from about age 8 to puberty. After puberty, studies show, new languages are stored in a separate area of the brain, so children have to translate or go through their native language as a path to the new language.