Hi, first-time mom here. My daughter is about to turn two at the end of this month. What I want to ask is if any of you know what’s the best time to introduce my baby to the second language. Do you have a similar experience? English is not the mother language in my country, and I’m the only one who can speak English in our house. My husband and I want to raise the bilingual kid. We didn’t start using English to her before because I want her to grasp/have more vocabs from our mother language first to avoid speech delay, and I’m planning to start talking to her in English after she turns two. Do you think it’s a good idea? Or should I wait for more? I speak English to her, but not full time.
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Start right from the beginning
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I say the earlier the better… mines has taken both languages great and learning both…
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My son speaks three language and he’s only three
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Start now or she’ll never learn, trust me, my whole family speaks Spanish except for me and my brother and I hate it because I don’t know it well enough to even teach it to my kids.
The younger the better. They seem to grasp it better. My boys are bilingual as well since their father and I speak different languages. We started teaching them English and Burmese from the beginning since they could talk.
Little ones come pre-wired to learn language, and from what I’ve heard, the earlier the better. That’s not to say that languages can’t be learned later in life, but it’s a more natural process when they’re younger.
Here In the USA they teach English in schools so all my kids learned Spanish first, one of my bonus kids doesn’t know Spanish so she speaks to them in English. There may be a delay in her speech with learning 2 languages. Don’t be alarmed most kids do.
Early! I started counting in different languages to my kids before they turned 1. Anytime they’d be super upset it would calm them down and eventually they picked it up too. They both could count to 10 in four different languages by age 2.
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Start from the beginning. When you say something also say the English word of it
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We started ours right out the gate. They know some Spanish, Swahili, Italian, Mandarin and sign language as well as English. They aren’t fluent however they know key words and phrases. When they sleep we put on (fill in the blank language) while you sleep and use sign language with English during the day
The earlier the better sign language is great for babies.
They say from day one, use both languages, they will learn them both at the same time and it’s easier the earlier they learn it.
My son knows english sign and is learning our peoples native tongue. Hes almost 3 and we just started one day. Babies learn fast
My baby is 6 months and everything we say to her in English we repeat in spanish and vice versa
We do Spanish, English and baby sign language and have since day one. He uses some English and some Spanish (for some reason he likes to say leche better than milk but says ball and back (a command we have for the dogs) in English) he also has about 15 signs that he is very fluent with. (16 months) Go ahead and teach English!!!
I would have started right away
I’d ask her pediatrician, if she’s met all her mile stones then why not now, my kiddo was delayed so from the start they told us no Spanish for him because it would confuse him and his speech therapy. Finally said mama around 3/4years old
They recommend using both languages from birth. There may be a slight lag in language skills but then they rapidly begin using both. So start using both now!
Today’s kids are very brilliant, you can start right now, trust me, they will pick up in no time
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I speak to my kids in Spanish and English since they where babies. My daughter is now 17 months and my other daughter is 6 months. I speak to both in both languages
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Right from the beginning. The English language is one of the hardest to grasp. It will be easier on them of they learn it from the start.
Amazing. I wish I was bilingual to teach my children! Start asap.
I have a 20 month old and an almost 6 month old. My husband is from El Salvador and I’m American. Since birth, we have spoken to both of them in both languages. MY oldest understands everything we tell her in either language. The earlier you start, the better off they are because it will just be the norm for them.
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We lived in a Hispanic neighborhood. When my son went to preschool, he was the only child that spoke English. I asked the teacher if it was hard teaching in English to kids who didn’t speak the language. She said by the time the kids went to kindergarten, they were all pretty close to fluent in English and by the time they got to first grade, you wouldn’t even know they didn’t speak English as their first language. She even pointed out that one of the kids only spoke Mandarin and he, too, would speak English by 1st grade. I wouldn’t sweat it, keep talking to your child in your native tongue - she is a little sponge and will pick up English when she gets to school especially if you start her out in pre and/or play school for a year first.
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The sooner the better.
Start now with the other language .give her the English word and than the other one this way she learns both at the same time
From birth , I was blessed to have my mother in law watch my sons from birth while I worked , she is Greek , I am not , but I only spoke English to them , and she only spoke Greek , they understood both of us and ended up speaking both , it’s crazy but I had a Pekingese puppy named Beethoven who also understood both 
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This is so heart warming to learn both. Sounds like start now from people have said here
Anyone care what the “mother” language is?
Its recommended to speak your native tongue at home as much as possible. They will pick up english even if you tried to prevent it lol
The younger the better. Kids under the age of 5 tend to learn it quicker and it sticks
My youngest has been learning spanish, English, and sign language since he was 8 months old. He turns two in less than a week and is pretty fluent with all 3
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From birth. We always spoke to our children in both French and English since they were born and I was raised the same way.
They learn it much better young. Work on English then learn a 3rd language and teach her it as your learning. It sticks like glue when they are young like that. Idk why they wait til highschool to offer other languages here in the US when kids learn it better quicker the younger they are.
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Great advice from other posters. I would start right away. There are great programs on TV and the computer that can support the bilingual effort.
I was reading the earlier the better. We’re considering starting my kids on Spanish… from what I’ve read, start as early as possible. Some say from the beginning and others say around two. However my daughter turns 3 in March so we’re behind. Haha good luck to you.
I only spoke spanish to my oldest till he started school at 4yrs old. He picked up a bit by watching TV but once school started he learned it real quick. I did this because my parents did this to me (because they didn’t speak english). I’ve done it with all my kids who are now in school. Will do it with my youngest too, who is just gonna be 1 next month.
The earlier the better!! Even sign language is a language all it’s own. Children that are spoken to bilingually from the beginning have a MUCH easier time learning additional languages in the future if they so desire. It doesn’t confuse them. It makes that language part of their brain better than the rest of us who can only speak one language. 
As early as possible. From Birth for my kids. My kids live in Japan. I speak English to them and they get Japanese everywhere else. Daddy uses both English and Japanese with them. They are 4 and 6 and can speak both languages without delays.
Which country are you in? If you’re in an English speaking country, i.e UK, US, Australia etc, then you can be sure your baby will grasp the language really quick once she goes to pre-k etc. If you aren’t in an English speaking country, but a country with a different language, then you def should start talking English more to her now and majority of the time. Let her dad speak to her in your native tongue. This way your baby will learn to master both. Don’t worry about the speech delays. If any become present, they’ll eventually even out. It’s completely normal as a child grasps the concept of multiple languages.
Use both languages. When I was growing up everything was said to me twice when I was little and learning. Once in the mother language and then again in English. It went on like that that until I was nineish. Then whichever language was spoken depending where we were.
Use both languages, unfortunately I only speak one, but, I work at a preschool and the children that have had 2 languages from birth speak both at 2 years old, they do not realize that not everybody understands both, but they have no problem understanding and switching from one language to the other.
Asap. The younger they are, the easier it is for them to absorb new informafmti.
As soon as you can talk to them in both languages. Example say something in English then say it in the other language. I’ve been talking to my girls in both languages since birth so they know two languages. When they’re older you can teach them verbally how to say things.
ASAP. Children are sponges they can pickup sgin language and second language as soon as 6 months. My son could sign more, milk and please at 7 months.
ASAP I dont speak two languages but I have worked with and been around kids that do. It always seemed best to start as soon as you can.
Do it now! The earlier you start, the easier it is to teach them. My kids have been using Spanish, English, and ASL since birth.
From day one or asap