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Glad I'm doing the right thing by looking up words all the time. It really does work! As always, thanks for the encouragement.

How exciting for you and your son! I’m excited to hear about how much his Spanish grows with this opportunity. Your children are very lucky to have you. You take on this extra weight on your shoulders of their multilingual education on top of all the other things a mother teaches her children. ❤

Very useful video from someone with the educational background in the field. I hope that you will continue to produce such high quality videos.

Also, I'm not going to lie, when you said that you checked the box, I was disappointed, as it does seem dishonest. I realize you have no negative intentions, but I think it is pretty clear that the intention is that those spots are reserved for heritage language speakers and immigrant families.

I'm surprised they told you it "must be the child's first language." I expect that what they were trying to say was it "must be the child's dominant language."

Hi Stefanie, congrats! That being said, now you have to definitely get your son prepared for the test! I live near you, as you probably recall, and so I have heard a lot about the test. If I remember correctly, they have you leave and then a bilingual adult or adults speak with your child. If the child responds only in Spanish they pass, but if they use English at any point, they fail. Is that what you've heard also?

There you are!! I was wondering what happened to you...:))

I was confused (Ftm) because I am bilingual my husband too. We both speak fluent English & fluent Spanish. We are both Mexicans&our family are from Mexico. We want our son to speak Spanish too. We been speaking to him in Spanish since birth. He is 1yrs old(18m). & he speaks a few Spanish words he understands Spanish too. But we also want him to speak English too we just don't wanna confuse him 😅. He's primarily language right now is Spanish ❤.

Do you speak only in french with your kids or in English as well? I'm new here and I would like yo speak in 3 different languages with my son but I'm not sure if it'll confuse him. Thank you 🙏🏻

I’ve been looking for a German emotion wheel, but so far have found nothing suitable. I’ve been thinking about doing the same - translating it myself. Thanks for the reminder.

Congrats on launching the Seeds and Patreon, Stefanie!

What a strange coincidence, I was just reading a book about this (well not the second language part)!

Thank you for this video! My husband's Latino but his family never taught him Spanish and he struggled with language barrier his own community like many American children of immigrants. I am Korean and speak fluent Korean and plan to raise our child with Korean. But I always wanted to also incorporate Spanish as well so that the child can grow trilingual. And I've been learning Spanish but it's my 4th and worst language. This video energized me. Gratitude to you!

This is FANTASTIC

1:00 Just out of curiosity from the bookpile, are you also learning Arabic? 👀

Thank you so much for your videos! I'm currently 6 months pregnant. My child will definitely speak 2 languages, my husband will speak English and my entire family also speaks English. In school they will learn our countries language. I would like to add a third language - Hungarian. I grew up with my mother speaking to me in Hungarian while to my siblings in English. For my mother, it was her mother tongue. For me, it was technically my mother tounge, but I know English and my countries language way better. For me, speaking in Hungarian requires a lot more effort. Your videos are very inspiring. I love it that it's not your native language, and you are still doing it. It's so nice to hear that it's possible!

I'd love to hear the full interview as well!

Teachings kids several languages is definitely possible . I spoke 4 languages as a kid : English ,Talysh(a dialect of Persian) , Turkish and Russian . I still speak all 4 but I also learned Spanish a bit as a teenager and French in the UK as a kid though I am Canadian and I lived in the US it was funny that the place where I learned French was the United Kingdom lol the coolest thing is that because I was raised a polyglot I speak appx . 8 languages but I understand a lot and I mean a loooot more languages. Keep up the great work !! This is simply awesome !! I hope I'll be able to achieve what you have achieved , absolutely astounding !!

Thank you for your videos! I'm really motivated now to speak to my bub in French. Would you share your teeth brushing song?

Great, that's a good advice thanks,

"Promosm" 😩

Thanks Stephanie!! What was your French level? Do you live in the USA?

What languages did you teach your son? I'm only fluent in English but can get by in several. We dabble in Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi/Urdu, ASL, and several others. I'm learning Italian and speak ok Portuguese, Hindi, and sign. But I'd love for him to speak decent Hindi and Spanish... This video is SOOO encouraging!!!

Wow this is definitely a fascinating and helpful channel on this topic.

thanks so much. I find it so helpful and motivated

My first language was Spanish & I speak fluent English & a little German. I want my son to grow up knowing all, but I definitely need help with the German

10:54 Are you talking about the second person indicative (you go), or the imperative (go!)?

Hi Stephanie, thank you so much for this video!! I am French (by the way your French is great and I am very impressed by how well your sons speak French!!). I have been speaking exclusively in English with my now 5 year old daugther since she was born. The first 2 years were great, she would sometimes reply in English to me and said her first words mostly in English. But then, when she was 3, she started school. I live in France, school is in French and no one but me speaks English with her. I feel like she has lost interest in English and doesn't feel the need to speak it. Even though she understands English, she can't speak it at all and that bothers me a lot. My question is, is there a way to get my daugther to reply in English to me (it might be late now that she is 5)?

Sharing this here (my bilingualism book reviews) in case it is interesting to you, Stefanie, or anyone else: For someone who isn't sure if bilingualism is for them, I would recommend either "Be Bilingual" by Annika Bourgogne or "Family Language Learning" by Christine Jernigan. For someone who knows they want to raise their child(ren) bilingually and wants help creating a language plan and specific advice for how to talk about their goals with others (professionals, teachers, family, etc.) I would recommend "Bilingual Families: A Practical Language Planning Guide" by Eowyn Crisfield. For someone who wants to read other parents' stories and get a closer look at what some different bilingual language plans can look like, I would recommend "Bilingual Success Stories Around the World" by Adam Beck. For someone who already has a language plan and needs activity ideas, I would recommend "The Toolbox for Multilingual Families" by Ute Limacher-Riebold. For someone who already has a plan but isn't seeing the results they want and need more specific guidance, I would recommend "Maximize Your Child's Bilingual Ability" by Adam Beck. For anyone who wants more research, or a reference they can recommend to professionals, there is "A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism" by Colin Baker. I also recommend: "Talking with Your Toddler" by Teresa Laikko (★★★★★) "Raising a Bilingual Child" by Barbara Zurer Pearson (★★★★☆) "Becoming a Bilingual Family: Help Your Kids Learn Spanish" by Stephen Marks (★★★★☆) "The Parents' Guide to Raising Multi-Literate Children" by Yoshito Darmon-Shimamori (★★★★☆) "Bringing Up a Bilingual Child" by Rita Rosenback (★★★☆☆) I emphatically DO NOT recommend: "Bilingual Children: A Guide for Parents" by Juergen Meisel (★☆☆☆☆) "Bilingual by Choice" by Virginie Raguenaud (★☆☆☆☆)

Surprised you hadn't already read Jernigan's book! I've read it several times, and given it as a gift to four or five people. I find it's encouraging for people who are not sure, but not a great resource for people who are already committed to the process.

Thank you for sharing these tips and your journey. It’s very encouraging and reassuring because this process of parenting in a non-native language can be very discouraging at times. 😅😊

Love this channel alot. Just popes up on my youtube feed and think it is fabulous.

Thanks for the advice. I also find that reading topical picture books (where available) is helpful, as they tend to use the common vocabulary used in a given context. Update on my situation: we have a second son now - he’s 4 weeks old today. My oldest son is about 3.5 years old (birthday in August), and has a very good passive understanding of German. He has recently become interested in trying to say some German words or singing some simple German songs; he was very resistant for a long time. Last year, he had access to a native speaker once a week for about an hour, who spoke 80% German with him. I was thrilled to find that my son could understand something like 90% of what the native speaker said! That really encouraged me to continue. I have committed to speaking exclusively German with him until he turns 4, and then I’ll review the situation. My biggest challenge seems to be that, because I’m not speaking my native language, not everything comes so spontaneously as it does in English. So, when I would usually make lots of mundane comments, I often just say nothing - e.g., on a road trip. This is something I want to get better at: just doing some small talk.

So we do the OPOL method. What are your thoughts on this? Our daughter is learning Japanese and mom is Japanese so speaks to her exclusively in Japanese. I've noticed that our daughter is more attached to her mother, my partner. She outright says she prefers her and only wants her for things like bedtime, going places etc. I do not speak Japanese nor do I understand it. I feel left out of the conversation and feel I am missing out of much of what is going on with our daughter when they speak. It could be at the dinner table, lying in bed, or playing. Is this feeling of exclusion part of the OPOL method? If so how do you overcome it? How do you work to not have the child favor one parent or the other? Thanks!

Really nice.

Great. And one could say also that the children could learn to read and write since they are two year old. You could start with simple words like "mama" in big and red letters.

hi, I just wanna start raising bilingual kids but my oldest child is already 5yo, is it too late? and how to do that? because it would be confusing for her if I suddenly changed my language when speaking to her.

My son is 5 years old. I haven't spoke english to him because I am not a native speaker and I do not live on an english speaking country... can I start or is it too late?

I'm not fluent in my native tongue but started speaking to my baby in it from birth using the OPOL method. The more I soeak the better I get and I have a tutor as well. She's the one who encouraged me not to rely on being fluent to speak and also allow myself to make mistakes. I'm now a solid intermediate and only use English when I'm nonplussed, although I base my tutoring on my daughter's growing needs. Songs and books have been great and I agree about practicing with these.

OPOL does not work for everyone. The older kids get the more they will choose a favorite language.

Will you eventually teach your children Japanese?

I went to a Russian Saturday school as a child in the UK (I spoke Russian at home and English at school/with friends), and I enjoyed it for a while but got more stressed out by it as I grew older. I think I went from ages 5-12 or so, it was best for me to stop when I did but in retrospect it was one of the better things for me to be able to talk to so many native speakers outside of my own family! I'd definitely suggest trying again as long as it's not a huge stress on everyone, just from my own personal experience looking back on it. Mental health and wellbeing come first though :)

I found your channel today! We're a mixed family where I am the sole input of French (non-native) for my daughters, living in the US. Though there are some speakers of French here, they are few and far between. It was so encouraging to see this channel because you and I are in the same boat! Doing the same thing! I also have my master's in second language acquisition and am raising my girls in a language my partner doesn't speak. It's a challenge that few people understand. I wanted to say thank you for doing what you're doing and normalizing something that most people don't really understand. My daughter is almost 3 and i have a newborn. I definitely question it some days when it's harder for me to find my words. Its so cool to see the fruits of your labor though as my daughter begins developing more complex speech in both languages. I've actually documented her speech from when she was only 7 weeks old! Either way it can really be difficult at times but I'm so happy to have found what you do!