My little one is 9 months old and I've only just learned about how effective one parent one language is, and I'm very much regretting not doing this from the get-go. My native tongue is Urdu, but my husband and I have been speaking to her in English (English & Spanish are my partner's native languages). Is it too late to start, will it just confuse her at this point if I start speaking to her in Urdu?
Is it too late to do OPOL? Baby is 9 months
- Thread starter misterxyz
- Start date
@misterxyz OPOL is a method and if you think it’s best for your family then the best time to start is now 
@misterxyz Not too late in my opinion. At 9 months I don’t think your baby will reject you if you start speaking Urdu.
Maybe consider a gradual approach to ease into it e.g start with a few books & songs, say things twice in English and Urdu, try to get a relative to also speak & play in Urdu around the time you start switching
Maybe consider a gradual approach to ease into it e.g start with a few books & songs, say things twice in English and Urdu, try to get a relative to also speak & play in Urdu around the time you start switching
@misterxyz I restarted OPOL with my girls at the age of 5 and 2.5 years old. It's been a month and they started to speak and answer me in my language! So definitely not too late
trish4christ
New member
squeaker45
New member
@misterxyz It is never too late but 9 months is a great time to start!
fr33indeed
New member
@misterxyz It's definitely not too late to introduce the OPOL strategy! It's a common misconception that language learning can only start at birth. In reality, children are highly receptive to new languages even beyond their early years.
At nine months, your child is still in a prime language-learning phase. If you start speaking Urdu now, it will not confuse her. Instead, it would be a rich addition to her language experience. Initially, she might seem surprised, but babies adapt VERY quickly.
Just ensure consistency once you start. Speak Urdu exclusively so she learns to associate the language with you. Over time, she'll begin to understand the dual languages and even differentiate between them. Bilingualism offers cognitive, cultural, and social advantages. So, go ahead, and introduce her to your native language!
P.S. My friend was born in Romania, moved to Italy when he was a baby, then to Germany, went to primary school there and then moved to London when he was 11. He speaks all 4 languages fluently, 3 of them (Romanian, German, and English), without even a foreign accent! So you're well ahead of him
At nine months, your child is still in a prime language-learning phase. If you start speaking Urdu now, it will not confuse her. Instead, it would be a rich addition to her language experience. Initially, she might seem surprised, but babies adapt VERY quickly.
Just ensure consistency once you start. Speak Urdu exclusively so she learns to associate the language with you. Over time, she'll begin to understand the dual languages and even differentiate between them. Bilingualism offers cognitive, cultural, and social advantages. So, go ahead, and introduce her to your native language!
P.S. My friend was born in Romania, moved to Italy when he was a baby, then to Germany, went to primary school there and then moved to London when he was 11. He speaks all 4 languages fluently, 3 of them (Romanian, German, and English), without even a foreign accent! So you're well ahead of him
godmadegorillas
New member
@misterxyz I may be an ambitious parent, but if the community language where you live is English, I would encourage your husband to start using Spanish when speaking to your baby now as well. My son was introduced to 2 additional languages (at daycare) when he turned 1 and he seems to be learning them all at more or less the same rate. You can still speak English to each other, at this age I don't think your baby would be thrown off for more than a few days (not an expert).
thefirstoftheseconds
New member
@misterxyz I was mostly absent for 7 of the first 8 months of my first kid's life. She only heard Japanese from my wife's family and maybe 20 minutes of English when I would call daily.
But I moved to Japan when she was 8 months and started speaking to her in English each day, OPOL with the community and mother's language being Japanese. We moved to a 3rd language environment at 12 months and an English language community at 14 months, but when she started speaking at roughly 13-14 months she started using both English and Japanese. She caught up in English very fast, and I doubt anyone would know she rarely heard it for the first 8 months of her life.
You can start anytime, and the best time is now.
But I moved to Japan when she was 8 months and started speaking to her in English each day, OPOL with the community and mother's language being Japanese. We moved to a 3rd language environment at 12 months and an English language community at 14 months, but when she started speaking at roughly 13-14 months she started using both English and Japanese. She caught up in English very fast, and I doubt anyone would know she rarely heard it for the first 8 months of her life.
You can start anytime, and the best time is now.
@misterxyz Not too late at all. Kids can learn languages to a totally native/fluent/no accent level up to around age 6. But the sooner you start the better.
Baby brains start to solidify the phonemes/sounds they can differentiate in spoken language by around 6mo, so you’d want to start as soon as possible to ensure exposure, especially to sounds of Urdu that don’t occur in English or Spanish (e.g. the consonant differences from this article that I can’t hardly differentiate between, but native speakers can easily discern).
Start introducing Urdu yourself w/English and family/community language, and your husband could speak Spanish. Totally fine to start now.
Baby brains start to solidify the phonemes/sounds they can differentiate in spoken language by around 6mo, so you’d want to start as soon as possible to ensure exposure, especially to sounds of Urdu that don’t occur in English or Spanish (e.g. the consonant differences from this article that I can’t hardly differentiate between, but native speakers can easily discern).
Start introducing Urdu yourself w/English and family/community language, and your husband could speak Spanish. Totally fine to start now.
@misterxyz 9 months? Super early. Start now.
katrina2017
New member
@misterxyz I started when my daughter was 1.5. She's 5 years old now, she speaks two languages just fine. I'm the only speaker of the targeted language around here. (Except for YouTube) It's NEVER ever too late.