My child prefers the minority language - what do I do?

[mike247]

Hi all!

For context, my 2 year 2 month old‘s minority language is English. We live in a French speaking country. She goes to a French daycare 1 and a half days a week. Our family language is English, but my partner and I speak french to each other. Our social circle is primarily francophone.

I was the primary caregiver up until this point, and I spoke exclusively in English.

My child is having an intense language explosion and it is 99% in English. She had no issues understanding French but now she seems to say ”huh?“ a lot more when spoken to in French.

So my question is:
Should I just keep going as is and trust that her French will just naturally come along, or should I ask my partner to switch to French (his English is starting to be limited anyway i.e. Discipline, etc.).

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[chris379]

@mike247 We have this situation too with my almost- 2 year old- he speaks my language far better than any other, even though English is the majority language and what my husband and I speak with each other. I’m shocked because he has been in full-time English daycare since 12 months. I would say stick with what you’re doing and keep prioritizing the minority language. Your child is so young and doesn’t care yet about peers and his world still revolves around you/your partner. The day will come soon when he starts caring more about the outside world. I myself had two minority-language parents and did not move to the US until age 10 and still have a slight preference for English. It will come! Keep up the good work!

 

[sisterfriend]

@mike247 I agree with the other commenters that say keep doing what you’re doing and prioritize the minority language. Once she’s in daycare or school more, she’ll easily have another language explosion in French. I’m in a similar position with a slightly older kid who has been going to a home daycare in French who prefers French often so I’m envious of your problem! My partner does speak French to her so that’s also probably a contributing factor as well. But she has had a few developments/explosions with her English but I notice it’s often one or the other, not at the same time in both languages.

But if your partner is more comfortable in French, that might be a reason to have him change, just so he doesn’t feel limited in his communication.

 

[mamckay41]

@mike247 My child is 5 years old with 3 minority languages. He speaks much better the minority and speaks almost all the time french. I think it is ok.

Kids will be fine ultimately. I always worry he does not understand everything in Swedish(primary languags) because we don't speak it at home. But I think it will come later especially because the society will force him to become swedish (more so in france where school is mandatory at 3 so your child will get use to)

Don't worry and keep up the good work

 

[nikasiaash]

@mike247 I agree with the others here - keep going.

We speak almost exclusively English (minority language) at home and German (community) took the lead for the longest time, anyway. Only just recently, shy of her third birthday, has English made a comeback in the form of full sentences with consistent grammar. It's very exciting. I love the code switching, too, though. Her kindergarten is English/German, so the folks there mostly always understand her, but my parents (who don't speak a lick of German) are often left stranded on Danglish Island.

Our friends are going the trilingual route, (Spanish, Czech, German) and though German is her weakest, it's been improving a lot recently. (Though she does pick up some Danglish from our daughter, they're best friends and chatter away when they're together).

 

[thanksyoueel]

@mike247 I live in Taiwan, and while I actually can't yet speak Chinese (taking classes), my husband is Taiwanese. His English grammar isn't at all perfect, but English is obviously our family language since I can't speak Chinese. I honestly don't worry about Chinese for the toddler at all. She does go to daycare full-time and picks up a lot of Chinese there, and while that is a relief because she's very white passing and that alone will make her an outsider among her peers, so I'm glad she won't be too behind on Chinese when she actually starts elementary school just because of social reasons, even if she didn't, I would still focus on English at home. I have multiple students with one native English speaking parent who have rather poor English because their family mostly uses Chinese at home, and I want my child to actually be fluent in English. I have zero students who struggle to speak the community language.

 

[relle25]

@mike247 Don't worry! We are trilingual and my middle kid is 5 and while he still overall prefers one of the two minority languages his community language skills improved immensely over the last couple of years. Community exposure at daycare, school etc. will bring it up to snuff. My oldest had no strong preference for any of the languages per se but the older kids still speak the minority languages primarily when together at home.

Worst case scenario, if a kid hits school age and they still struggle in the community language there are usually resources to help them.

 

[skylarmarleaux]

@mike247 Once your kid starts spending more time at daycare etc it will even out, I wouldn’t worry. My kid spent the first three years in an English speaking country and was only exposed to German from my husband. She understood but never spoke German. We moved to a german speaking country on her third birthday and literally 2-3 weeks at daycare and she was speaking fluent German everywhere but at home with me.

Once she starts at daycare fully and other kids don’t understand her she will start pretty quickly. At 2 years 2 months the kids don’t interact a lot with each other, once they’re a bit older she will run with it. I wouldn’t sweat it

 

[thabang]

@mike247 Just keep going, she will pick up French more as her daycare days increase or when she goes to preschool or school. At which point English will need maintanence and will be a lot harder to switch back to if you stop using it now.