Bilingual

For those of you that don't know, Steve speaks strictly Portuguese to our kids. He watched his uncle speak Spanish to his counsins growing up and after going on his mission to Rio decided that he wanted to speak Portuguese to his kids.

When the time actually came for us to have kids, Steve was a little unsure if he should really do it or not, especially since Portuguese isn't spoken that much in the United States. Steve did it though and we are both glad that he does.

Most of the time people don't even realize he isn't speaking English because he usually talks quietly to the boys when others are around. If they do notice, most will just think it's Spanish anyways. Steve had to look up words more at the beginning because how often do missionaries use the words bottle and diaper? At first Steve would mostly just say the same things to Kayden, but now that Kayden is getting older Steve's portuguese vocabulary is expanding as Kayden's vocabulary expands.

Kayden used to say words either in Portuguese only or English only, but now he pretty much says everything in English. The amazing thing is that if Kayden didn't understand a word that Steve was using, Steve would only have to show him, or tell him in English ONCE, and Kayden would know the word from then on. It is amazing how quickly they can pick it up.

I took a Portuguese class at the community college so that I can understand most of what Steve is saying. Sometimes I have to ask him what he just said if he talks too quickly, or says too much for me to follow, but Kayden understands it all.

We have a lady from Brazil in our ward, but when she talks to Kayden he shys away, so we don't really know how much he would understand if a native spoke it to him, but I'm sure he could pick it up pretty easily.

So my whole point of this post is to encourage anyone out there who knows another language to speak it to your children, especially if you haven't started having kids yet, or your kids are young. Even if it isn't a well-known language. All studies show that brain development is fastest in the first years of a child's life. And with the world becoming so integrated, I think it will be a huge advantage for these kids to know other languages, or help them learn new ones. Also, the apostles always say to keep up with the languages you learn on your missions. What better way than to speak it everyday in your home.

I really appreciate Steve for doing this for our kids. I know it was hard at first, but now he doesn't even think about it. He will even yell at the dog in portuguese sometimes without thinking. It is just normal in our home. Here is a link for one of the latest studies they have done with bilingual children:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_med_healthbeat_bilingual_tots