Worried about your child refusing to speak the target language?

It is very difficult to overcome the hurdle of a child who refuses to speak the language(s) you want him/her to speak. Find out here about why this happens, how to avoid it, and, if it has already started, how to potentially reverse it.

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今風の子育て：バイリンガルからマルチリンガル

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[angelatsoi]

This was very helpful! We live in Taiwan and we started out having our kids in a local school and we speak English at home. I am bilingual in English and mandarin and I’d like my kids to learn both languages as well. My older one got on just fine but my younger one started refusing to speak Chinese and she became very quiet and basically shut herself off at school.

We decided to transfer them to an international school because we just didn’t agree with the methods of education in the local or even so called bilingual schools. She’s much happier now but I am worried that she will not learn Chinese. It’s strange because I haven’t seen or heard of many cases where kids refuse the majority language. Your channel has been helpful and has given me hope that all is not lost.

[mariasophie]

Thank you for the insights! I'm speaking English to my son (however, my mother tongue is German and we live in Germany) and I hope it works out. So far he can't talk yet. 👶

[kotarotasaki]

Now I’m a big fan of your videos!!! I appreciate them:) Just don’t delete them until I have kids jajaja

[Mac_an_Mheiriceanaigh]

I think you didn't mention it because it seems obvious, but I think commonly especially with younger children they may refuse to speak if their knowledge is too limited. The best solution to this is to increase the exposure - aka to increase your time speaking the language with them. For parents using methods other than OPOL, or for various other reasons, sometimes the exposure might not be enough and you may need to increase it to see a result. I know you know this, Tetsu, but thought it was still worth commenting.

[glegof]

il y a quelques temps je lisais l'histoire d'un père de famille qui avait décidé de parler breton à sa fille (et la mère lui parlait français). Il racontait que pendant des années sa fille répondait en français quand lui continuait à lui parler en breton. Il continua sans jamais forcer sa fille à répondre en breton. Et des années plus tard, une fois majeure, elle commença à lui parler en breton d'elle même.