What modern language(s) do you teach and why?

[Aspasia]

DH and I are constantly debating over which language to teach our children. He is dead set on Mandarin or Arabic, neither of which either of us has had any exposure to. He works in international finance and thinks that the greatest benefit of learning a second language is to be able to conduct international business. I think foreign languages can definitely be good for that, along with other things, like travel, study, culture, brain exercise, etc. You know, what if our kids don't want to be international business people or intelligence analysts?

 

DH speaks fluent Dutch (he lived for two years in Suriname of all places) and I speak proficient Italian (my family is Italian). I know neither one of those languages is particularly useful outside of traveling (unless you want a PhD in history and then Italian is strangely useful.) I'm advocating for French because it's a little more useful than Italian but I could actually learn it fairly easily (I'm hoping). Plus, my grandpa was born and raised in France, so it has personal meaning for me. Spanish is obviously really good to know and it would be even easier for me than French, but for some reason we aren't super interested in that.

 

I'm just wondering what everyone else does, and more importantly, what made you choose it.

[Amy Jo]

We are doing Spanish, because I have some exposure to it and because we can find materials for it. When the kids are older, we will start German. I'll find a basic course and then we will practice with DH, who speaks German fairly well.

 

Choosing for us came down to a practical level.

 

I'd start with something YOU can teach in the early years (so probably French or Italian). Then you can look at more "useful" options for when the kids are old enough to use the materials for them (perhaps between 3rd and 5th grade?). Unless you can manage a tutor - I've heard you really need a native speaker for Mandarin. Remember, learning one language WILL make it easier to learn another later.

[Aurelia]

We do Spanish because we live in fairly close proximity to Central America and hear it spoken everywhere. I wanted Ariel to learn French, since it's spoken internationally, but I don't have the background and it's difficult to find a teacher here. I do, however, have experience with Spanish and Latin, the latter I plan to start when she is around age 10.

[Aspasia]

We are doing Spanish, because I have some exposure to it and because we can find materials for it. When the kids are older, we will start German. I'll find a basic course and then we will practice with DH, who speaks German fairly well.

 

Choosing for us came down to a practical level.

 

I'd start with something YOU can teach in the early years (so probably French or Italian). Then you can look at more "useful" options for when the kids are old enough to use the materials for them (perhaps between 3rd and 5th grade?). Unless you can manage a tutor - I've heard you really need a native speaker for Mandarin. Remember, learning one language WILL make it easier to learn another later.

 

Exactly! How on earth would I ever teach Mandarin??? Or Arabic? And we don't have the money for a private tutor at this point. We might in a year or so, but even then, we could only pay for a day or two a week. I would be of absolutely no use on those other days.

 

I really wish he would just let me do Italian for now. Any foreign language is a benefit and will aid the learning of other foreign languages, right? He's fine with Italian as long as I do some other, more "useful" language. Ouch, huh? This is my family! :glare:

[beaners]

DH and I are constantly debating over which language to teach our children. He is dead set on Mandarin or Arabic, neither of which either of us has had any exposure to. He works in international finance and thinks that the greatest benefit of learning a second language is to be able to conduct international business. I think foreign languages can definitely be good for that, along with other things, like travel, study, culture, brain exercise, etc. You know, what if our kids don't want to be international business people or intelligence analysts?

 

 

If a parent was making this same decision 20 years ago, would he or she have known that those languages would be so useful today? Do we know what regions of the world will explode with growth 20 years from now? Even if they do want to go into those fields, we can't say that those languages will be the same "ahead of the curve" skills that they are today. If you have financial resources and access to speakers who can teach the language, I don't see those languages as bad choices. It wouldn't be my first choice if I couldn't supplement it in some way at home.

 

We do French, because I like it. It is useful in many different parts of the world instead of a single region, although that really didn't have any influence on the decision for us. I can find all kinds of books and movies and music in the language. I can find native speakers with relative ease when my children are a little older. I can't justify the expense for our own family at the moment.

 

I like languages, so I see value in teaching them at a young age even if those skills aren't maintained through adulthood.

[kristinannie]

If you speak Italian and your family is Italian...why not teach it?!?!? Maybe it isn't as useful in people's minds as another language, but teaching younger kids a conversational language is great. Plus, I read in TOS about languages. Spanish is actually not likely to increase anyone's salary because so many people speak it already (bilingual). Italian actually improved salaries because not as many people in America speak it so jobs that use Italian are harder to fill. One of the best languages for future jobs was actually sign language.

 

You can teach mandarin or Arabic later with the help of a tutor or Rosetta Stone or whatever. You also have to be careful with Arabic because there are so many variations. I say, teach a language that you speak well and have a passion for. That will yield the best results. That is why I am teaching my kids German. I have actually realized how non fluent I am as I try to navigate a teacher's manual written in German. Apparently, my 6th grade reading level isn't good enough. :lol: Thank God for dictionaries!!!

[Ester Maria]

I do not understand your dilemma.

Now excuse me while I go faint seeing that somebody can speak the most beautiful language in the world (:)) and even consider not passing it onto their children...

 

ETA: Okay, on a more serious note now - it is a quite misguided to think that Italian does not "exist" outside of Italy. Strangely, many Americans seem to have that perception - but it is because in the US it is all about Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, for demographically obvious reasons - and it is simply wrong. Italian is an extremely useful language in many corners of the world; there are Italian communities and international, nationally-recognized Italian language schools in the most suprising places in the world - in places like Marocco, or Greece, or even Russian Federation and Egypt! Italians are quite literally everywhere - it may be less obvious because when you think of "international school" and "international community", you typically have something English or French in your mind, but they are everywhere.

There is a number of "Italian" fields in the world, with a disproportionate amount of Italians that are involved. This is, first and foremost, visual arts and design / architecture, and art history, but it goes further to music, professional cooking, or even more "banal" things like classical education (still largely present and well-regarded in Italy) or general humanities. Italian can even be quite useful in business, one of the best European schools of economics is an Italian one; and useful as a tourist and community language even outside of Italy (from Prague to Dalmatian coast and Greek islands, I have communicated in Italian with normal people, who are not Italians nor have specialized in Italian, but have simply learned it at school - it remains one of the popular choices in European schools). Actually, for the European context, Italian is still vastly more useful than Spanish - if your children are likely to have something to do with Europe, even if not specifically Italy, it is something to consider. And even when we crossed the ocean in the past, I have personally never regretted knowing specifically Italian - actually, it is often not WHAT you have, but what you DO with what you have (i.e. if you MAKE it useful, it will be useful to you).

 

The factors which go into choosing a foreign language, other than general "usefulness" (which is a fuzzy concept anyway, as it is quite impredictable where your kids are going to end up in life and what they are going to do and what the political-interest language map of the world will be like then and how will that relate to their careers) are CULTURAL factors. When in doubt or choosing between several options, I always recommend considering the cultural aspect - what is culturally and educationally relevant for you. And there, with any of the major Western languages (and Italian still makes into that group), you simply cannot go wrong. I am glad beyond words that my children know specifically Italian, because it gives a completely different 'flavor' to classical education (the best materials, the best translations, the richest choices, a huge "discount" on the language and the ability to internalize Latin a lot more easily). Ditto for literature, for being able to read Dante in original, ditto for cinema, for design and art history, for theatre and opera (how many people understand librettos of some of the major operas?), older classical music in general, and the list goes on. All of that because of Italian.

 

Every language will enrich you, but not every language will be a good "educational fit"; many Oriental languages, for example, may be popular at the moment, but do not fit so neatly into the typical Western education as major Western languages do, do not offer so many connections with so many things, and are not in line with the family culture. I am not sure how strong are your ties to Italy and how long has your family been abroad, but if you have any of the Italian culture which you perserve, keep that in mind. Italian may be less popular or a less obvious choice, but it is yours. It is something that fits your particular cultural and educational picture (assuming you want a classical Western education for your children).

 

I do not speak "against" Mandarin, or "against" Arabic here (not to mention that I am professionally proficient in another Semitic language), but in my mind, unless you actually have a home culture and educational context to back that choice up, those are "hobby languages" for a typical Western-culture family. The chances are that you will never learn them to a level high enough for them to be useful as your DH pictures it if you do not have that context. It is not that those are not good choices, but here you face an optimization problem: what is the best choice for your children, in your education situation, with your particular cultural baggage, your particular international contacts and future prospects. And when you look at this that way, I think that for the vast majority of families an "exotic" language is simply not worth it - you can not only achieve much more in a more "traditional" language, but it may fit your overall picture much more nicely, as it is just a better fit. So, that leaves you languages like Spanish, French, or... Italian, which is possibly an overall best fit.

 

That is my opinion. :)

Edited January 1, 2012 by Ester Maria

[Matryoshka]

My kids are learning German and Spanish because that's what I speak. :tongue_smilie:

[Laura Corin]

My sons learned Mandarin and French. We lived in China when they were small and I have a degree in French, so those were the obvious languages.

 

Laura

[Bug's Mom]

Dd is learning Mandarin (by default, I am, too) because, as she said, "I NEED to learn Chinese!" We've had good luck with the books/CDs from Better Chinese. We also know some native speakers, so that has helped. She's also got her dad's ear...and can nail the tones pretty easily. She's also in a Saturday Chinese school which is helping, too.

[Bloggermom]

We aren't doing any modern languages until 7th grade because I don't speak any and cannot effectively teach it. We are focusing on Latin and then biblical Greek before then. They can add a modern language when they can take an online course.

[LMD]

We're starting Russian this year, DH and I are learning it too - neither of us speak it. DH speaks/understands some of a similar EE language as his parents are from there.

 

Our reasons for choosing it:

 

We are interested in that part of the world.

It is very different from English, different alphabet etc, and I hope by doing a difficult different one it will be a good opening to learning other languages should they be interested.

It is an official UN language.

It is a language DH could cope with hearing everyday! (DH works in a very multicultural place and said he'd go crazy hearing some particular languages at home as well.)

There are quite a few other countries were Russian is also spoken.

[MathGirl]

We are doing Russian currently because I'm from Russia and the kids are 1/2 Russian, so I want them to have that piece of their heritage. Eventually we will add in Spanish because there is a very high Hispanic population in our area and Spanish would be useful for the kids to know. If we get around to a 3rd language, DD would love to learn French as she is obsessed with all things French and wants more than anything to visit the Eiffel tower.

[Chelli]

I am teaching my kids conversational Spanish in elementary, then we will all learn Latin together in upper elementary/jr. high. In high school, we will move back to in-depth Spanish study (writing, reading, speaking) and continue our Latin. I chose Spanish because it was my minor in college, and I've spent quite a bit of time in Spanish-speaking countries over the years. So it was kind of a no-brainer choice for me, plus we live in Texas. ;) My ability to speak Spanish has landed me two jobs before I quit working to stay home, so I found it very useful to speak Spanish for acquiring employment.

 

I have to agree with Ester Maria about Italian, though. I have been to Italy twice, and I could honestly just sit and listen to Italian people talk all day long! It sounds like music to me! Even dh, who went with me the second time to Italy, agrees that it is a beautiful language. My college Spanish professor said that Italian and Spanish are the two most similar of the Romance languages. About 70% of the words are the same, only the pronunciation is different. I found this true in my Italian travels as well. Because I knew Spanish I could communicate pretty well with Italians. I just paid attention to their pronunciation. I am planning on really trying to learn Italian when the kids are older and I have more time to devote to it.

 

So my vote would be Italian just because it is a Romance language and would help your kids in learning other Romance languages (especially Spanish) and Latin.

[Momof2:E&T]

We will be doing spanish as that is what my family speaks so I feel comfortable teaching it and my kids can get practice and a lot of exposure to it. After they are comfortable with it, I want to do french as a family. I have always wanted to learn french and italian and it will be something we can do as a family.

[EmilyGF]

We're learning German because I speak it. I speak it to them around the house, read books in it, and sing in it.

 

Knowing *any* second modern language to fluency is great, even a low status or low use language. You learn that people (SHOCK!) think differently than you - they aren't just expressing English thoughts in German, they are expressing German thoughts. I can't imagine taking my kids to fluency in a language I couldn't speak.

 

I think doing a language well is more important than doing the perfect language. Also, the perfect language changes every decade or so. Thirty years ago, it might have been Russian or Japanese. Also, a lot of people speak Arabic, but they speak very different dialects such that someone native to Morocco couldn't understand someone from Saudi.

 

That said, we listen to silly songs in Spanish because I want them to have those 500 or so words of Spanish you need to be able to pick up the rest easily, should you care to.

 

Don't overthink things. Just speak Italian and they'll learn it. :) And, they'll learn it faster than you can imagine. Don't pressure DH to speak Dutch unless you're already doing your part in Italian. It is a lot of work, and unless he's home a ton, it can be stressful to have the burden of teaching your children a language you don't passionately feel they need to learn.

 

Emily

[Aspasia]

I do not understand your dilemma.

Now excuse me while I go faint seeing that somebody can speak the most beautiful language in the world (:)) and even consider not passing it onto their children...

 

ETA: Okay, on a more serious note now - it is a quite misguided to think that Italian does not "exist" outside of Italy. Strangely, many Americans seem to have that perception - but it is because in the US it is all about Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, for demographically obvious reasons - and it is simply wrong. Italian is an extremely useful language in many corners of the world; there are Italian communities and international, nationally-recognized Italian language schools in the most suprising places in the world - in places like Marocco, or Greece, or even Russian Federation and Egypt! Italians are quite literally everywhere - it may be less obvious because when you think of "international school" and "international community", you typically have something English or French in your mind, but they are everywhere.

There is a number of "Italian" fields in the world, with a disproportionate amount of Italians that are involved. This is, first and foremost, visual arts and design / architecture, and art history, but it goes further to music, professional cooking, or even more "banal" things like classical education (still largely present and well-regarded in Italy) or general humanities. Italian can even be quite useful in business, one of the best European schools of economics is an Italian one; and useful as a tourist and community language even outside of Italy (from Prague to Dalmatian coast and Greek islands, I have communicated in Italian with normal people, who are not Italians nor have specialized in Italian, but have simply learned it at school - it remains one of the popular choices in European schools). Actually, for the European context, Italian is still vastly more useful than Spanish - if your children are likely to have something to do with Europe, even if not specifically Italy, it is something to consider. And even when we crossed the ocean in the past, I have personally never regretted knowing specifically Italian - actually, it is often not WHAT you have, but what you DO with what you have (i.e. if you MAKE it useful, it will be useful to you).

 

The factors which go into choosing a foreign language, other than general "usefulness" (which is a fuzzy concept anyway, as it is quite impredictable where your kids are going to end up in life and what they are going to do and what the political-interest language map of the world will be like then and how will that relate to their careers) are CULTURAL factors. When in doubt or choosing between several options, I always recommend considering the cultural aspect - what is culturally and educationally relevant for you. And there, with any of the major Western languages (and Italian still makes into that group), you simply cannot go wrong. I am glad beyond words that my children know specifically Italian, because it gives a completely different 'flavor' to classical education (the best materials, the best translations, the richest choices, a huge "discount" on the language and the ability to internalize Latin a lot more easily). Ditto for literature, for being able to read Dante in original, ditto for cinema, for design and art history, for theatre and opera (how many people understand librettos of some of the major operas?), older classical music in general, and the list goes on. All of that because of Italian.

 

Every language will enrich you, but not every language will be a good "educational fit"; many Oriental languages, for example, may be popular at the moment, but do not fit so neatly into the typical Western education as major Western languages do, do not offer so many connections with so many things, and are not in line with the family culture. I am not sure how strong are your ties to Italy and how long has your family been abroad, but if you have any of the Italian culture which you perserve, keep that in mind. Italian may be less popular or a less obvious choice, but it is yours. It is something that fits your particular cultural and educational picture (assuming you want a classical Western education for your children).

 

I do not speak "against" Mandarin, or "against" Arabic here (not to mention that I am professionally proficient in another Semitic language), but in my mind, unless you actually have a home culture and educational context to back that choice up, those are "hobby languages" for a typical Western-culture family. The chances are that you will never learn them to a level high enough for them to be useful as your DH pictures it if you do not have that context. It is not that those are not good choices, but here you face an optimization problem: what is the best choice for your children, in your education situation, with your particular cultural baggage, your particular international contacts and future prospects. And when you look at this that way, I think that for the vast majority of families an "exotic" language is simply not worth it - you can not only achieve much more in a more "traditional" language, but it may fit your overall picture much more nicely, as it is just a better fit. So, that leaves you languages like Spanish, French, or... Italian, which is possibly an overall best fit.

 

That is my opinion. :)

 

Thank you so much! Much of what you said I have already tried to point out to dh (unsuccessfully), but so much of it I had never thought about or known before.

 

DH and I just had another discussion about all this, me using some of the points you wonderful ladies have made, and at the end of it all he said that it's really not that big of a deal to him and if I really want to teach them Italian, then he's fine with it. Huh? After all this? I think he just knows I'm right. ;)

 

Seriously, though, I'm daring to imagine that maybe our kids won't want to go into business or international politics (there ARE other fields, as it turns out), and if that's the case, those "useful" languages aren't necessarily very useful at all. Either way, my kids' chances for success in a foreign language are best with a language I actually know, and they're better off actually learning a language--any language--than they are just learning a few random vocab words in the hot language of the day.

 

Thanks, everyone!

[MistyMountain]

I would definitely teach your kids Dutch and Italian if you and your husband speak them. Learning any language is useful and will open up many possibilities for them and the best way to learn is from someone who can speak the language to them.

[JennyD]

As someone who spent most of the early 1990s studying Japanese, I always roll my eyes a bit when someone authoritatively declares what languages will be The Most Important Ones To Know Twenty Years From Now. I mean, I got a lot out of my years studying Japanese, not to mention living in Japan, and I didn't go into it thinking that I would become some kind of international business mogul (good thing), but still, things certainly did not unfold the way lots of people thought they would circa 1990.

 

Anyway, we tried studying Mandarin for a year, since DH is Chinese-American. However, not only does DH speak Cantonese, not Mandarin, but in any event he is emphatically not interested in doing a foreign language with the kids, and MIL -- who does speak Mandarin, not to mention about 5 other languages -- just can't seem to stop herself from sliding into English with the kids. I don't even think she knows which language she's speaking at any given time. In any event, even with a private tutor, I just didn't feel as though we were doing a good job.

 

I also looked at some French materials, since I studied French in college, but once again I concluded that without a better knowledge of French myself, we could not do the subject justice.

 

So we are studying Hebrew. Once again, I read and speak some Hebrew, but not very well. However, the difference here is that we have a lot of outside resources and support to draw on for Hebrew, not to mention that my son gets external positive reinforcement for learning it, and IMO the available materials are pretty good. I *finally* feel as though we are doing a decent job in the foreign language department, but it took some trial and error to get here.

Edited January 2, 2012 by JennyD

[Embassy]

Right now we are doing two modern languages. Ironically, they are Arabic and Mandarin. I wouldn't choose those unless you were highly motivated to put in the years and years it will take.

 

Why? It will give my children the ability to communicate with many people in the 10/40 window.

 

We will be adding 2 modern languages: French and Sinhala. French because my children are Canadian citizens and Sinhala because we will be living in Sri Lanka.

[garddwr]

I speak French, Spanish, and Japanese, in that order of fluency. I have exposure to German, Cantonese, Russian, and Arabic. I'm trying to study both Arabic and Mandarin because I think they are languages with huge significance in our modern world. I grew up as a Foreign Service kid, moving around the world, then as a young adult went overseas for missionary and archeology work (separately--the archeology was my field of study).

 

dd8 is the only one doing serious language study yet, she chose Spanish and I support that choice strongly as it is becoming the unofficial second language of the United States. All my kids have been exposed to French and Spanish because I read and sing to them in those languages, but they don't speak any. I think I will let the children decide what to study--really a claim can be made for any language. I think choosing one of the languages that I am proficient in to start with would be good because they actually have someone to converse with, and I will steer them in that direction. I'm hoping that eventually they will study at least two languages, and would certainly encourage Mandarin or Arabic as one of those. Since they are exposed to my family my kids think speaking multiple languages is the norm.

 

Could you aim for two languages, one from your list and one from your husband's? Your kids are young, you could start now--maybe with Italian since you speak it--then add a second language in a few years. I think you both have valid reasons for choosing different languages. If you don't want to do more than one, I think I would let the student choose as they will likely be more motivated that way.

 

--Sarah

[MinivanMom]

We are studying French, because that is the language my children wanted to learn and were excited about. It is also a relatively useful language for a number of different fields and there are lots of resources/opportunities for using French and achieving fluency.

 

For you, I would strongly suggest that you study Dutch or Italian. Your husband's fluent Dutch and your family connection to Italian make those the easiest and most obvious choices. There is no predicting which languages will be the most important for international business 20 years from now nor can you predict that your children will even be interested in business! Teach the language that has a personal connection and your children will develop the skills they need to easily acquire a third language of their own choice down the road.

[JadeOrchidSong]

Right now we are doing two modern languages. Ironically, they are Arabic and Mandarin. I wouldn't choose those unless you were highly motivated to put in the years and years it will take.

 

Why? It will give my children the ability to communicate with many people in the 10/40 window.

 

We will be adding 2 modern languages: French and Sinhala. French because my children are Canadian citizens and Sinhala because we will be living in Sri Lanka.

 

great reasoning, wehomeschool! I really think you are doing a great job. Do you know Arabic, or do you learn along your kids at home or with a tutor/teacher?

[Roadrunner]

It has taken us a very, very long time to decide what to do. I am not sure we have resolved anything, but this is the plan we have. We have started with French. French isn't native to either one of us, but we both speak it (love French literature) and my husband has a French education. So, it is somewhat a cultural choice, but not a straightforward one. We have bypassed our native languages for now (complicated). Next step will be Latin (grade 5), next Arabic (grade 7. My husband speaks Arabic so there should e some help there). And somewhere in all of this, I am hoping to spend at least a year in my native country to teach them my language. Basically, we couldn't pick. We picked all of them. Life will show us if it words out.

 

Has anybody been successful at learning 4 languages? :001_smile: I speak four, but two of them were native, so I only learned 2.

[Embassy]

great reasoning, wehomeschool! I really think you are doing a great job. Do you know Arabic, or do you learn along your kids at home or with a tutor/teacher?

 

I'm trying to learn alongside my kids. Currently, we do what we can without a tutor. I'm more like a facilitator to my oldest son because his skills in the language are ahead of mine. I use 2 different curricula. One is step by step and is designed to teach how to read and write. One is immersion-based and teaches vocabulary in the context of a story.

[NASDAQ]

Hebrew (right now) and French (soon IYH). Because we're Jewish and Canadian.

 

I suppose you'd say we're teaching liturgical rather than modern Hebrew though. Very literature-focused.

[Kathleen.]

DH and I just had another discussion about all this, me using some of the points you wonderful ladies have made, and at the end of it all he said that it's really not that big of a deal to him and if I really want to teach them Italian, then he's fine with it. Huh? After all this? I think he just knows I'm right. ;)

 

Aren't men funny? So he probably didn't even care one way or the other.

 

I'd go with Italian. It's fun and the kids will love it.

I studied German and Spanish throughout school. My kids are learning Spanish in school now, but we're switching schools next year where no language will be taught until 5th grade (FLEX program). I've been teaching them Latin and I've added Italian at their request. My mom and I love languages so the latest craze for us has been Italian for a few years now. I grew up surrounded by many Italian familes and have been to Italy/Sicily several times, and have more than enough resources to keep us going.

 

Good luck.

[Alicia64]

All of us usually talk about "useful" languages, but sometimes I think you teach something just because it's a bond with your moms.

 

And that matters more than almost anything.

 

My wonderful Italian grandmother spoke Italian along w/ her mom and brothers and sisters, but she raised her kids in American English only. As they were encouraged to do in the 40's and 50's.

 

I doubt it ever dawned on her to teach me -- in the 60's and 70's -- Italian. Now that she's been gone for almost 12 years I sooooo deeply wish that I had that link to her. (The most wonderful woman in the world in my opinion!!)

 

Same w/ knitting and crocheting. I was too bratty to learn from her. Now I can barely learn because I feel guilty the entire time I'm trying!

 

My vote is for you to teach Italian. Definitely.

 

Alley

[mcconnellboys]

I think French probably would be more useful. We do Spanish simply because I expect it to continue to grow in importance within the United States. However, depending upon the school my son ends up at to finish up high school, he may switch to French, too....

[Mergath]

We haven't started yet, but I'm going to teach dd Spanish because I can speak some, and because I think that, by the time dd is an adult, it will be a considerable handicap to NOT speak it in the US.

 

I do speak some (very limited) Ojibwe, but I won't make her study it unless she asks. It's a very, very difficult language to learn. I studied it for two years in college, and by the time I was done I was barely able to have a conversation.

 

If she wants to learn something beyond Spanish when she's older, I'll let dd decide for herself.

[Hadassah]

In addition to Latin, my kids studied Hebrew because we are Jewish and I think it will help them connect to their heritage, Spanish because they wanted to, and Mandarin because my dh and I figured that it would help them be better international businesspeople, if that's the profession they choose. They are also semifluent ib ASL because they were all speech delayed so we taught them ASL when they were little so they could communicate.

In case you haven't yet noticed, my kids love foreign languages :001_smile:.

[Khselee]

DS is learning ASL and French, both of which I speak. We also are very involved in the local Deaf community, so we have no shortage of natural speakers there (and a lot of cultural influence, which I like.).