Which foreign language is your child learning and why?

[Vida Winter]

French, because we have family in France. Latin, because we hear it in church.

[mumto2]

Latin for both in younger years for the understanding of other languages.

 

Koine Greek for both dc's because it was fun. Ds loved the alphabet. Went with our Bible studies well.

 

German for both because dh is pretty fluent so our easiest to teach.

 

Scottish Gaelic for both, did not go well. Simply because they are Scottish and I found some interesting materials.

 

French for dd. I took it back in high school so I knew how to start and organize how I thought she should learn it.

 

Dutch on duolingo for dd because she wants to......actually the most practical for her because 5 of her good friends are Dutch speaking. When you add in their families she has many opportunities for real life practice.

 

Irish Gaelic on duolingo for dd. Because she liked her Gaelic lessons when she was little she wanted to try again. Duolingo works well for her.

[rdj2027]

All three learn German because it is my native language and they are German citizens. #2 does Latin for several reasons, #3 learns Japanese because he wanted too and #4 does French because it was her wish.

[SporkUK]

For additional languages, we start (and are still only actively studying) British Sign Language for several reasons. It's a language in our community which is my top priority as it will allow them to connect and be able to help to more people with the community, BSL goes well alongside other lessons discussing barriers many have to deal with that we don't think about and how we can help, and it's a language that it is difficult for technology to smooth the barriers on (a friend had entire conversations while abroad using Google Translate, this is not yet possible with sign languages and it's causes barriers even within our area where it is an official language alongside other British languages). And generally, I find it to be a beautiful and enjoyable language with a rich history and syntax that my kids can connect to while young. A side bonus is that the kids can start taking their BSL level certificates for it from 11 if they so wish (though I'm still hoping the BSL GCSE will be out in time). We've also done study units in Spanish because they were interested and likely do so for other languages in the future. 

[MinivanMom]

We study French from 1st grade on, because my oldest was very passionate about the language from a young age, and everyone else sort of caught the bug. French is the language of diplomacy and you encounter it everywhere, from literature to history to countries all over the world. I feel like French is out of fashion right now - it's all Mandarin and Spanish here - but I've been very happy with our choice.

 

We add in Latin in 6th grade. It's not something I planned on initially, but I've since been convinced of the value of Latin. I am very happy we focused on a modern language and learning grammar first. I wouldn't have wanted to start Latin any earlier than this.

 

I would also love to see my kids study a practical language like Spanish later on in high school or college, but we'll see. My focus right now is on helping my children achieve fluency in French and helping them reach AP Latin. If I can do those two things, then I think they will have developed the skills to master any additional languages they are interested in.

[yinanyinu]

MinivanMom, I agree with you that French has fallen out of favour, but we're studying it too. In fact, DH will soon take classes again. I guess he didn't like the kids having a 'secret' language. ;) I taught the kids French because my grandfather taught it to me, so it was a purely sentimental reason.

 

They studied Mandarin because they were immersed in it, and are now learning Arabic, for essentially the same reason. Constantly though the years, they talk about other languages they want to learn, but I've asked them to hold off until they consolidate what they already know. Some of the languages on the waiting list are Japanese and Dutch!

 

[Amira]

I think French is still the only other world language out there besides English and is a very good language to learn because it can be used in so much of the world.  Mandarin, Arabic, Spanish, Russian are good regional languages (and there are others like Farsi, Hindi/Urdu, Swahili, Portuguese, and Turkish/Turkic languages), but they're not world languages and I seriously doubt any of them will become world languages. Go French!

[JadeOrchidSong]

We hâve done Latin, Spanish, and Chinese.

I am a native Chinese speaker. Both my boys and I hate hate hate Chinese! In fact, after 4 or 5 years study without going much, we stopped this fall and have not restarted yet. I wish I could teach Korean because of its simple reading and writing components; Chinese is the hardest language to read and write.

They both like to study Spanish and progress well with Latin. I love Latin and am ok with Spanish.

I like French. If the kids are ok with it, we will do Getting Started with French; we loved GSWLatin and GSWSpanish. I trust that GSWFrench will be equally good and loved at my house.

[Camelfeet]

We are learning Arabic because we live in the UAE.  I'm hoping the limited amount of immersion makes learning it easier.  However, our tutor is Syrian and they speak a different dialect than the GCC.  Also we are learning MSA as well, which no one speaks on the street.  :/  oh well!

[zillymom]

We're doing Italian since I already know it. I keep it laidback and play-based. DD just started rolling her R's, so she's super excited about speaking now! :)

[Curlymom]

My 9 year old is in her second year of Latin and started French recently. My 7 year old just started Latin and also wants to learn Spanish.

 

Latin is my requirement for now for the grammar and vocabulary benefits. My daughter chose French (I tried to push Spanish since I know it but she loves anything French) and my son chose Spanish. We live in Texas so Spanish is also a bit more useful at the moment, but French is still a great choice for its cultural relevance.

 

My daughter loves languages so I think she will probably add more in the coming years, but I will leave that up to her.

[Random]

We study Latin from grade 3 till they beg to stop

 

Then Spanish beginning early elementary until grade 12 (hopefully), because we live in the Southwest

 

Then German beginning middle school because of its prevalence.

 

In high school, they can choose a 4th or stay at 3.

[Chris in VA]

We did a bit of Latin when we homeschooled, but dd is now in second year French.

It's good for travel to parts of Africa and parts of Europe.

 

We are thinking of adding Arabic because we might move to Israel and be very close to the West Bank area.

 

 

 

 

[elegantlion]

Japanese because he would like to live in Japan someday. 

 

Russian because it's cool and because of the space program. 

 

He also wants to learn German and maybe Swedish. 

[Embassy]

Mandarin and Arabic because they are major world languages.  Greek because it is the language of the NT.  French because my kids are Canadian.  One of my kids is doing Japanese instead of Mandarin because he wanted to switch.

[Luckymama]

We are learning Arabic because we live in the UAE. I'm hoping the limited amount of immersion makes learning it easier. However, our tutor is Syrian and they speak a different dialect than the GCC. Also we are learning MSA as well, which no one speaks on the street. :/ oh well!

Are you using any interesting resources? Or are they up to your tutor?

 

Dd is loving her Arabic class through The Potter's School (they are using Alif Baa). I am looking for other book (like kid readers) or audio/video for her :)

[Sahamamama]

Latin

For the grammar and vocabulary, for understanding its influence on English (and other languages), and (to some extent) for the historical perspective that may come from studying Latin.

 

French

For understanding that the whole world doesn't think like "we" do, what could be better than studying French? ;)

 

[Rosie_0801]

We're pottering around with Arabic for reasons of patriotism and Auslan because it comes in handy. I would have liked her to begin French in a few years but that is not realistic so we won't.

[Camelfeet]

Are you using any interesting resources? Or are they up to your tutor?

 

Dd is loving her Arabic class through The Potter's School (they are using Alif Baa). I am looking for other book (like kid readers) or audio/video for her :)

 

Not sure if I can help you as the tutor brought books/text books along with her when she first came.  I believe they are from the "I love Arabic" series.  There is no english anywhere in the text books, so I think the instructor would need to have a decent grasp of the language.  She has also provided the kids with flash cards she makes herself and sends me video links on youtube to watch - mostly little songs to help the kids memorize certain words, like the days of the week and family words.  Here is a youtube account with a few videos on it:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu8Lth4FT5HxaP0nypE-gTQ    

 

We have only done about 6 weeks worth of classes, but I'm really pleased with the progress because they can recognize and read most of the alphabet.  My youngest was able to read bits and pieces off of an Arabic menu the other day which made me really happy. (milk! Apple Juice! Bread! Rice!).  The oldest hates it, but not surprising since she seems to dislike everything right now.

[SeaConquest]

French, because my children are dual-citizens and my DH and his family are Quebecois.

 

Spanish, because we live in Southern California.

 

Hebrew, because we are Jewish.

 

Latin, because it's fun.

 

We may add Russian down the road because I speak it and my oldest wants to learn.

[Guest jim.porter]

My kids go to a bilingual (English/Spanish) school in Spain, where they are learning Mandarin Chinese. 

 

By my reckoning they are constantly improving their knowledge of the 3 most 'useful' languages in the world.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

German, because it is required by law.  My kids are bilingual French/English, and German is the other major language of the country.  If I had my choice, I'd probably have done Spanish or just done Latin in a very intensive way.  But we're already juggling too many languages around here as it is! 

[happyhappyjoyjoy]

French: I started DS1 on French in 1st grade, because I'd taken Spanish on and off through HS and college and wanted something different.  He loves it.

 

Latin: for all the obvious reasons

 

I haven't decided what language the younger two will start on yet.  

[SarahW]

French vs. German made me chuckle. Yes, Germans would prefer to speak English. I think a part of it is that German is so frightful to learn to speak, that they prefer to not hear their declensions mangled.

 

French people, however, still think people should learn French. Even in Normandy there was little knowledge of English.

 

So, as a "useful" language to speak, French wins. 

 

Even so, another thing to consider is reading fluency. My DH can read German pretty fluently (but not speak it) and just that has been enormously beneficial. There's a whole world of things out there not written in English, and even if they are translated a thoroughly correct understanding can only be had by reading the original. This is why Grad schools demand students to have reading knowledge of multiple languages. Usually French and German.

 

 

Here, Crazypants is learning Latin and Dutch. Dutch is a family language, and we'd work on that even if we weren't hs'ing. Latin because that's something we're all learning together, and because it's useful. A funny: the other day CP saw a sign and asked, "what does eq-es-ti-ran mean?" Rather than just tell him, I reminded him that we know what "equis" means, so can we use that to understand the sign? "Oh, it's about horses! Wow! Did the person who wrote that know Latin?!" Umm, I don't know kid, maybe.  :lol:

 

CP saw the ad for SSG in his SSL book, and wants to do that next. So I guess we'll add that on. At least that's one language I already know! Eventually, I would like him to also have some knowledge of German and French, one at a working level and the other at a basic level. 

[Cakes]

DD12 is interested in French, because of her love of ballet. I would prefer she take Spanish because I know a fair amount and being in So Cal it makes sense. 

 

Bottom line, it will be her choice.

[freeindeed]

We did two years of Latin, and now we are doing Spanish. We did Latin since so many of our words have Latin roots, and now we are learning Spanish because it is the most practical.

[Heidi]

I'm teaching my kids Latin because some really smart people on the internet said it was a good idea, and I decided to believe them.  So far it has proven to be a really good idea.

 

This year my kids are learning German at German public school because... it is just an opportunity that presented itself, so I'm taking advantage of it. 

 

We will definitely continue the Latin.  It is too early to know if we will continue the German, but I would like to think we will.

[sagira]

My 7-year-old is learning Spanish and my 11-year-old is learning Spanish and Latin. Spanish because we live in the US and we're bordering Mexico and have more of a chance to practice it with Spanish-speakers, plus the kids have Cuban heritage. Latin because 60% of English is derived from Latin and it helps with acquiring vocabulary. In addition, we are Catholic as well and can understand some songs better and such. Ds thinks it's cool that we're learning the language of the ancient Romans :)

[lea_lpz]

Plan right now is conversational Spanish k-3, begin formal Spanish in 4th, and begin Latin in grade 6 or 7. Possibly Greek in 9th. My priority is to havey kids be able to speak read and write Spanish. My Latin and Greek is much more about understanding English words rooted in Freek and Latin, so being to speak it is not an issue. I am unabashedly about the SAT scores.

[HS Mom in NC]

We did Spanish and it was a complete waste of time.  I've lived in AZ for 41 years and have never needed the Spanish I took and my girls have never needed the Spanish they took.  The only people who need Spanish here are people who work with the immigrant community-ps teachers and medical staff.  Immigrants who don't speak English at all don't mix with people outside their neighborhoods much. They all send their kids to public school where the kids learn English. 

Twice Spanish would've been handy for me, but Spanish classes didn't cover it. What year do they teach:

 

"Your goat got out through the hole in your fence."

and

(To the landscaping crew the one day the foreman wasn't there) "No, I meant rolling hills-those piles of dirt look like a bad boob job."

[lewelma]

My younger was able to communicate at age 9 with the Chinese neighbors who were cutting down trees with a chainsaw on the property line. At the time he knew very few words, so could not say anything. So we put what we wanted to say into google translate and my ds read the pinyin with a perfect accent including tones, even though he had no idea what he was saying. The neighbors could understand him but could not understand when the computer 'spoke' the language (especially because Mandarin is their second language. They speak some tribal dialect). It was pretty cute to see ds holding a phone, reading the pinyin outloud wtih the neighbors huddled around him.  These neighbors are old enough to not be literate in the characters and to have learned chinese as children before pinyin was developed, so the communication had to be verbal. 

 

DS felt pretty important that day.

 

Ruth in NZ

[Jean in Newcastle]

Ds - Latin because he needed something difficult to sink his teeth into and something systematic to teach his mind discipline.  And because it's close enough to Greek that I can teach it.

 

Dd - Japanese because I know it fluently.  Though now she's saying she might want to switch to Spanish.  We'll see. 

[kolamum]

French because it's what he wanted to learn. A foreign language is not mandatory here, but we wanted him to take one anyway. The other is choosing Latin because he wanted to. If I mix up my languages someone is bound to figure out what I'm saying, right?! Unless I refer to ASL :lol:

[HeWillSoar]

What I'm gathering is that it's mainly just personal preference to take one language over the other, and it's not going to really matter which is chosen in the grand scheme of things.  When my oldest son was talking about taking German because of engineering, it made me wonder if certain languages were better for certain careers. 

 

I think I'll stick with Spanish because although I'm not fluent, I know enough to be able to teach them from a book.  I would love to get better at it as well.  Several years of Spanish in college and I'm still not fluent, and no, I rarely use it.  Once I had a friend who was from Mexico, and her sister could not speak English so we were able to communicate, albeit slowly.  When I was a dental assistant in CA, the dentist could speak some Spanish so he could communicate with the Spanish speaking patients, enough to get by.  I would think it would be useful in the medical field. 

[shawthorne44]

I wouldn't take German just because he wants to be an Engineer.  I have been an Engineer working for a German company.  The only time I really missed German was in restaurants there.  The facilities were always in non-tourist areas, which meant the menus were only in German.  Fortunately, I like German food and you can't go wrong with Schnitzel.  But, even inside Germany, to be hired at anything technical, part of the interview is in English because they want only English speakers.  When a German Engineer goes to Taiwan to do training, it is in English.  

 

Although, if there isn't a better reason to take another language, he could go ahead and learn German.  I took Russian in college because it was a class that wasn't full for semester I wanted to take my first language class.  Both my parents took French in high school, so that they could order in a French restaurant.  

[Desert Strawberry]

A little bit of everything. I want my children to be able to pick up a phrase book in any language and find their way around any city. I don't think I can choose a single language that will be most useful for all of them (or even for each of them) because I don't know where life is going to take them. 

 

So far:
Spanish. I grew up in a multilingual city, but Spanish was most prevalent. I went to bilingual school, My dad speaks Spanish, I'm most familiar with it. We use it when we visit (infrequently). It was an easy and obvious place to start. 
 

French. We are in Cajun Country. While not as common as it once was, French is the local language and most Cajuns speak a patois. 

Japanese. We are Zen Buddhist, lived in Japan for 4 years, and are heavily influenced by the culture. Aries asked to learn Japanese so that he could watch anime without subtitles. Sagg wants to learn to read Manga in Japanese. (There is an ebook series for that very skill.)

 

[momto2Cs]

My son is learning German because he has always wanted to learn German.  I think it's because he is a car nut.

 

Same here! My car-nut ds is learning German through Duolingo.

 

My dd wants to learn Spanish though, because it would be very useful here in California.