Favorite foreign language and when to start?

[sunshineslp]

I've considered Spanish since it's always needed. But I've also learned how important Latin is. Can it be deemed a foreign language? Do colleges accept this as a FL?

 

What's your favorite program to begin with? I've heard of duo lingo.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[maize]

How old is the child?

[sunshineslp]

Sorry, he's 7, currently 2nd grade. I wanted to start something either this year or next:)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[crazyforlatin]

If you speak it, start Spanish. If not, there is Salsa and a bunch of other resources available for free. There is no need to do Latin in second grade, and this is coming from a person who taught Latin to DD at a very young age. If you have to choose just one language for a second grader, go with a modern language.

[desertflower]

At this age probably Spanish would be more worthwhile.  I'm looking forward to La Clase Divertida.  http://www.funclase.com/Level-1-Spanish-s/1817.htm

It's a bit pricey, but on sale right now.  From my research it looks like this is the only time it goes on sale and it has gotten good reviews.  It has craft and some history to it.  I don't plan on doing the workbook right now. 

 

My kids like Foreign Language for kids by kids (Spanish).  We just watch the videos.  They are picking up a lot on that curriculum.  However, I think we need more.

 

I have done song school Spanish, which I could not get into for some reason.  However, many people like it. 

 

We've listened to songs in Spanish on youtube.  Thanks to maize and a couple of other recommendations from other posters.  ;)  Here's my thread on that: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/562709-songs-in-spanish/

 

One can get Salsa online for free. 

 

Good luck and I hope you find something that works for your family.

[Miss Tick]

I agree that Spanish makes more sense top start with an elementary student. As to your other question, there was a thread a while ago that indicated that Latin is generally accepted as a foreign language with the notable exception of the service academies. When you get closer you would need to check for current information, of course.

[Incognito]

American Sign Language is my #1 recommendation.  While it isn't foreign, I believe it qualifies as such in many areas.  ASL is very accessible to young kids, and fun.  There are a lot of good resources.  

 

Latin is good to learn (and Song School Latin is fun for little kids).

 

Otherwise, if there is another language that is prevalent in your area, I'd see what local resources are available and center on those.

[Slache]

American Sign Language is my #1 recommendation.  While it isn't foreign, I believe it qualifies as such in many areas.  ASL is very accessible to young kids, and fun.  There are a lot of good resources.

Would you mind recommending some?

[purduemeche]

I would recommend Latin - it is the most valuable language with the exception of one case (if anyone in his household is native speaker of another language).  Latin makes up 80% of English and is the perfect introduction to English grammar.

 

We start Latin in 3rd grade with Prima Latina from Memoria Press.

[Tsuga]

I've considered Spanish since it's always needed. But I've also learned how important Latin is. Can it be deemed a foreign language? Do colleges accept this as a FL?

 

What's your favorite program to begin with? I've heard of duo lingo.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

My 2c:

 

Latin is a foreign language, yes. However, as a mostly-dead language, which is never spoken naturally, I would use this as a basis for study but definitely only if adding a living language in high school. Ideally, that living language would be Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian or (if you have a really good reason) Romanian. Obviously, if you are a citizen of an American country, Spanish would be a good choice, followed by French (Canada, New Orleans, Haiti) or Portuguese (Brazil).

 

My personal favorite language is Russian. Russian is a living language that preserves case, gender, and something like an aorist mood in it, plus, it's difficult but the speakers will not find you comical for attempting it. Russian speakers are, unlike many other speakers of Asian or east-European languages, used to foreigners speaking their language and I found it easy to blend in with the many German, Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, etc. speakers of Russian. And interestingly, at least when I was there--which was pre-Putin, and still had some of the Soviet pro-racial harmony stuff living on in people's ethical codes--I felt I was treated very well and fairly. People knew Tatars and Tajiks and Kazakhs and Siberian Chinese and Korean speakers of Russian. In that sense it is a really good language to learn because people will be patient with you but also will not treat you like a forever-hopeless speaker. Not to mention, Russian poetry is sublime, as is Russian film, and then it opens the door to other beautiful languages such as Polish and Czech, quite different but related.

 

After Russian, I like Persian for its ease and as a bonus you learn Arabic script.

 

I'd like to learn Chinese or Japanese but I'm turned off by the "forever outsider" cultures... I'll never fit in. In fact, though I first learned French, I can't say I enjoy it due to my experiences there. I look Asian-esque and it was one of the only places I experienced overt racism. I felt I'd never belong. Germany was even better than France: people at least tried to be open-minded and appreciative.

 

For a second-grade child, I would consider the following:

 

1. How talented is the child in languages? How well can he imitate accents? Some people can learn new sounds at seven. Other people cannot and even learning a language as early as 5, 6, 7 will never, ever manage all the vowels and consonants. I don't know why. The more language-oriented, the more likely I'd be to start with a language of interest vs. language of exposure and ease. No problem starting with Greek, Chinese or Arabic if the child is highly talented, and that will set the stage for future study.

 

2. What is your own heritage? Are there any countries of heritage that have economically-viable linguistic options? Germany, France, North Africa for French or Arabic, Chinese, Japanese? Spanish? I personally think this can be a big motivation. Spanish is practical but German is very practical in Europe, just to get  a foot in the door, and so is French, so if you have heritage there, I'd say go for it. If not, like if your family is Estonian or something and let's admit it, Estonian is freaking HARD and almost nobody speaks it, then skip this one.

 

3. What languages are available nearby? For example, in my area, learning Hindi or Urdu is a real possibility, as there are many temples and mosques and communities around here for a child to practice. Same with Russian, Chinese, German, or Japanese. On the other hand, Spanish is not actually as widely spoken as Chinese. So that's something to consider for us. My kids are learning languages for which there are many, many day-schools and speakers hanging about. We're always meeting Chinese and German people. Daily. On the bus. Everywhere. If you live in an area that is not very diverse but which as a few German-speaking sub-cultures nearby, learn German and not Spanish. What you can do is more important than what most people can do who are not you.

[Incognito]

Would you mind recommending some?

 

Signing Time is an easy one - it is done so it is accessible to a small child, but if you just go through the videos quickly, it is fine for a 2nd grader too (my 3rd and 4th grader watch with their little sibling).  

 

We have other ones we got from Amazon, but Signing Time is the best start, IMO.  You can often get them from the library too.

 

We have also been able to find a teacher - we were stuck at a certain level a couple of years ago, and I just couldn't take the kids farther on my own.  So now it is a couple years later, and the kids have forgotten a bit, but they have retained a lot too and they pick things up more quickly (I think) since some things are still familiar.

 

ASL has been great for us because it is something everyone in the family can do - that is how we learn best - when we use what we have.  

 

Tsuga makes a lot of great points.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Incognito

[Kat w]

With my big kids we started latin in 3rd grade. So much of the English language is based on Latin and Greek roots/words.

 

My big kids have found it useful as adults as they can figure out the meaning to most words even if they aren't in a position to look it up.

 

But. None of the colleges around here counted latin as foreign language . even tho we did it in hs too. That may be different where you are. If check.

 

We did Spanish with them in 9&10 grades. Lagtin helped them immensely with that too.

 

UF accepts no homeschool foreign lange so, ya really have to check the colleges.

 

My lil guys have extra needs. Doulingo my husband set up online for them. They pick at it and we do some stuff that they find fun . and we use it at home some...basic words so they will remember some of it.

 

My husband has another one loaded to their laptop with lots of pictures. My guys are visual. I'd have to ask him what thst one is.

My dh speaks Spanish and talks to them in it to help them understand how it's used. Thst helps lol

 

I'd keep it fun at this age. Because colleges do require ( or most) 2 hears of foreign language ...they can get burned out by the time they hit hs

 

I agree with pp, sign language . we learned it for my lil guy. Colleges ( most) do accept thst as a foreign language. They do around here anyway.

Learning sign was fun for us. :)

Edited December 7, 2015 by Kat w

[Xahm]

About ASL, many people are unaware that American Sign Language has its own grammar distinct from English grammar. If you include learning that, It is a fascinating "foreign" language. Without the grammar you are just learning vocab which can be interesting and useful, but probably not what one would consider a real language study. Then again, many elementary students only study vocab of whatever language they are learning.

[desertflower]

Not saying that you should do signing time, but wanted to chime in and say that we love signing time.  The library has almost half of the collection. 

 

 

[J-rap]

After trying foreign language in different ways, this is what worked for us.

 

Also, because we're a family that likes to travel and I figured my kids would rather have a modern, working language, we chose one of the typical modern ones.  We tried at an earlier age, but for us, unless we were actually living in another culture or living with people who spoke the second language all the time -- so that my kids would be immersed in it, it made more sense for us to do it very casually at a younger age, and to not begin intensively studying it until high school.

 

So, during the elementary and middle school years, we just worked on very basic vocabulary, listened to lots of little songs and rhymes in the second language that taught vocabulary (my daughter who is fluent in French has often said that that was what helped her most of all when she began to study intensively), re-labeled things around the house with sticky notes, played fun computer games that teach vocabulary, things like that.   We didn't work on it daily, and it was mostly for a fun exposure.

 

Once in high school, we really dove into it, and that's when they began spending maybe 2 hours/day on it.  We almost always did it through an online school or sometimes had access to a public school foreign language class.

 

For my kids who were interested in continuing with it after high school, they took a year immediately after high school to study or volunteer in a country that spoke the language.  After that year, they were able to pass out of all grammar-level foreign language classes when they began college the following year, and jump right into the upper-level courses (and then do a semester abroad at some point where all classes were taught in that language); one daughter decided to go to university (for all four years) in Central America, and she was able to take all of her classes in Spanish at that point.

 

They still had to work very hard at it, especially during the first couple years of college, but by the time they graduated from college, they were really considered fluent. 

 

Anyway, that's what worked for us.  I know it's done a little differently than how some people do it.  But, I wanted to bring up a different way.  It just didn't work well for us to work hard on a foreign language til they were in high school, and they still did fine.

[ByGrace3]

We dabbled in Spanish for a few years before actually officially starting Spanish this year in 5th grade for dd. we are using Middlebury Interactive and dd loves it.

But. None of the colleges around here counted latin as foreign language . even tho we did it in hs too. That may be different where you are. If check.

 

 

What do you mean by "counted"?  Counted for admissions requirements?  Or "counted" to test out of college graduations requirements.  Last time we talked about this, we could find only one college that would not accept Latin for admissions requirements, and that was the Air Force Academy, which is kind of a special case.

[Amy M]

Forgive me if I'm talking down. But aren't you the poster who asked how to get everything done in a large family without having to wake up at 6 AM?? (An excellent question!) If so, I would totally just drop all idea of a foreign language for the next two years at least. I would only do a foreign language with my kids that early for these reasons:

 

• You are fluent yourself in a language and desire them to be as well.
• You live in another culture or country and can easily immerse.
• You only have one or two children.
• You intend to spend major amounts of time and attention over the next several years to make your children fluent in a certain language.

If these things are not true, then I think you will be wasting your time. Just let them learn it when they're older or when it's a requirement. If you aren't willing to put in lots of time to make sure they become fluent, then I think they will forget what they learn without lots of immersion and practice.

 

We are teaching our kids and African tribal language, because we are missionaries, and we are fluent in it and desire them to be fluent as well. There is no curriculum for it, but we include it as part of our schooling because, even though we lived in the village and they were completely immersed, they weren't learning it because we still spoke English at home. So we started doing specific practice, forcing them to use it, for 15 minutes a day 4 days a week in school. Plus there are several hours in the week when they are immersed in it at church or in the village.

 

If we weren't doing this, I'd go for a classical language around 5th grade, probably Greek, because that's the language of the Bible. My kids could be Bible translators for an unreached people group or the Greek would help a lot with the English language as well. Then Latin, because it's the basis for several European languages.

 

If a European language, I'd do Spanish first, as my kids could be missionaries to Central or South America or to Spain. French or Portuguese would be next, as African countries also speak those languages.

 

Blessings,

Amy

 

[SebastianCat]

We start Latin in 6th grade with GSWL followed by Visual Latin 1 & 2 in 7th-8th grades, because they can be done independently by the child (and I only have 2 children).  Then we'll do Spanish in high school.

 

 

[Kat w]

What do you mean by "counted"? Counted for admissions requirements? Or "counted" to test out of college graduations requirements. Last time we talked about this, we could find only one college that would not accept Latin for admissions requirements, and that was the Air Force Academy, which is kind of a special case.

I'm sorry. Yes, I was unclear , for us...being homeschoolers to enter the public hs they wouldn't accept Latin. We spent alot of time on this but we also had Spanish and it was documented so the higjschhol did take that.

 

The colleges...most will accept entering a 3 rd yr student and credit homeschool of any foreign language if it is what they decide.

UF -accepts no homeschool foreign language. You have to take it and propve it independently.

 

But. This mainly was a concern to us because we have a state scholarship here called bright futures. It is funded by the lottery and requires 2 years of foreign language.

We were scholarship seeking and wanting to go to UF. mg daughter had to fufill independent foreign language they deem on their list. ( I cNt remember if Latin is one of them. I think k it is. Not sure)

 

Anyway. We had other compontest trying to work here at once.

[Kat w]

The girls had both Latin and Spanish my husband did with them...but UF didn't at that time...accept any homeschool foreign language that's why she had to retake it...for admission as a 3 rd yr student at UF

[Kat w]

....and....I'm pretty sure the community college wouldn't accept our homeschool Latin as a credit...they have since become a 4yr school...sante fe. But. I don't remember if that's when they were 2 yr or 4 yr.

 

I've had different kids entering college at diff times.

Younger DD entered at the 4 yr timeframe ...she had already gotten Spanish 1 and 2 before thst so...I don't recall exact there.

[Incognito]

About ASL, many people are unaware that American Sign Language has its own grammar distinct from English grammar. If you include learning that, It is a fascinating "foreign" language. Without the grammar you are just learning vocab which can be interesting and useful, but probably not what one would consider a real language study. Then again, many elementary students only study vocab of whatever language they are learning.

 

Yes, for us we hit that wall (grammar/more than just vocabulary) and the teacher has been great.  It is a lot of fun to learn vocabulary, though, and one can do signed spoken English with that.  It isn't ASL, but it is a good step with kids.  

 

FWIW, we do Latin as well, and enjoy it.  What the kids are learning of Latin grammar in the lower level elementary books is very minimal.  It starts with vocabulary.