Language101.com

How to Teach Your Son or Daughter a Foreign Language – Even if You Don’t Speak It

White toddler with brown nanny.

My son Kevin with his Spanish speaking nanny Maria in Playa Del Carmen Mexico.

I think I know why you’re here. You had a baby — and then you had feelings that you never would have imagined. And today, you want this wonderful child to learn a foreign language. Right?

I’m going to tell you how to teach your son or daughter a foreign language — even if you don’t speak it yourself. But first I’m going to tell you what doesn’t work.

School Language Programs Don’t Work

I really should say that school language programs in English speaking countries almost never work.  School language programs do work in some parts of Europe. And they usually work the best when they are teaching highly related languages, such as Danish schools teaching their students English,  since Danish and English are highly related.

School language programs in the USA have an almost 100% failure rate to produce high school graduates who can competently use the languages they have studied.

Occasional Immersion Programs Don’t Work

Taking your children to France once for two weeks in the summer so your children can learn French won’t work either.  For immersion to be effective, your son or daughter, needs a lot more time than two weeks.  What would work is to spend three months every summer in Paris and a month in the French Alps during the holiday season.

Vocabulary Learning Games Don’t Work

My brother speaks Spanish well.  He speaks it well enough to use it daily in his work as a physical therapist.  He would like his two daughters to learn Spanish.  His method of teaching them Spanish has been to tell stories (mostly in English) and then plug in an occasional Spanish word.  The result is that his daughters know about 100 words in Spanish, but they can’t say, “What’s your name?” or “Where is the bathroom?”

All language learning systems that do not teach the learners complete useful phrases fail.  No exceptions.

My brother is a great example of the many people who are competent in a language but have no idea how to teach it.

Most Spanish for Kids Programs are Useless

BBC Muzzy Spanish

BBC Muzzy Spanish is one of the many useless programs for learning Spanish out there.

Imagine how easy it would be to sell Spanish learning programs to parents who don’t speak any Spanish? It’s impossible to tell if the program is good or not and all the parent can really tell is whether there is some Spanish in the program. Almost all of the programs that you buy are a 100% waste of money.

Grammar Training by Itself Doesn’t Work

Many language learning programs have such a strong focus on grammar that they might as well be 100% grammar.  This doesn’t mean that there isn’t some value in having your child learn some grammar, but wait until your he or she is conversational in the new language before studying grammar.

Weekly Tutoring for One Hour Doesn’t Work

Don’t waste your daughter’s time and your money on once per week tutoring.  One tutoring session per week isn’t nearly enough to yield effective results.

Tutoring is a slow language learning method, but it definitely can work and it should be part of your learning plan even if you or your child is also using effective learning software like Language101.com!

However tutoring should ideally be done for two hours per day seven days per week with one hour per day, five days per week, being a minimum below which, you simply shouldn’t bother.

Hire a Spanish Speaking Nanny

This absolutely will work for children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years. It certainly could work for older children too, but you need to be 100% sure that the nanny has the personality of a teacher.

If you can, it would be nice if your Spanish speaking nanny has an educated accent from some place like Mexico City or Bogota Columbia. Having said that, having an imperfect accent in a language you speak well is still a very good thing. If you find a great nanny with a regional accent in her Spanish from some small town in Mexico, hire her anyway.

You may want to record a sample of your prospective nanny’s voice in Spanish and then have another native speaker of Spanish check her accent and tell you if it’s good enough or not.

There are some Spanish accents, just like there are some English accents, that are not understandable to speakers of the standard language.

Music and Movies Will Help

Make sure that your child listens to a LOT of music, and watches a lot of movies, and videos in their new language.  If you play music at home, make sure the vocals are in your son’s new language.  When you watch movies, watch foreign films in your child’s new language with English subtitles.  Remember that subtitles are notoriously inaccurate, but the more hours your child spends in her or her new language, the better.

Watching Enough Stories on Television Will Work for Some Children

I’m not a big fan of having children watch television, but so many of you are going to do it anyway, that I might as well tell you how to have it be an effective learning method for your children.

Starting from Age 6 months and up to about 6 years, many children have learned languages effectively by watching a LOT of children’s television in their new language.

Ideally you should find shows produced in Spanish for example, rather than American English shows dubbed in Spanish.

I’ve watched the video below, “The Gingerbread Man” at least a hundred times and I have now had our Spanish teachers turn it into two lessons on our web site with both good and literal translations.

Your children need to be watching this for several hours per day. If the stories are simple enough, translation and subtitles probably aren’t necessary. Humans are hard wired to learn stories and videos about fairy tales and similar stores are easy to understand even if you don’t know the words.

Switch Your Socializing to Your Son’s New Language

Say for example that your son wants to learn Spanish.  If you are religious, switch to a Spanish church.  If you aren’t religious, join secular organizations for Spanish speakers.  If your son makes friends in his new language he is much more likely to learn it well.

Language Immersion School or Daycare

This can work, if your child is motivated and likes it.  There are some very good French immersion programs in the English speaking parts of Canada.  People who stay in these schools until they graduate, come out speaking pretty good French.  They have a strange accent, but they completely master French.

All large American cities and most small American cities have Spanish day care available.

Remember That It’s Learning Minus Forgetting That Counts

Your daughter will forget everything that she doesn’t use.  So remember that you need a method of fast review to retain the knowledge for a lifetime.  Language101.com has a fast review method like this.  So when your daughter forgets, and she will forget if she doesn’t continue to use it, she can quickly re-learn what she has forgotten.

Have One Parent Talk to Your Son Exclusively in His New Language

This absolutely works 100% of the time.  For example, if a father only talks English to his son, while his mother only talks to him in Spanish, the boy will speak two languages with native proficiency.

If the parent teaching the second language is NOT a native speaker, don’t worry about your daughter picking up a bad accent from you.  Children will always adopt the accent of other children when they have the opportunity to play with other children.

If you have a baby who isn’t talking yet, you may want to learn the language yourself and teach it to her when the right time comes.

Do NOT worry about your child not learning English or whatever is the dominant language around you. You child will pick up the dominant language around you just fine, without needing to hear it at home.

Language101.com Can Help Children Who Can Read Well

If your son is old enough to read and understand a newspaper, then Language101.com can be part of his language learning plan.  Make sure he watches and understands the video directions and the interactive instructions.  Also make sure he studies fast.

I want to stress that your son will need more than Language101.com to become proficient.  He will need practice with native speakers that is fun for him.  Your job as a parent is to arrange pleasant interactions for him in his new language.

If your boy isn’t old enough to read English well, then Language101.com is not a good choice for him.

Learn the Language First and Then Teach it to Your Children.

It definitely is possible to learn a language that you do not now know and then teach it to your children. I’ve met at least two people in Ukraine and a few in Mexico whose parents talked to them in English from a very early age and they grew up bi-lingual.

Learning a language first, and then teaching it to your children, can work.

Have Your Child Try Our Free Demo

If your daughter or son is old enough to read English well and if she or he is old enough so that studying on a computer for 30 minutes would be a good experience, then you can also have your child try our free demo without interruptions for 30 minutes.  See how much your child can remember after the lesson and then the next day.

If they like the free demo and remember what they learned, then our program is right for you.


23 Comments
  • Avatar
    Jennifer Boudreaux

    Hi,
    I’m interested in using language101.com to meet high school language requirements. Our family homeschools. We need French I and French II. Which levels of your program would we need to purchase? Once the purchase is made, how long are we allowed to access the website content – one year, two years, etc.? Is there any written work or specific grammar instruction that comes later, or is the main goal here only speaking French?
    Thanks!
    Jennifer Boudreaux

     
    Reply
    • Brent Van Arsdell
      Brent Van Arsdell

      Hi Jennifer,

      I’m guessing that you will have to pass a proficiency test, so I’d suggest buying our French 1, 2, and 3 package. Once you pay for it you can use it as long as you need to, however I suggest giving your family a deadline.

      Our programs are specifically designed to help you learn to speak and understand your new language. It’s pretty easy to learn French grammar from a book, where we excel is with speaking and understanding.

      Sincerely,

      Brent

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    evangeline

    Can I use any smartphone with internet connection to study?

     
    Reply
    • Brent Van Arsdell
      Brent Van Arsdell

      Most Android phones will work, and any phone that has a full version of Flash should work. However we suggest testing the free demo to make sure that works before buying a new phone. If the free demo works just fine then everything will work fine.

      Brent

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Celine

    How long,approximately, will it take to learn? I’m 13 and I would like to learn French, but I’m not very persistent and i don’t have a lot of money. I’m hoping my parents will let me get this, but only if it works.

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Celine –

      Your learning curve is completely dependent on how much focused time you are willing to put towards learning French. Language101.com recommends 30 minutes daily to learn a new language. It takes appx 4-6 months at that rate to complete an entire language series. To help your parents and express a desire to learn French check out our scholarship page and apply if it sounds right for you!

      Thomas

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Karen Monsen

    My son wants to learn Japanese. Do have a Japanese program?

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Karen –

      We DO have a Japanese language program. We’ve recently just released it for use so make sure to let us know what you think about it.

      https://language101.com/japanese/

      Thomas

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    thomas

    Melissa –

    I think there must be a misunderstanding. The him/her son/daughter reference is varied throughout the article in order to balance it and not suggest gender weighting of the conversation. Please consider this article as expressing equality for both boys and girls of any age. Your son, or daughter, have equal ability to learn as effectively using the same tools.

    Thomas

     
    Reply
  • Avatar
    Rosemary Talavera

    My son and his wife are homeshooling their twins and since i have to take care of them once a week i was elected to teach Spanish since i am hispanic. My son
    ‘s wife is not spanish speaking and she is a professor of Sociology in a college. It hasn’t been easy easy since the girls do not really care to learn the language. They are 3rd grade students. Eight years old. When i try to teach them they act bored and can’t wait for the lessons to be over. I try to make it fun and they have learned words, numbers, shapes, colors and a few sentences but a week later they don’t remember sentences but single words are ok. I made some flash card and play games by matching the word from Spanish to English. Are they required to learn a second language at their age? I worry that i am not teaching them efficiently especially when the parents don’t encourage them to don’t the homework i leave them. They don’t know how to speak it themselves. I am almost 70 and get discouraged in teaching them when they don’t care to learn.If i’m lucky we will have a good day and they do well at times. When i come to visit them i try talking to them in spanish but they tune me out and the parents don’t help by encouraging them to answer back in Spanish. Don’t know what else to do. I think next year i’ll opt out of teaching them. Thanks for letting me post this. Rosemary

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Rosemary –

      Teaching children can be exceedingly difficult, especially if the parents are not on board to help. Language101.com has created software that works towards being interactive while eliminating the need for ‘homework’ unless standard grammar rules are required. Grammar is usually required for home-school assessment tests administered by the local or state school boards. At their age there really isn’t usually a requirement for foreign language though the earlier their exposure the more likely they will be to learn more effectively when older.

      Have you tried using our software with them yet? Take a few trial runs with the free demo to see how well it works for you and them:

      https://language101.com/spanish/

      Make sure to pay attention to the instructions presented before the demo.

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Kasmarine Klein

    Thomas,
    I am an ESL teacher trying to make a difference. I have a degree in Behavioral Brain Science so I understand a little about normal language development as well as things that make it easier or more difficult to learn a new/second language. I am looking for a program, or idea of how to test/weigh the needs of my scholars. I am the ESL teacher for 6,7,8th grades and I want to make a significant difference for these kids. The native language is Spanish so I am in actually trying to teach them English. As a teacher cost is always an issue. Does your program have an evaluation? If so, how can that be accessed. As a teacher can I apply for your scholarship? Any info or direction would be amazing.

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Kasmarine –

      Have you heard of Anki? It’s a great flashcard type program that can be loaded with just about any kind of data you want:

      http://ankisrs.net/

      Have you tried our demo lesson yet? It’s great to see how well it works for memorizing data. Try it for a language you don’t know yet and be amazed! The software works for anyone who can at least read the primary language. Language101.com is working on an ESL version of the software for Spanish speakers! We do hope to have it released before the end of the year.

      What Language101.com offers for evaluation is two options:

      1) The 6 month no questions asked money back guarantee – Valid on packages paid for in full at the time of purchase and 3 month payment plans. This is a great way for you to test the software on a small sample group to see how they take to it. If it’s not working we want you to have the resources to find something that does work for you.
      2) Monthly plans are a great way to try something out in a shorter term with a small cost. The monthly fee isn’t refundable and the commitment doesn’t extend beyond your desire. Cancel at any time and owe nothing more.

      Scholarships are designed for individuals and small families that need financial assistance to learn foreign languages and reach their dreams. The scholarship program is not designed for for-profit or governmental type organizations. An excellent way to help your students with scholarships would be to recommend them check out Language101.com on their own to supplement the lessons learned in your school. If the family needs a scholarship to meet their dreams then they can apply.

      Please feel welcome to contact me directly for commercial rates:

      support101@language101.com

      Thomas

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Michelle

    Hello,
    We are very interested in using Language101 in our homeschool. We have several children and I am wondering how your program works for a family. I would like to purchase the deluxe package with all languages. Can several children use that one account. How does it work for a family?
    Thanks!

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Michelle –

      Thanks for asking about the super pack and using it in a family environment. Here’s a quick overview:

      The All Language Super Pack give you and all your secondary accounts access to all the languages we offer now and will offer in the future. Each student requires their own account as each account keeps track of individuated study progress. As one student studies at a different rate than another it’s important to keep the study progress separated. Each language a student is studying is also kept separate – Spanish study progress will have zero effect on Italian study progress. One student studying more than one language at a time is possible though not recommended. All your children can study a different language if they choose – you are not restricted to completing one language before moving on to the next. It is helpful for a family to study the same language as then the skills learned can be practiced amongst one another. If one student is studying French, another Italian and another Russian the application of the studies will be far more limited for real-life practice. Although Language101.com limits the number of licenses for professional use we do offer an exception for families larger than four members – all your family members currently living with you are included in the ‘family’ license be it three students or eight students.

      Please make sure to take a look over the FAQ:

      https://language101.com/faq

      Contact me directly for more information:
      support101@language101.com

      Thomas

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Michelle

    We homeschool and I’m trying to pick a language to learn myself and teach our last two kiddos. How in the world to you pick? I like French, my husband thinks Spanish would be better and he speaks a bit of German. I want a language that shares an alphabet (just seems to make a monumental task seem easier), would be “beneficial” beyond just mind development, and we’d have access to beyond meeting with a group (Disney movies come in English, French and Spanish). Other languages are an option. Any thoughts?

     
    Reply
    • Avatar
      thomas

      Michelle –

      Great questions! These are not answers that I can just give you though. This is something that needs to be considered. Does your life bring you anywhere near Latin America, France, Canada, or Germany? Does your child have a strong affiliation with any children of another cultural upbringing? Do they long to travel to a specific place in the world?

      These are all opportunities to dive into learning a new language.

      The best language to learn will be one where the opportunity to use the language skills will be presented sooner than later.

      Thomas Wyse

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    Jennifer Bardon

    I am very interested in learning Russian. I have never taking Russian before, would this be a good program for me

     
    Reply
  • Avatar
    Alex

    Hi,

    I would like advice on how to teach a 3 year old another language but I only speak English. I have taken Spanish and Latin in high school but never retained anything. I would also like to teach my 6yr old some of another language as well but I know he will be more difficult because he has school to worry about. Any great advice? I know this will be a struggle for me because I don’t speak much of anything but English. Is it better to teach the 3yr old a harder language to learn? School generally teach Spanish eventually so…. Should I start on something else?

     
    Reply
    • Brent Van Arsdell
      Brent Van Arsdell

      Find a native speaker of Spanish with the personality of a teacher. Have this person care for your children at least one hour per day, preferably two hours per day. I think that the minimum effective dose would be three days per week for at least two hours per day. I would recommend daily for two hours per day.

      If you can’t do that get them in Spanish language day care.

       
      Reply
    • Brent Van Arsdell
      Brent Van Arsdell

      Find a native speaker of Spanish with the personality of a teacher. Have this person care for your children at least one hour per day, preferably two hours per day. I think that the minimum effective dose would be three days per week for at least two hours per day. I would recommend daily for two hours per day.

      If you can’t do that get them in Spanish language day care.

       
      Reply
  • Avatar
    lee jones

    I was very interested in Rosemarie’s question. I am turning 70 and have been teaching six of my grandchildren Spanish with Pimsleur. I’m pretty sure I’ll teach them Russian with 101. But the children learn at different rates, not based on their ages, but on their interest in learning.
    Not politically correct, but I have gotten them to speak to each other in Spanish by teaching them phrases like “I speak great but you do not speak well because of your autism.” (None are autistic.) We have incorporated such teen gems as “You make me throw up”, “twenty -three lizards are in your hair”, “I’m going to go eat and buy things but you can not because you do not think fast enough”, and some that I don’t dare include. They ask me for special words before our class and say them instead of what the lesson asked them to say. Giggles and plans for retaliation ensue.
    So, while they do not appreciate what you are attempting to give them, you can surprise them and get their attention this way at least.~Lee

     
    Reply
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