image credit: trilingual crayons, via flickr

How much exposure to a language does a 20 month old toddler need in order for a new language to really sink in? My daughter is learning German (from my husband + we live in Austria) and English (from me, I’m American) and we would like to teach her an additional language, Spanish so that she can communicate with some of our family members. Both my husband and I speak Spanish but not well enough to teach it to her, I feel. However, we have hired a caretaker from Paraguay that will spend about 15 hours a week with her. I would like her to speak with my daughter only in Spanish in the hopes that she will pick something up along the way. Is this a realistic expectation? Any thoughts you can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,
Diana Robleto-Sattler

Dear Diana,

Your question is an excellent one because it deals with two important factors: the amount of time necessary for a a child to learn a third language and how to guarantee that a child will retain a language and not somehow forget everything he has learned.

With regard to the first aspect, many experts believe that children should hear a language for at least 20% of their waking hours. So if your child has 12 “communicative hours” a day, she would need to hear her third language at least 2.4 hours a day. If you want your child to become truly bilingual or trilingual, you will need to give her enough linguistic input in all of her languages for her to be able to communicate, study and work in these languages. We’re not just talking about learning a bit of another language, but rather learning enough of a language so that your daughter won’t have problems using the language on many different levels (speaking, reading, comprehension, writing…)

Of course, this magic number is really just an estimation since many children pick up languages with less exposure and quite effortlessly achieve a native-like level in two or three languages. This will depend not only on the amount of linguistic input received but also on the quality of this input, age of the child and her motivation, linguistic capacities and interest in learning. If you think about it though, it may not be necessary for your child to have as strong a level in her third language as she does with her first two. In order to communicate with family, at least for the first few years, it may be enough for her to feel comfortable with basic dialogue and she may not need to completely master the language.

At your daughter’s age a Spanish speaking nanny is a great idea because this sort of relationship will stimulate interaction and communication in the language. And, believe it or not, you can also be a big help to your daughter’s language development. You can help her learn children’s songs (which are especially useful when they involve hand movements), and you can also read bilingual books with her on a regular basis. Once she is familiar with the story and illustrations in one language, you, your husband or the nanny can introduce the second or third language. It’s not necessary for your daughter to have mastered her languages for her to enjoy either of these activities, since you can read stories and listen to the music as a means of teaching her. Of course, you can also expose her to cartoons and children’s programming in Spanish, which are easy to find on the internet. Spanish speaking family members can also help you out by visiting your home or recommending popular Spanish language resources.

With regard to the second aspect, making sure your daughter doesn’t “forget” or lose her languages, the only real solution is persistence. There have been cases of children who seem to have “forgotten” a language they learned during their early years of development (0-4 years). For example, many children who are adopted in a foreign country have shown a loss in basic productive capabilities and can no longer speak a word of their native language after spending time in their new home. However, not much research has been done on the passive competence of these children (comprehension), since it would probably be much easier for them to “relearn” their mother tongue than it would be for someone who had never been exposed to the language. In any case, after the age of 3 or 4 most children who receive enough exposure to a language do retain what they’ve learned.

You ask whether or not your expectations are realistic, and I honestly think they are. You may just need to incorporate a few other activities in addition to your daughter’s time with her nanny, so that she’ll receive a bit more exposure to Spanish. Lot’s of luck, and please keep us posted!

Dr. Orlanda Varela

Dr. Orlanda Varela is a Child Psychiatrist and the Coordinator of the educational project for Bilingual Families at SINEWS Multilingual Therapy Institute in Madrid. SINEWS organizes bilingualism workshops for parents in Madrid, as well as personalized speech therapy sessions to bilingual families with specific language development problems. For more information, please visit sinews.es.