Jaime, (baby) Claudia and Sofía

As you may know, we at Bilingual Readers enjoy sitting down with bilingual families from all over the world to hear about their experiences. We started the “Real Stories, Real Lives” segment of our blog to create a space where families can share the ups and downs of life in a bilingual home. Sofia, Jaime and Claudia are the latest addition to our community, so we hope you enjoy their story as much as we did!

Tell us a bit about your bilingual family.
Our family is made up of a Spanish father named Jaime, a Portuguese mother named Sofia and a precious little Spanish girl named Claudia.

Why did you decide to raise Claudia in two languages?
Before Claudia was born we were already sure we wanted to speak to her in both languages. We thought it was very important and positive for her to be able to speak both languages.

Did you sit down and make a plan as to who would speak in what language to your daughter or did it just come naturally?
It has always seemed very natural. Mama speaks Portuguese and Papa speaks Spanish. Claudia speaks more Portuguese at this point since she spends more time with her mom, but she understands both languages.

How has speaking two languages affected your family dynamics? How do you think this could change as Claudia grows older?
I speak my first language more, but nothing has changed, we’re still the same family. The fact that I speak more Portuguese is actually helping Jaime because now he understands Portuguese better. We believe Claudia will have more opportunities in the future. Because she is learning two languages from such a young age, learning a third will be much easier for her.

Have you experienced any negative comments about you speaking to Claudia in Portuguese?
Yes, people have told us that she is too young to understand and this will make it harder for her to learn to speak in either language. Typical myths.

What role does reading play in your household? How often do you and Jaime read to Claudia and in which language(s)?
Almost all of the books we have at home are in Spanish, but I translate them so that I can read to her in Portuguese. We try to read to her every day or at least expose her to books so that she can see the illustrations.

Any interesting anecdotes about Claudia’s bilingual upbringing?
When Claudia wants more cookies and it’s almost time to eat, we always tell her “más no.” After hearing this so many times, she began to associate them with cookies, so now when she wants cookies she says “más no.”

Any advice for families who are planning to raise their kids bilingually? I would tell them to speak both languages at home and not listen to people’s negative comments because children can learn both languages naturally.

Do you want to share your story with us? Send us an e-mail to info@bilingualreaders.com and we’ll get back to you!