[amalag]

Most asian parents speak to their children in their native tongue, most likely the same for all immigrants, including hispanic. I know many friends whose kids spoke only their asian language until they hit preschool where they learned english. Kids pick up languages very fast when they are immersed in it.

[jedihamster]

Anyone ever think of the negative impact. I've seen small local schools flooded with children who haven't learnt English.The extra attention they require slows down learning for the other kids in the class that actually speak English.

Is that fair?

[Yoms]

Speaking as a parent of two children who we have spoken exclusively Spanish to, and who picked up English from their environment, friends, and school. There has not been any impact. And this is coming from the teachers, who are usually extremely surprised to learn that we speak only Spanish at home.

You underestimate the ability of children to absorb knowledge from their environment.

As a matter of fact, if anything, it has been a net positive. Kids at a young age have a huge curiosity about languages and having bilingual kids in the classroom encourages the other kids to learn. My first graders class begged to have my daughter teach them some Spanish, and the teacher set aside some time for her to do so. The other parents heard from their kids, and thanked the teacher for it!

[mootothemax]

Most asian parents speak to their children in their native tongue, most likely the same for all immigrants, including hispanic.

Here in Poland, I've often overheard Vietnamese parents speaking Polish to their child when walking down the road, whether it's a single parent on their own, or both together. I really like it, but do wonder if I'll be looked down on for speaking English to our child when the time comes.

[ABS]

"spoke only their asian language until they hit preschool where they learned english"

in that case they are not considered bilingual

EDIT: not sure about the downvotes, it's a fact that if you learn a second language at 4 or 5 you are not considered bilingual. Nothing wrong with it, its just the definition

[jordigh]

Of course they are. You learn a language as a first language (L1) until the critical age (well, according to the critical age hypothesis, anyways: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Age_Hypothesis ).

I was raised in such an environment. Spanish at home, English at school. I did learn Spanish before English, and I remember a time when I couldn't understand English, around age five or six. Now, however, I am bilingual, fully bicultural, I code switch, and it feels like a superpower I only share with relatively few other people (at least for the specific dialects of English and Spanish that I speak). I can adapt to either language and be idiomatic in each, but my most "natural" mode of speech is the one I grew up with: quickly code switching between two very specific dialects of American English and Mexican Spanish, and there are very few people I can do that with.

Actually, multilingualism is far more common than some Angloamericans are usually aware of. The "norm" worldwide, roughly, is for there to be many intertwined languages within a small geographic region, such as in Europe and Asia. America (the whole continent, not just the US) is the odd one out to be such a large expanse with relatively little linguistic variety besides differing dialects, and that's because the only way to impose languages over such vast geographic expanses is by force and conquest. This is what happened in America.

[Yoms]

I'm in the same boat as you. The code-switching is kind of freaky.... It just happens, and the appropriate language is used for the apporpriate part of the conversation, with the appropriate people who would understand. And I feel the ideas/emotions are transferred more efficiently than when using just one language. Which is why it works so well when angry and venting :).

The challenge I'm having now is doing the same with my kids. My older child has had no problem, and spoke only Spanish until preschool, but my younger one speaks in English to her sister and is having a more difficult time with Spanish...

[sigkill]

I've noticed, the language that you can comfortably (i.e. without breaks) swear and be angry and abusive is the one you "think" in.