I thought this might be of interest to a few people here. Sometimes people can feel overwhelmed at the idea of only speaking the 'target' language to the child. However, I know that a parent in Ireland raising a child through Irish can absolutely get away with only speaking Irish because English is everywhere so they will get plenty of that.

Anyway, worth a read.

http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/ ... +Enough%3F


http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/ ... +Enough%3F

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We currently have French helpers staying with us (http://www.helpx.net). Previously we have had French, Chinese and Australian helpers. Our kids (and myself) now happily "code switch" amongst Japanese, English, Irish, French and Chinese.

Kids can actually sort out the mental mess a lot more easily than adults can (including whose pronunciation/grammar to trust ).

The important thing is exposure to the different sounds and structures at an early age. (Research indicates that the brain starts with an open circuitry that gradually gets pared down to a "minimum necessary" circuitry as we "mature/age". Diversity of experience is essential to retaining diversity in the circuitry beyond childhood. It may well be "use it or lose it" - for life.)

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Native Irish speakers for example from Cois Fhairrge working as au pairs would seem to be a gap in the market not being filled yet. But if you think about it, it could be quite a solution.

helpx is great, we had loads of fantastic people stay in my folks place via that site.

Most/many people seem to think that more than one language will confuse the child , no matter what I say they still think its the case.

My daughter is 2 and learns 3 languages, people are for ever telling me Ill confuse her. Short of carrying scientific reports around with me which out line the merits of early childhood exposure I'm not sure how else to convince these people I am not damaging my child's future.

People often rebut my points with things like, well my friend was raised through Irish and when she went to university she didnt have the technical terms for ..(Chemistry, neuroscience, engineering , etc. etc. )

Doesn't matter that I point out if I went to a university chemistry course Id have so little of the correct terms that id probably fail to grasp a lot of whats going on. you learn new terms in your own native language when ever you need them .

Then you point out the thousands of people who emigrate and are still successful in their fields despite being "handicapped" by not working through their sole language.

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Bíonn rudaí maithe mall

Might help to ask them if THEY have the technical terms for this, that, or the other thing. Technical jargon is always something that has to be learned...and it isn't always necessarily in the dominant language of a country.

Musical terms spring immediately to mind. I don't speak Italian, but I know what terms such as ritardando, maestoso, and staccato mean because I learned them in various music classes over the years. I've yet to hear anyone say "you should make little Johnny learn Italian as his first language so he won't have trouble understanding musical terminology down the road."

Redwolf