Lana Privitera is the proud Mom of a fun-loving, bilingual "chatterboy" that likes to spice his speeches in English with long-winded Spanish words. Her goal for 2008 is to pack also some French and Italian in his very expandable 3.5 year old brain. Lana still qualifies as a SAHM but uses her "spare" time working as a watercolor artist and Spanish/art teacher.
I’ve always regretted that my Croatian Dad didn’t bother to teach me more of his native
language when I was little. It could have made learning other languages much easier for
me, not to mention the missed job opportunities as a bilingual adult.
But I almost followed my Dad’s example and made the same mistake: I took the easy
road and started speaking to my newborn son in the language I share with my husband
and the community: English….and left Spanish, my native language, waiting in the
sidelines.
My excuses for not starting to speak Spanish to my son from day one were multiple and
similar to those of other misinformed multicultural families: 1 – My husband didn’t know
more than 10 words in Spanish and I was afraid he was going to feel like an outsider in
his own home. 2- I’d been thinking and dreaming in English for about 15 years and my
Spanish came out all choppy. 3– I was afraid of confusing my son and delaying his
speech –and afraid of provoking horrendous tantrums because of that. 4- And, finally,
the one excuse that carried the most weight: my fear of speaking Spanish in public
because of potential ugly looks.
And then, when my son was about 15 months old, I found a couple of great websites
created by and for multilingual parents that helped me to get in gear. These days I firmly
believe in the amazing benefits of bilingualism and the need to start your family’s
Bilingual Journey from Day One –or as soon as you can- so this is my present for you
today, to get you motivated. Better late than never!