How to raise a child multilingual

"Please teach Lil General (LG) how to talk in Tamil" was numero uno in the list of advice on child rearing given by the old and wise at home. Just a little background the lingual environment that LG will be exposed to:

1. My mother tongue : Tamil


2. LG's dad's (The Seniol) mother tongue : Bengali


3. LG's dad speaks with his dad in : Punjabi (as he grew up in Punjab)


4. I talk with LG's dad in : English and Hindi


5. Language of the environment : Marathi (we live in Pune)

That makes it 6 languages which I think is too much for a kid and am scared he would end up conversing fluently in none, let alone mastering the language. The problem gets compounded as LG's parents can't both talk in either of the their mother tongues. It would have been much simpler then to say one language at home. I am intimidated by thoughts of he talking with me in Marathi, Bengali and Tamil all in one sentence or what if he asks "Pa's language or ma's?".

Close to five months, his cooing is slowly giving way to imitating sounds. Whoever sees him comments that the boy would learn how to talk faster, of course, that's one thing he ought to have got from his dad who talks non-stop and when there's an opportunity chance his momma is quick to jump in too.

"Multilingual environment affects a child's IQ."
"He will not learn how talk properly even in one language and get confused all the time".
"He is going to make a khichdi of all the languages".
"Talk to him in just one language".

Enough unsolicited advice from neighbors and friends alike has put me on a war footing to find the facts associated with raising children in a multilingual environment. The only fact I know is "Kids learn fast and you can train them like a doggy." This has put me further on a edge and instead of confusing the child anymore by talking in umpteen languages at home, I decided to do a little research on how cognitive abilities are affected or improved when they grow up in a bilingual and multilingual environment.

My idea was to draw up an action plan and stick to it that will help LG learn and converse with his parents and other family members comfortably.

1. One person, one language. From the day LG was born, I've been talking to him in Tamil. So that leaves The Seniol to decide which one he would opt for - Hindi, Punjabi or Bengali. Since LG's exposure to Punjabi is going to be very limited and a language cannot be learnt unless and until it is spoken to the kid at least 30% of his waking time, Hindi becomes an imminent choice as The Seniol's lingual skills in Bengali can be contested :). His paternal grandparents will speak to him only in Bengali. Family agreement is the essential ingredient as one language becomes the secret language for the other and fear of exclusion in certain circumstances sets in. You are left wondering if you are being discussed. That will never happen in our case so we'll do what's beneficial for the child.
   


2. Language of his vacation : LG's exposure to Tamil will be only through me. So it becomes imperative that I use other mediums to teach him the language such as videos, audios, books, rhymes etc etc. This will also be a language that he will get to hear a lot during his vacation.


3. Minority language: I'm not too concerned about if and when he learns Marathi for that is an involuntary process that will happen with his exposure to the outside world - when friends and neighbors talk in the languages, kids will pick it up. And that's going to happen when he is at least 2-3 years old. Who knows if we would still be around in Pune?


4. Language his ma/pa talk in : Kids observe and correlate in what language their parents talk. So it is important for The Seniol and I to decide that we always talk in Hindi. Mixing English and Hindi in the initial years will not do any good, is my opinion. That way the languages he will get exposed to the most will be Tamil, Hindi and Bengali in that order.


5. English comes naturally to kids and should not be matter of concern.


6. No more gibberish and kunju stuff for him. Only words that make sense until I feel totally invulnerable when he smiles sweetly at me or paints his cerelac all over his face and still smiles as if he doesn't know a thing. That's when I can't control calling him kunju and talking words that make absolutely no sense.

Multilingual households in today's times is not an uncommon phenomenon. I would like to hear of your success stories that will help me teach LG better.

Related resources:
Bilingual and Multilingual Children
Bilingual Children: The Secret of Their Intelligence