Should I stop teaching my toddler a second language if his exposure to it will be limited?

Question

I have stared to talk exclusively in English to my son when he was less than 6 months old. However, we have decided not to move to an English speaking country, so I ended up practically alone.

It's been two years since then (he's 2y7m old now) and he clearly understands (my) English (he does know colors in English, cars, can count in both languages to ten...), although he answers in Slovak. He's also able to translate what I tell to people who don't understand English. After two years, I have to admit that I'm still far from native speaker and seriously consider I cease from speaking English with him, so I don't teach him my broken English.

I have read answers on questions like Would it be bad to only speak to a child in a language in which you are not completely fluent? and referenced studies, but there is no answer on what happens if I stop teaching the second language, or possibly, at what age it is desirable.

• Will the advantages (cognitive or developed executive functions) we earned persist?
• Would these disappear if I cease from speaking English?
• Are there any negative effects on my son if I continue speaking English (beside the fact I may teach him broken English)?

Answer 1

Any exposure to another language is great for children. With my sample space of two children, my daughter (now ten) was raised bi-lingual and is years ahead in both languages (school-wise) even though she has limited exposure to her second language. My son (3.5) primarily speaks and thinks in his second language but can swap to English very quickly. He, also, only hears the second language from us.

Things will be easier for you since you have access to English DVDs (we have limited access to dubbed children's movies in our other language).

Aside from the obvious and well documented benefits to brain development, having a second language (especially English) was other uses:

• English seemed to be the best, common language in my few visits to Europe (Span, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, Austria, Turkey).
• I am currently working remotely with a team in Russia, again the common language is English. Work opportunities like this will only increase in the future.
• In some countries, kids learn English as their second language in school. Your child would have a great head start if this is the case for you.
• As your child exceeds your knowledge of English, you'll be able to learn new things yourself. This has been the case with my children forcing me to learn more.

Long and short, keep it up.

Answer 2

Don't stop.

Knowing English is never a bad thing, and will remain useful throughout life. And I agree with Beofett that judging by your writing, your English is very good so I would not worry about it being "broken".

As long as you can communicate 100% in your chosen language, you should do that. Even if you had chosen a lesser known language (Danish, Swahili, Korean) it would still benefit the child (as long as you master the language) because knowing >1 language unlocks a whole new understanding of what languages are and how they work. It makes learning further languages easier, and it also opens the eyes to the fact that there's a world outside your country of residence.

Answer 3

Try to get him exposed to the language in other settings, especially if you can provide an opportunity for him to speak to English-speaking kids. Try to sneak into the expat community around you (works best if you live in a city, of course) and organise play-dates.

Answer 4

In general, the feedback seems to be that keeping a couple of languages going helps the brain in learning languages in later life. And English is always going to be a useful one to understand, even if he doesn't get fluent, as it is a common denominator in most countries.

Answer 5

As a young person (22 year old), who has many interests and has learned English in college, I can say that if I knew English in my high school years, I would follow my interests rather than playing games, but I did not know English, any this prevent me from doing anything that I was interested in, so the long story short, learning English should be a part of basic things that you teach to your kid because, as it is pointed out in the other answers, English is the most common language in the world, so without knowing English, you basically stuck with the limitations of your country in such a century.

Moreover, I must point out that, while I was learning English, the previous exposure to the language (due to games) helped me a lot while talking and reading fluently, so a prior exposure to a second language, I think, helps a lot while learning that language.