What I do when my daughter responds in English

Sometimes the hardest thing is getting your child to speak their second language, even if they know how to. There are so many reasons for this – for one, they might not see other people speaking the language and might feel self conscious. They might also feel like it’s too much effort to speak the 2nd language vs. English which they get to practice at school/with friends.

One of the most common questions I hear from parents is – what do I do when I speak in Hindi, but my child (who can already speak Hindi) always responds in English?

This can be extremely frustrating for parents – and the first instinct might be to get upset, scream “speak in Hindi” or to bribe them with something good if they speak Hindi.

Please don’t do this! Doing so will put undue pressure on your kids to speak the language. They’ll see parents getting upset about it and it will make them resist doing it even more. Bribing on the other hand juxtaposes Hindi as something negative vs. something else. It introduces an internal resistance against the language.

If your child doesn’t know that much Hindi, try giving them the Hindi phrases to repeat — and then respond with enthusiasm when say it.

Also note: if your child uses Hindi to request something — try your best to ALWAYS give it to them, or at least respond with full attention.

This way they’ll start to associate Hindi with positivity.

Here are some fun tips that work wonders in my toddler's Hindi learning:

1. Samajh nahi aaya, sorry

2. Voh kya hota hai?

3. Start the sentence in Hindi for her, until she completes it. She says: Come play with me and I say: Mere saath…

4. Kya bol rahi hai? Repeat back gibberish. She says: I want water and I say: awaa waada kya hai?

Have you tried this before? 

Check out this IG post too!