Raising bilingual children in a Polish family

We have always admired children growing up in international families – effortlessly switching between English and their parents’ native language in a single moment of play. We contrasted this with our own experience: the effort we put in as teenagers and adults to learn foreign languages, and the time our parents spent driving us to lessons. Meanwhile, those children, unaware that they were “learning,” absorbed the language of mom and dad, and along the way, also picked up English.

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When our daughters were born and we started thinking about hiring a nanny, we decided to combine two things: language learning through play and daily childcare. Our first nanny came through connections we made during travels to Mexico and South America. From there, everything evolved naturally and quite spontaneously.

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Although both of us are Polish and neither of us is bilingual, our daughters (aged 3 and 5) now speak Spanish fluently. On trips, they listen to Spanish stories and audiobooks with comprehension. On vacation, they order food at restaurants, ask guides questions about things that interest them, and play with local children at playgrounds and on the beach. They even sometimes act as translators for their grandparents, with whom we frequently travel. Our youngest, just 16 months old, already understands Spanish phrases and responds appropriately.

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Many people often ask us, “How is it that your children speak Spanish?” That inspired us to share this “method” with other conscious parents who are looking for help at home and with their children, while giving their little ones the wonderful gift of learning a foreign language.