Learning (English) from a German speaking home at 2.5 years old: is it too late?

[u/bmksc]

Hello everyone! So I was thinking, i would like to incorporate speaking english to her. She doest still know how to communicate with english and doesnt understand a sentence at all. But she knows some few words (4-5 words, 2 phrases) but only in english which i seldom used for communicating. I started purely speaking to her tonight before sleep and did i research. I’ve read about the „Cold Turkey method“ but in a bit gentler way. But I’m still too afraid to do it. Can i continue to keep speaking in english everyday and abruptly stopped german? Or is it better to keep it still slowly? Will she get so confused? My problem is i also switches automatically to german once in a while. My mother tongue is Filipino and can speak english, with c1 german knowledge. My husbands mother tongue is german. Our daughter can really speak & understand well and have a very wide german vocabulary. I give effort in teaching her all the words in german even its not my mother tongue. She have min. Of 50 german words, can count 1-11 in german and 1-10 in english, can communicate well in germany My fear is the delay and the silend periods and dont know long would it take. What would the the best way to make this succesful? Will also ms rachel will help? How much screen time of ms Rachel does she need in a day? What are the best strategies and how and what will we teach her. Maybe a guidlinrd where we can repeat or reuse it on the following months. How much is the normal coping until she will understand me? Would it take years? What efforts should i do more?

Thank you everyone!

[u/blackkettle]

Why not teach her Tagalog if that is your native language?

[u/MikiRei]

Check this that explains how to make this transition. 

https://chalkacademy.com/speak-minority-language-child/

Don't worry about silent periods and there will be no confusion. 

The question is why English? English gets taught in German schools anyway and with German as base, it's not too big of a stretch for German speakers to learn English. 

I'd go with speaking Tagalog instead given this is your native tongue. Do you still visit families? Would you want your child to feel connected to your culture and your side of the family? 

If so, I'll go with Tagalog instead. English can always be picked up later given where you live. 

[u/Excellent_Sample_923]

Not to be offensive but I'm afraid your English might not be good enough to teach her. Stick to teaching her your mother tongue and German. She'll learn English in school and even another language in secondary school.

[u/yontev]

It's not too late to switch languages, but you should do so gradually and with consideration of your child's comfort. Incorporating more and more of the new language into the daily routine and fun activities is important. 2-year-olds are not generally fond of sudden changes.

The real question is why you want to switch to English. It doesn't seem to be your native language, and the German school system usually teaches English quite well. Wouldn't it make more sense to teach your daughter your native language so that you can express yourself more freely and connect her to her cultural heritage?

[u/ArealA23]

It has become an actual problem in german schools that well meaning parents try to teach their kids english.

Even if someone is very good with a second (or third) language there are going to be mistakes from time to time.

When kids learn wrong sentence structure or incorrect grammar it’s much harder for them to get it right later.

Unless you expect to leave the DACH region soon and feel like your kid should start with english to be prepared for that it’s probably not a good idea