EASY FOR YOU TO SAY

This book is primarily designed for children who use English as their first language (the language they speak around the home, which is generally the first language they started speaking).

However, it can be used as a guide for children who are learning English as an additional language. It is important to note that while the speech sound acquisition data (that is, which sounds develop naturally at which age) covers the results of studies done in 27 different languages, this book may not account for the developmentally appropriate error patterns specific to each of these languages.

The research on this topic is mixed, with some studies stating that multilingual children acquire speech sounds at a slower rate than monolingual children, whereas others showing that multilingual children developed sounds earlier  than their monolingual peers. What the research seems to agree on is that multilingual speech sound production and error patterns are made up of a blending of the sound systems and patterns of the two languages. So it may be that your child uses some patterns from English when they speak their home language as well. The main take away from this is not to worry, as this is a completely normal part of multilingual children’s speech development.

If you notice a continuous error in your child’s speech, try seeing if your child can say the sound in isolation. If they can, fantastic! If they cannot, try and find an example of this sound in your language. It may be that it is not used, in which case it would be considered completely developmentally appropriate for your child to substitute this sound for another. 

Example:

A child whose first language is Putonghua may have difficulty producing “b”, “d”, or “g”. Spanish or French speaking children may find it difficult to produce “h”. Children who use Cantonese as their first language may show a pattern of leaving off final consonant sounds such as “t”, “k” or “g”.

If you believe that despite this, your child’s errors are having a negative impact on their ability to communicate, please trust your instincts and investigate further with a speech-language therapist. Early intervention is key! No two multilingual children will be exactly the same, and it is not possible to cover all variations in a general resource like this one. Early intervention is key!

For further information on multilingual children’s speech, please check out the 

range of resources available here: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech