Do bilingual children really learn to talk later than monolingual children?

I'd have to say that this is not the case.

I know several bilingual families, and grew up learning both french and english. The little boy next door to me, for instance, speaks English and Spanish, and knew quite a few words in each at that age. Other kids I know have a range, whether they speak one, two, or three languages. Me, I barely spoke until I was almost three.

There's a wide range in what is considered 'normal' in verbal language acquisition. Five words at nineteen months is probably a little on the low side, but then it depends totally on the child and the situation. If he gets along just fine with gestures and such, there's little pressure to speak (that's apparently what happened with me, I could communicate just fine, it just wasn't words).

Talk to your doctor for reassurance. I'd think that the concern would be if he wasn't attempting at all to communicate, or even attempting words. It just sounds like he's working on other things, and verbal communication isn't a priority right now for him.

I understand the stress about it, though. Despite knowing very well that kids learn language at their own pace, my own son only really says two words at almost 15 months: Nyum-nyum, and ite (light). Maybe 'uh' for up. Maybe 'nana' for banana... just maybe. I'm trying my best to do both English and French for him, and he spends two days a week in a mandarin-speaking household (for all I know he has a 24 word vocabulary in Mandarin ... but I doubt it!).

That's not true. Small children are able to equally grasp more than 1 language at time. How successfully they would do that really varies from child to child. Some children learn to speak later than others. Also boys in general start speaking little later than girls. There are a lot of children who can say only few words by the age of 19 month, independent if they are taught 1 or 2 languages at a time.

All of my friends spoke more than 1 language when I was growing up with no problems.

There is one thing that has to be concern when teaching a child to speak another language. DO NOT start teaching a new language when a child is between 2-4 years of age. Because that is a time when a child forms abstract thinking, and teaching them a new language really delays their development, and often times children end up not being able to use any of the languages properly. They either mix them, or keep an accent in one of the languages forever etc.

It really depends on the child. I have three children who are bilingual. I was told they would take longer to speak because of the different languages in the home (spanish, dutch, and english) . They speak fine and never had a problem, two are in school and I have noticed my son has some difficulty reading the non english books but we are working on it. Good Luck and continue with other languages.

Actually I don't think that many 19 month olds speak that much....

But on the other hand, my children are being raised in a bilingual family. My son didn't talk until he was almost 2. But now at 3 he is fluent in Spanish and English.

My daughter is 17 months and she says, "Mom, mine, ball mas".... words like that.

But, also I have a lot of friends that their children are bilingual and are quick to speak at a younger age than my children. And I have friends that their child only knows english and they are slower than my children.

I think every child is different and will learn at their own speed.

But, Bravo! for teaching your children another language... you will be very happy that you did. :)

I think that is true because I use to have a neighbors whose child was Japanese. She heard Japanese at home and English everywhere else and I could tell it was hard for her talk. She was nearly 4 and a half and had limited speech. From my experiences, however, it didn't make much of a difference. I was raised around a Swedish speaking au pair, but I still learned to talk at a young age. I was able to speak some Swedish but I forgot it all once I started school... I wish I could have been able to speak Swedish also...:(

I grew up with an English/Spanish/Polish speaking family, and i must say this is true. I didn't learn to speak until I was 3, not because i had learning disabilities, but only because in my mind i was too confused, i did understand, but couldn't answer back. So don't worry, it may take your child a while to speak, but the wait will definitely be worth it.

Yes they do. All four of my children went through that. But they quickly learn as soon as they can differentiate the two languages. You'll be so happy when your child can speak two languages that you will forget about how many words they were speaking at 19 mo. Good luck.

That's bull-crap...I was exposed to English, French and Romanian all at the same time as a baby..and that in no way delayed my speech development...I wouldn't be too concerned about this just yet...if this continues beyond 2 years of age then maybe you may want to have a consultation...in any case it is unlikely that it will be related to your child being exposed to other languages.

He have other problems,,,, my son is 19 months old, and he can speak both english and spanish..... I do not think that his german family is the problem,,,,,Ask the doctor,,, but,,, He will talk you that is no problem with that, but he can find out some thing else..... Good luck, and blessing for You and your little one.

I've heard that quite a few times. They say the baby must sort the languages out first, taking longer. But after they do figure it out, they are supposed to have an easier time learning additional languages.