Our family speaks many languages… How do I help my child with their English skills?

Any child who can speak, sign and/or understand more than one language is considered ‘multilingual’. This can start to happen even if the child is around listening to these languages without the adults speaking directly with the child.

When children start learning more than one language, they are starting to take in and process the different words, sentences and grammar rules for the different languages. This means the way that they talk with, listen to and respond to others can look different; even if the child is not ‘fluent’ in all of the languages.

Factors That Influence Multilingual Language Development

How ‘fluent’ a child is in a language, or how much they can speak and understand, depends on:

• How long they have been exposed to the language – has it been since they were a baby? Only in the last year?
• Who they use the languages with – family? friends? teachers?
• How often they hear the languages – every day? 2 days a week? how many hours a day?
• Where they use the languages – home? playground? kindergarten?
• Their motivation to use each language – which language do they ‘want’ to be using?

→ ‘Who’ they want to speak with is a very big motivator for learning and practising a language (e.g. wanting to use English so they can play with the other children at kindergarten)

How Is Multilingual Development Different to Learning One Language?

In general, multilingual language development is different because the words they are learning are spread out over the different languages, and they have to learn to use all of the rules and sentence types for all of their languages.

It is expected that the overall ‘language learning rate’ (i.e. how many words they use at a time) is the same as children learning 1 language – for example, using 1 word at age 1, using 2-words (e.g. daddy go) at age 2, using 3-5 word sentences at age 3, etc.

Common and Expected Patterns in Multilingual Children

But, in multilingual children it is also common to see:

• A silent period – not talking much or at all while they process and ‘take in’ the new language
  → During this time, the child uses gestures or actions to communicate with others
• Code-switching – mixing the words, grammar and/or sentence patterns of the different languages
  → This can happen in the same sentence
  → Research shows that multilingual children’s grammar and sentence structures catch up with exposure and practice
• Vocabulary ‘appears’ delayed in one language
  → The total amount of words the child knows and uses is spread across all of the languages they are learning
• Difficulties with certain speech sounds in their second/third language
  → This often happens when the second or third language uses different speech sounds

Difficulties with sentence structure and grammar are usually the last language skills to adjust.

How to Support English Language Development at Home

Research shows that there are many benefits to growing up with more than one language, including cognitive, social, emotional, and academic skills.

If you keep speaking all of your languages, the child has time to learn the vocabulary and organisation of all of the different languages. It’s okay if you do not feel confident in every language, because you can demonstrate strategies when a word is unknown (e.g. gestures, describing, showing).

Practical Strategies for Families

Practising conversations
Children learn language best when they are actively involved in communication.
→ Use play, daily routines, and shared activities
→ Say what you see and ask questions
→ Allow the child time to respond

Shared book reading
→ Talk about pictures, not just the text
→ Ask questions and encourage pointing or showing
→ Use actions, facial expressions, and voice changes
→ Use shorter sentences and pause to allow processing time

Be a narrator
→ Describe what you are doing during routines
→ Repeat key words to increase exposure and learning

You can do these in all languages your child is learning.

School Readiness and Language Development

To support children for school, focus on:

• Verbs (actions)
• Concepts (size, shape, location, quantity)

These language skills are critical for understanding instructions and accessing the classroom environment.

When to Seek Support From a Speech Pathologist

Even though multilingual development varies, it is important to monitor for difficulties.

You may consider seeking support if:

• The child is frustrated when communicating
• All languages are not improving over time
• Sentence length is shorter than expected
• Speech is difficult to understand

Early support can help children communicate more effectively and participate across environments.

Download: Practical Strategies for Raising Multilingual Children

For families wanting structured, evidence-informed support:

This resource supports:

• Building English alongside home languages
• Practical strategies for everyday routines
• Confidence in supporting multilingual communication

Local Support 

If you are seeking support for multilingual language development, Cooee Speech Pathology & Occupational Therapy provides assessment and intervention tailored to each child’s communication profile.

Book a Client Journey Planning Session to get started.

Written by Thida Hantun, Speech Pathologist, Reviewed April 2026