Bilingual Royals: Will & Kate are raising Prince George, Princess Charlotte & Prince Louis with two languages
It has been reported that Will and Kate are raising their children bilingual. Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Princess Louis are being brought up with exposure to both English and Spanish.
How are they doing it? Well, when Prince George was born, the royal couple hired a Spanish nanny who has reportedly been teaching Prince and Princess to speak her native language.
The Royal Nanny is Bilingual
The Royal Nanny that Will and Kate hired to look after the Princes and Princess, Maria Turrion Borrallo, is from Palencia in Spain. Maria is bilingual herself being able to also speak English.
Having a bilingual nanny is a huge benefit and a great way to teach your children a second language that you don’t speak yourself. The Royal Nanny has been looking after the royal children from birth so it is no wonder Prince George and Princess Charlotte can already speak some Spanish.
Are Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis Bilingual?
Will and Kate tend to keep pretty quiet about their private life however Kate reportedly did make a mention of the little Royal’s language skills and how Prince George could already count to 10 in Spanish.The nursery where Princess Charlotte attends also mentioned that her special skill was being able to speak some Spanish.
Whether Maria Borrallo has been speaking with Prince George and Prince Charlotte full time, or just occasionally hasn’t been mentioned so we don’t know how much Spanish the little royals can speak. It may just the basics of Spanish or Prince George and Princess Charlotte could be bilingual already. We can imagine that Prince Louis is now also starting to be exposed to the Spanish language also.
Is it worth teaching young kids languages?
In a nutshell, yes! Childhood is the best time for children to learn languages, and the earlier the better. From birth to around 7 years is the “window of opportunity” for kids to learn languages and learning any language is an advantage.
Even if the little Princes and Princess never become perfectly bilingual, there are still many benefits of knowing a second language including cognitive enhancements, and educational and career advantages. Being bilingual is a skill, and it’s always an advantage to have an extra skill in life.
No doubt Prince George, Prince Charlotte, and Prince Louis will grow up with many important skills in life, but being raised to be bilingual will be one of the most beneficial.
Photo Credit: Royal Family Instagram
alan
i think that any efforts your putting on your children to foster the bilingual ability does count, regardless your child can read a book in the minority language or even count to 10 in the target language. although the exposure is of the main key to thrive on this journey, minor efforts still counts. Even if may sound it is not enough, but is at least an encouragement to keep it up and raise awareness of other language and culture. Whether is the Royal family or any of the thousands of family in the world that are raising their children as bilingual, does not really matter what level is your child is on the proficiency of the language as this process is much more about consistency and the quality of the exposure rather than quantity. Sums up, i don`t take their credit, and i truly believe that topics like this one may encourage may parents out there to do the same, or who knows could even sparks in some parents to start it off with their own kids , or get more info about this matter.
Natasha
No offense meant but this isn’t exactly considered to be a big deal in most of the world.
The majority of the world speaks two languages or more. It’s not that difficult to learn them either…Being able to “Count to Ten in Spanish” is something that practically everyone knows due to the existence of shows like Dora the Explorer.
It wouldn’t be worth reporting on if it was a normal person. Royals are people at the end of the day after all.
Would be lovely if you could focus on better topics concerning them. Thanks!
Chontelle Bonfiglio - Bilingualkidspot
Hi Natasha,
Sometimes parents don’t see the importance of teaching a second language, and seeing high profile parents doing it can highlight the benefits. This is the reason we report topics like this, to help encourage families. We also have a Multilingual Families series with a range of different stories from parents around the world. You can find them here: https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/05/28/raising-multilingual-kids-real-family-stories/