The Nanny Dilemma

Regarding “A Real Nanny Dilemma” (Community Essay, March 6), it is not clear whether the author questions the level of education and the legal status of these “Spanish-speaking nannies whose English skills are severely limited or sometimes nonexistent,” or the fact that their primary language is Spanish. Would the same concern have been expressed if these nannies spoke French or German?

GRACIELA P. RODRIGUEZ

Torrance

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Years of linguistic research show that children will learn any language to which they are exposed before puberty, and that learning or being exposed to a second or third or fourth language will not negatively effect the acquisition of any one of them.

Children of many countries grow up multilingual. A graduate student of mine, now a professor of English at the University of Rabat in Morocco, grew up speaking fluent French, Berber, Arabic and English; another student from Nigeria (now a professor there) spoke Hausa, Yoruba and English. My god-daughter is fluent in both Swedish and English.

If our children were exposed to a second language through nannies and early in elementary school, they would grow up speaking more than one language properly. Their lives would certainly be enriched.

VICTORIA A. FROMKIN

Professor of Linguistics, UCLA

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My husband is from Japan and I am Canadian. We are proudly raising our American son to be bilingual and, dare I say, multicultural. Yes, his language development is slightly slower than his peers’, but not significantly so.

Author Kathleen Rogers needn’t wonder what the “social, educational and societal impact will be” when our children’s primary care is delivered by persons of various cultures and languages. Many fine, intelligent and contributing present-day Americans had immigrant parents.

SHANNON AHERN IKEDA

Monterey Park

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Rogers overlooks the fact that many people choose nannies for reasons other than, strictly speaking, educational ones. Good nannies--nurturing, responsible people--are few and far between (the low pay of the job exacerbates the general paucity of competent applicants).

Rogers also berates non-native English speaking nannies for not being able to read books to children. But not being able to speak English fluently does not entail illiteracy. Reading a child a book in Spanish or another non-English language would, it seems to me, be highly valuable for the child in teaching her or him to recognize that people from other countries and cultures do not speak English.

Having a woman who has different skills from those of myself and my husband and who has a different cultural point of view has added a great deal to the life of our child. Our nanny is a deeply caring, responsible and intelligent person. Her English is improving as his develops. I wish I could say the same for my skills in the language of her native country, Ethiopia.

AMELIA JONES

Los Angeles

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I have two children, 2 and 6, and a nanny who speaks limited English. She is also extremely loving, patient and respectful of my wishes with regard to the children.

If I say there will be only one hour of TV in the afternoon, then there is only one hour of TV. If I ask her to remind my first-grader to do her homework, she does. If my daughter doesn’t understand the instructions, Nidia helps her with the Spanish-English dictionary. She takes my son to the park or to see his friends. She plays with him when they are home alone.

Would that every child were loved the way my nanny loves my children! I also hope that my kids do pick up as much Spanish as possible. When they are grown, these gringo children of mine are going to be in the minority. If they know some Spanish and have some understanding of the Latino community, then I and my nanny will have helped to prepare them to “take their place in society”--something Rogers claims only a British nanny can do.

Keep your Mary Poppins! I’ll take my Nidia any day.

CATHERINE FULLER

Pasadena