Nearly 6-Year-Old Not Aware She's Watching Foreign Language Cartoons

by Myrlia
(CA)

Hello,

My nearly 6-year-old daughter has been slow to speak, and is seeing a therapist at her school to help her understand the various sounds she needs to make, as well as try to get her to use complete sentences.

She has been making some progress, thankfully, but just last weekend I noticed something odd, and am wondering if it might relate to her struggles.

She was watching Peppa Pig on YouTube, and when one finished, she clicked on one that turned out to be in Italian. She watched that one happily, then put on another, this one in Spanish.

I asked her if she could understand what the characters were saying, and she said she could. I let her watch for another moment, then asked again if she could understand what they were saying. She insisted that she could.

Next time I asked if she could understand the *words* that they were saying, and she paused to listen. Her expression suddenly changed as she realised the words weren't actually familiar, then she tried to look uninterested and closed the computer.

Is it normal for children to not realize that they are listening to a foreign language, or is this something that might offer clues to what is going on?

We have had her hearing tested, and she can recreate a tune perfectly after hearing it just once, but I am worried that there is something that is not clicking. (I mentioned what happened above to her therapist, but the woman didn't seem to find it worth discussion.)

Thank you for your time!