Speaking many languages to a baby

I've read in books that said humans learn language fastest when we are little. That's when our brains are like sponges, ready to absord anything that our 5 senses come into contact with.

I think that teaching a child multiple languages is best when they are just a baby. Speaking 4 languages myself, not including my limited vocabulary in Hokkien, I'm glad I grew up in an environment where many languages were used. I remember my dad speaking to me mostly in English and a mixture of other languages as I got older. The rest of my family spoke to me in Cantonese and English. In school I spoke English, learned Mandarin (in 2 yrs of Kindergarden and from 12yrs old onwards) and practiced Malay (in my primary school years in KL and while bargaining in Bali!!). And with these languages under my belt, I'm still confident that I have a good grasp of the English language and in no way that English was compromised because of the other languages.

My point is, a child should be spoken to in multiple languages if possible and not just only English and Mandarin because it's most "important" or useful in the society. I believe that dialects are important too... I wish I was taught my own dialect, Hakka, but Cantonese is good as well. I do not believe that adding Cantonese and a variety of words in other languages into Valerie's vocabulary now will do any harm to her ability to learn "important" languages later. For goodness sakes, she's a baby. I don't think I should be so rigid as to only speak to her in English & Mandarin just because it's important in school in the future. I don't think by doing that will ensure her succes in the future, do you?

Ok, I've said my share. Whether you agree with me or not, that's your problem, not mine.