Teaching children multiple languages, Lana, What’s she saying?

One of my good friends, Cuban by heritage, is married to a Ukrainian woman with who he has two children. While they lived in the United States there was some slight confusion as the oldest child, a boy, was learning to talk. Since there were three languages spoken in the house it was difficult to determine which language he was using as he tried to express himself.
I was, by some miracle, able to understand what he was saying – at least the intent of the gibberish he was using as a language. Most of it was English with a smattering of Spanish. His father and I could speak both languages but I had spent more time around children as they were developing language skills so I was able to comprehend his attempts. What was important was that he, the son, knew I understood him and he love that. He would speak endlessly to me.
When he branched off into the Russian his mother spoke I was completely lost. I was only saved in conversations with him in those intervals by his knowing that he was using a word only his mother knew. He would go to her for a suitable English equivalent and we would go on conversing. His dad would sit by watching in compete amazement.
Now the family is living in the Ukraine and the youngest child, the girl, is learning to speak. My friend is at a loss much of the time. He and his wife speak in English to each other and the two children. She speaks in Russian to her parents – in whose home they are living while theirs is being built – and Ukrainian is spoken in the general public as well as being revived in the school curriculum.
So the words she is learning from her older brother are a mixture of English, Russian and Ukrainian. Needless to say, her communication is scrambled. So much so that her father, who had difficulty interpreting his son, using mostly English at this age, is totally dumbfounded as she talks to him. But like most men, he has developed a failsafe method for interpreting the child’s gibberish; he calls the child’s mother and asks, “Lana, What’s she saying?” “She’s not saying anything. It’s just baby talk.” “Well, how am I supposed to know?” The only word she speaks that he is sure of is “Dora”. He brought her several DVD’s of the cartoon and she has fallen in love with them.
The sad fact is that even when we know the words being spoken by the women in our lives most of us men are still unsure of the meaning. I am convinced women like it that way - regardless of their age or what language they speak.