The first word a baby says

[alex]

I wonder if every baby says the similar word, something like a 'universal word' when they start talking. Do you think so? Or do you think it depends on the baby's place and cultural background? When saying a word at the first time, do a baby belonging to English speaking parents will says different word than the one belonging to Spanish or Chinese speaking parents does?
Just curious

[summer]

I think it depends on what the baby hears more often. You talk baby talk to your babies and start off with easy words. Mama, dada, sissy, things like that.

My daughter's first word was dada. I was heart broken. I wanted it to be mama. That came about 1 week later.

[alex]

My daughter's first word was dada. I was heart broken. I wanted it to be mama. That came about 1 week later.

That's funny. I mean, I am sorry to hear that but that's funny. Dada is a difficult word. You have to use your tongue tip to touch your hard palate to spell it. I think mama and the similar words are the easiest, because it just deals with closing and opening mouth. I think mama is called mama because mama (the mother) is the first human the baby used to be with, and mama (the word) is the easiest word she/he can spell.
Mama in other languages:
French=mama, Italian=mama, Spanish=mama, Indonesian=mama, Dutch=mama, even Russian=MaMa. Is it strange?

[chloe]

I don't think she knows what she is saying quite yet but 7 month old has been saying dada a lot for a couple of days now...of course her daddy is just tickled pink!

[Vega]

Mama was my daughter's first word. It made me so happy. Now that she is turning 3 in a couple of weeks, her favorite word is "No Thank You". I don't know where she learned to say "No Thank You" rather than "No" but that's how she says it. I guess we would say "No thank you." and "Yes please". It's funny when she is mad because she will not just say "No", it's always "No thank you." So we have an angry yet polite little girl. It makes it easier to tolerate and sometimes it makes me crack up when she throws a fit and is still polite.