What language development milestones should I expect at 20 months?

Since Christmas, my daughter’s world has been getting louder, chattier, and more expressive every day. She was 20 months old at the end of the year, and this stage is absolutely incredible—and doubly fascinating for me as a language lecturer! 😉 One minute she’s pointing at things and making little sounds, the next she’s coming out with words and phrases that make us stop and think, Did she just say that?!

Since we’re a bilingual family, she’s picking up words in both English and German, and sometimes she mixes them together in ways that make perfect sense to her. But mostly, she’s just so excited to communicate, even if the words don’t always come out perfectly. Here’s what’s happening in her language journey around the 20-month mark!

From Babbling to Words

Babies first start exploring sounds using their tongue, lips, palate, and even emerging teeth. In the first three to five months, this often sounds like cooing (oohs and aahs), which soon develops into babbling (ma-ma, ba-ba, da-da). These early sounds gradually evolve into syllables like ma or ga, and from there, babies begin to imitate and adopt words from their caregivers.

By the end of the first year, many babies start using their first meaningful words. Around this time, they begin to understand the magic of language and feel pretty proud of being able to express what they want. Now, at 20 months, my daughter and other toddlers her age are entering a phase where their vocabulary and comprehension explode!

The Vocabulary Boom

Like many toddlers at this stage, it seems my Little Bean has experienced a language explosion. Some research shows that kids can learn ten or more new words each day, and other findings even suggest some children pick up a new word every 90 minutes—so it’s definitely time to start watching what you’re saying! 😉

With increasing mental, emotional, and social development, toddlers gradually learn to use words to describe what they see, hear, feel, and think. While some little ones are attempting short phrases, others first expand their vocabularies in single words, but all of them are rapidly increasing their understanding. At this age of 18-24 months, toddlers typically:

• ✔️ Understand far more than they can say
• ✔️ Use tone and expression to communicate meaning (e.g., raising their voice for a question: “Up?”)
• ✔️ Start copying new words and imitating phrases from caregivers
• ✔️ Have an active vocabulary of 50+ words (but it varies widely!)
• ✔️ Begin using more verbs alongside nouns

I do a lot of activities which support language development, and they seem to be paying off! For my daughter, I can say she definitely seems to be on target – it’s hard to shut her up sometimes (wonder where she gets it from… 😉)! And she picks up new words all the time—sometimes ones I don’t even remember teaching her!

She has clear favourites, like:
💧 Water
🚗 Auto/Car (she happily uses both!)
👃 Nose (which she lovingly calls Nasi)
📖 Book (a current obsession!)

What’s interesting is that some words she only says in one language—for example, she says “tschüss” for goodbye but never “bye” (although the sounds are easier!). And some German and English words she uses interchangeably, like “Auto” and “Car.” Fine for me – I can understand both; But not so helpful for the monolingual grandparents! Still, it’s all part of the fun of learning two languages at once!

First Two-Word Phrases

Another key milestone after around 20 months is stringing two words together. Some of Little Bean’s first combos were:

• “Mama up” (Pick me up!)
• “Daddy car” (Daddy’s driving)
• “More swing” (Yes, following German word order!)
• “Ich möchte…” (A nice way of asking for things in German!)
• “Mama komm!” (The winner of all time—because Mummy must always “come” when called!)

It’s fascinating watching her figure out sentence structure—sometimes she follows German word order, other times English, but she always gets her point across. And honestly? That’s what matters most!

By now, many toddlers are also experimenting with tone and meaning, using rising intonation to indicate curiosity (“Arm?”) or adding emphasis (“More!”). I tell you, in our house, ‘Mama’ is a full conversation in itself—depending on the tone, facial expression, and accompanying gestures, it can mean anything from ‘Where are you?’ to ‘Help me!’ to ‘Come here right now!’ It’s like having our own version of I am Groot, where we have to decode the meaning from context!

Understanding & Communicative Ability

What is true of all toddlers getting closer to two years old, regardless of how chatty they are, is that they understand A LOT. Far more than they can say! Little Bean doesn’t say full sentences yet, but she can absolutely understand them—even multi-step instructions! I can say:
✔️ “Where is your…? / Go and get your…”  → She waddles off and fetches it.
✔️ “Put that in the rubbish bin” → She takes it and throws it away.

✔️ “Do you want more…?” → She nods “Yaas!” enthusiastically, or says “Neee” and shakes her head.

✔️ “Let’s brush teeth, get pyjamas on, and get ready for bed”  → She (more or less enthusiastically) heads to the bathroom calling ‘teeth!’ and rubbing her finger across her mouth.  

She also uses gestures alongside words—pointing, nodding, waving, or lifting her arms to be picked up. As I said, she responds to full sentences, even if it’s through gesture and facial expression rather than words or sentences as an answer. This is all pretty typical of the 20+ month mark!

She’s especially animated when it comes to sing-a-long songs, and uses gestures from familiar songs to show she understands their meaning. The other day, she saw a picture of a bus, excitedly called out ‘bus,’ and immediately started rolling her hands like The Wheels on the Bus! Moments like these show how she’s connecting words, concepts, and actions in a way that makes sense to her. It’s a mix of spoken language and non-verbal communication, and I love watching how she makes herself understood even when words are missing!

Mixing Languages: Normal & Expected!

A lot of people ask if she’s getting confused by learning two languages at once—but nope! Using words from both languages in one sentence is actually a normal part of bilingual development.

• For example, she says:
• “Mama auch up” (Mama, go up too!) – Using German “auch” with an English phrase.
• “More Brot” (More sandwich!) – Mixing English and German.

She’s figuring out how both languages work, and over time, she’ll sort them out for herself. Right now, her focus is just communicating however she can, and it’s amazing to watch!

By the way, if you’re interested in further ways to boost your child’s bilingual ability, check out this offer of a free book and this list of helpful gift ideas!

Looking Ahead: What’s Next?

Between their second and third birthday, toddlers typically start speaking in two- or three-word phrases and gain confidence in structuring their thoughts into speech. This might continue to be code-mixed sentences among bilingual kids, but joining words into longer phrases is the next step along the language-acquisition road!

By the age of two, many toddlers are putting together short sentences like this, and can even follow simple back-and-forth conversations. Some might start memorizing songs or nursery rhymes, while others prefer pointing and gesturing instead of speaking. Every child develops at their own pace, and that’s completely okay!

Looking at how far Little Bean has come, over the next few months, I’d generally expect her to:

• 🗣 Start making more 3-word and longer phrases (“Mama sing more!”)
• 🎶 Sing along to songs more clearly
• 💬 Use more verbs and adjectives (“Daddy eat big Brot”)
• 🤔 Start noticing who understands which language words (e.g., that her grandparents don’t know what an Auto is!)

What About Your Toddler?

Is your little one going through a vocabulary explosion? I’d love to hear about your toddler’s language journey—drop a comment and let’s chat! 😊