Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
A mother and four young children (three boys and one girl) were on board. None of them spoke English; making communication very difficult. The mother was seated next to one of the boys with the girl and a boy behind her and one boy in front of her. The girl appeared to be the youngest and was about 3 or 4 years old. When we secured the cabin before door closure they were all in their seat belts; but after we closed the MCD (Main Cabin Door) and started the safety pre-departure announcement and demo; the little girl got out of her seat and stood next to her mother. The mother made no effort to get her child back in her seat. We stopped the demo and I managed to get her back in her seat belt and tried to indicate to her brother that she needed to stay there. We finished the demo; secured the cabin and taxied out to the runway. We were in line to take off and were expecting our takeoff chime when the little girl got up again. This time the mother picked her up and put her on her lap. Even though she appeared to be over two years of age; I felt that getting up to rectify the situation at that phase of the flight was not safe as it would take some time to get her settled again and decided to leave the child held on her mother's lap for takeoff. As soon as it was safe for us to get up; I went back to the mother and decided to rearrange the children to try to avoid a repeat incident. I tried to indicate that the little boy sitting next to her should go to the row behind and that she should strap the little girl into the seat next to her. There was very little cooperation from any of them; including the mother; but I finally got the little boy strapped into the seat one row back and the little girl seated next to her mother and in her seat belt. She fell asleep and stayed there for the rest of the flight.There was a big language barrier and complete lack of understanding of airplane safety and regulations. They not only did not speak English; but hardly spoke at all (even to each other). The family boarded last and had been escorted out to the plane; presumably so that they would know where to go. I did not realize until after we closed the door that none of the family spoke English and there was no information on the paperwork. When the little girl got up the first time; during the demo; I alerted the flight deck that we might have a problem with an unsecured child over two years old. When I got her seated; the CA (Captain) said that if she was secured; we were going to go. I thought that I had succeeded in making someone in the family understand that she needed to be in her seat belt and that she wouldn't get up again; so we proceeded to taxi out and get in line for takeoff.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
Air carrier Flight Attendants reported having difficulty getting a non-English speaking family to understand and comply with safety procedures and regulations.