Kids with Two Languages

[qpaulina42]

i'm surprised I still remember. used to live in Hamburg when I was 12 to 15 years old.

 

[Amygdala]

Wow, Paulina, very impressive!

 

[wtt :)]

i'm surprised I still remember. used to live in Hamburg when I was 12 to 15 years old.

that's really good! i think as long as you've had enough practice at some point in life, you won't forget it that quickly

 

[qpaulina42]

danke sehr!

 

[Erised]

I wish you all luck, I'm afraid I failed miserably. Being the only Dutch speaker around I just can't be bothered. It's not my favourite language anyway (even though it's my mother tongue), so I couldn't force myself to speak it to her. I'd sit there, look at her, and not have a clue what to say.

The only times I speak Dutch to her is when visiting my family, so for about an hour a day, 7 days every 3 months. Pointless, I know

 

[curiosa]

Erised, it's hard work, isn't it?
We are also not going as well as planned. Alice's first language is English, which she now speaks fluently.
We try to speak Italian to her, and she does understand it. She can translate between the two languages, but is reluctant to speak it. She will use individual words, but not make sentences in Italian yet. Of course the in-laws aren't happy about it cause they have a hard time communicating with Alice when they are here and when they Skype, but they are very annoying because they do NOT encourage her to speak Italian at all! They try to speak very poor English with her (why??) and even bought her some books in ENGLISH (what!??? they should buy her books in Italian, if they really want her to learn Italian!)
I have pretty much failed with Japanese. Alice understands and uses a few simple words and expressions in Japanese, but I don't use it often enough with her. Her Japanese accent is very British Not sure she'll ever use Japanese much in life anyway. I can't say I'm surprised though, my Japanese isn't perfect either.

 

[wtt :)]

why won't they get her ITALIAN books? that's just... oh well. lol then they can't expect her to know let alone speak any Italian...
I would try to keep up with at least some of the Japanese. DH's dad always spoke JApanese with him and then his mom moved away with him so he forgot most of it but now, whenever he tries to get back into learning it, it seems much easier to him because he had at least SOME Japanese in his child hood
I, on the other hand, studied it for a while and have forgotten almost everything! I can still read and write but speak?

 

[curiosa]

wtt, I will contnue with Japanese. We have lots of Japanese books, thanks to my parents sneidng them over, and we also watch some Japanese DVDs. I might not be consistent in speaking it, but at least she can get a flavour

My parents also send us Italian books - thank god! Cause the in-laws are useless.
(my dad is Italian, my mum Japanese).

My mum is coming over soon for the birth of our second baby, and hopefully she'll speak some Italian and/or Japanese to Alice.

 

[wtt :)]

that's great that you are keeping it up, anything is better than nothing! Books and occasional conversation with your parents sounds great!

 

[Erised]

It really is hard work, especially when you're not used to the language anymore and it feels foreign to you. I've started singing some Dutch songs with her, which seems easier than conversations for me. I do have 2 Dutch books here, but she's still too young for them and would just rip them. I might ask my parents to send over some age appropriate books for Christmas, I hadn't thought of that!

Eleanor will probably know more Japanese than Dutch even though neither DH nor I speak it. We watch a lot of anime shows and movies =)

 

[puppycat]

We're going to be sending Laura to a welsh nursery. She's doing really well with her english so I want to see if she can grasp another language too. If she struggles with welsh then I'll put her through english mainstream education. I speak it but my partner doesn't, and tbh I'm more than a little rusty and completely lacking in confidence so having her to speak to will be fantastic