I love language. (I know. You're shocked.) I love the sound of a poetic description, the feel of another's words in my mouth as I read aloud. I love the play of sound and meaning that comes from a well-wrought sentence. In college, I once wrote an essay about a book I have called Lost Beauties of the English Language, a dictionary of sorts that lists many of the wonderful words that have slowly worked their way out of everyday speech. Words like gloaming (the time just before twilight -- isn't that lovely?).
Now, I have a great time watching my children absorb new words and try to use them. Conversation on Sunday at our house:
Me: blah blah blah [can't recall what I was talking about] blah exuberance blah blah
Son: What does ex - u - ber- ance mean?
Me: It means when you have lots of energy and you're just so happy that you can't imagine anything else being better.
Son: [with a tone of complete understanding] Oh! Like how I felt today in the swimming pool.
And if you'd seen him swimming, you would know that exuberance is precisely the right word to describe that hour.
But (as we used to say down South where I grew up), there's a whole nuther issue of interest to me in terms of language, and that is the question of teaching kids multiple languages.
I have a grandfather whose parents spoke German to each other and who purposely didn't teach it to the kids so that they (the parents) would be able to communicate above the kids' heads, as it were.
I have a father whose parents spoke Yiddish, and went to the Yiddish Theater in New York to see shows, and participated in a whole range of conversations that none of the kids in my father's generation understood anything about -- apart from the occasional kvetch about someone's knaydeleh not being fluffy enough.
I have a husband whose mother moved to the United States from Japan when she was nearly thirty, and who purposefully did not teach her children Japanese because she wanted them to be good American kids. And my husband's father, whose parents emigrated here from Japan as a young couple in the early 19teens and who never spoke English, still somehow managed to leave behind children who were never fluent in Japanese. Sure, the first few spoke Japanese, but by the time they got to child number 5 or 6, the older kids were speaking English in school, and teaching the younger ones... And so my husband speaks no Japanese and cannot teach it to our children.
I am fascinated by this movement that seems to me to be a cultural shift. People in my generation are longing for the languages of their parents and grandparents, wishing for the fluency lost to generations -- while those older generations of parents thought they were doing the best thing possible for their children by resisting marking them as foreign through their speech. And it is probably true that speaking German in the early 1940s didn't make you a whole lot of extra friends in these parts. Japanese either. In fact, the latter was liable to land you in an internment camp right here in the United States. So you can understand where the hesitancy to pass on family language came from.
Nevertheless, when I hear Daughter point to a jacket in our closet and say, in her still-babyish voice, "That Ojichan jacket," I wish that she were learning Japanese right along with her English, and I am sorry that I cannot help her learn it. For if mastering the delight of one language can produce such exuberance, wouldn't two be twice as grand?
What about you? Do you speak more than one language? Are you teaching it to your children? Or is there one you wish you could pass on?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
On Acquiring Language(s)
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24 comments:
I wish that I spoke a second lauguage and could teach her but I don't even come close. When Maddie was a baby, her nickname was "chica" Spanish for girl. It stuck, and I still call her that occasionally. That's about the extent of my bilingualism.
You know this already, but you asked, so I will pretend you don't know, for the benefit (I hope) of your readers.
My father-in-law taught my husband his native language, Spanish; and now my husband is teaching it to our two children. We were told, when our first child was born, that it is important to differentiate between languages, so the child doesn't get confused. If you have two bilingual parents you can differentiate by day of the week, or by time of day. But, since I am not fluent enough to pull that off, we differentiated by parent.
It then became papi vs. the world, however, so we had to add some Spanish video tapes to help give them enough exposure to Spanish. Even so, they still are much better at English. However, my son, who just turned 4, can carry on a 4-year-old conversation with his papi, almost completely in Spanish. And they do learn some words in Spanish, first. Monday, at the store, my daughter (2) excitedly exclaimed, "Look mommy, mariquitas! (ladybugs)"
I have enjoyed observing their bilingual education. The rules of both languages become more transparent (and thus, hopefully easier to master) when they try to speak Spanish with English grammar, or English with Spanish grammar. Jokes and idioms are interesting to translate and examine. It has also been fun, with each child, to watch the first time they meet someone, other than papi and abuelito (grandpa), who speaks Spanish. There is the look of shock, almost intrusion, and then the camraderie of those who share a secret.
I have observed a few rude strangers look down their noses at husband and children as they converse in Spanish. But most people remark on how useful it would be to know Spanish. And it is useful. But also very important to ab'ito and papi.
I took German in college and LOVED it, but unfortunately have lost all but a few words and phrases. I truly wish that American school taught languanges in elementary school. As it is, beginning in high school or even college, our children are already WAAAAY behind the curve compared to children from other countries.
Looks like I should learn how to spell in my native English LANGUAGE first... ha!
Just English. But wishing my baby G's Great Grandmother (Obasa) would teach him Japanese.
I speak smatterings of 7 languages. I have made it a habit to sneak phrases from all of those languages into the lives of my sons. My youngest is now studying Japanese in high school. He is just finishing his second year of Japanese. My oldest took German in high school and the second boy took Spanish. They all love their 'languages'. They all enjoy being able to greet people in their native tongue, and say simple phrases that say more than just what the phrase says - those simple phrases say "I care about you."
Wow, seven languages! Does being able to read music count as one? ;)
I speak four, but only English with full mastery. Mandarin is my (unfortunately very rusty) mother tongue, I learned French by being enrolled in a "French Immersion" program in elementary school (school is completely in French in Kindergarten, and then more and more English is added until it gets to half and half by grade 6). I learned German when I went to live with my Oma and Opa after I graduated from high school, but I think early exposure from childhood visits made it easier. Also, speaking two other Romantic languages.
I always intended to speak a different language with Jade, but at first I couldn't pick one. Then, when I decided Chinese made the most sense (because it's the one she's least likely to pick up later) I realized how difficult it is to monologue in a language that you're not up to snuff in.
So, unfortunately, I am a failure at passing on language. Well, except for English. But she'll definitely be going into a French Immersion program, too, when she starts school.
As for confusing kids, I've known a number of children who grew up in bilingual homes. There might be some confusion at first, but it doesn't really matter - they always sort it out in the end.
Grumph! That darned Enter key submitted my comment before I could make myself un-anonymous. But you probably recognized Jade as my little girl, anyway, MT. :)
oh my. this touched a chord. english is my second language that i learned when i was 3 thru sesame street. no lie bec i was forever in the care of nannys who only spoke our native tongue. speaking another language early made me keen on listening to music, dialects, other languages- i can pick up the faintest accent. its helped me w my daughter she is 2 and learning to speak. i understand her garbled words when no one else could maybe bec im her mom but i think bec i'm used to the fluctuations on speech on different people. i try to speak Tagalog to her but not often enough.
My husband and I are American born filipinos so our first language is english. He can speak some tagalog and a little bit of spanish. My grandparents on my dad's side didn't speak any english and lived with us when I was younger so I HAD to learn some tagalog but I'm sad to say that since they've passed, I've grown really rusty with the language. I can understand and read it well but I struggle when I try to speak it.
I just remember when I was in middle school and high school, kids would make fun of other kids who had foreign accents. There was a stereotype that got applied and you weren't considered "cool". I think that was part of the reason why I didn't embrace the opportunity to become fluent in that language, which I now regret.
I've asked my parents and in-laws to speak to my kids in tagalog with the hopes that they will learn but, unfortunately, they only know key words. I'm encouraging them to learn other languages wherever they can - school, TV shows, self-learning CD's, whatever. Learning other languages opens up a whole new world. Hmm... maybe I'll go take some classes myself!
We are doing sign language! And, many of his toys have a Spanish option. So, these are two languages we are focused on.
His dad is Polish and I am Armenian (both of us with other stuff mixed in for fun). So it would be nice for him to learn a little of one or both.
I really want to teach him about different cultures. Hopefully one or more will spark an interest and lead him to want to learn the language.
I have an idea that he may be the one who teaches me . . .
In addition to English, I have basic German, and reasonable French, both learned during my peripatetic childhood, both of which have proved very useful as an adult - especially the latter since moving to Quebec.
The four Sprats are going through bilingual nursery school / preschool, then to 100% French elementary school. No English is allowed within the school grounds! This is very, very hard at first, but it took No. 1 son less than five months to become entirely, idiomatically fluent in French. Admittedly with a Quebecois accent, but hey, it works around here. He reads / writes / speaks French to the same level as the native Francophones in his class (Grade 1).
We do live in a pert of Quebec where English is the exception, rather than the rule, so the children are exposed on a daily basis too (as well as to my efforts at conversation with shopkeepers, neighbours etc), so have a language awareness before the formal teaching begins.
The immersion system is pretty brutal, but very effective.....! On the other hand, I wish I had more language skills, and if I understand the grade 1 teacher correctly, there is a 'language window' that opens for children between ages 3 and 6, then it starts to slowly close, so the earlier the better.
Salut!
Two years of Spanish in high school and two years of Japanese in college weren't enough to make me fluent in either, but I limp along in Spanish. All I can teach them is what I know, so I do. I used to count to 100 in Spanish, French, and Japanese, in that order, in the car when Smedley was three, and she'd parrot it back perfectly. We still drill it now and then.
They ask me how to say something in one of the three languages, and sometimes we look it up. We talk about how the roots of words often sound alike, language to language. They'll never learn to speak any of those languages this way, BUT they are picking up the accents and proper pronunciation -- and the interest. It's a start.
Great topic, MT Are you SURE it's not Thinky Thursday? My brain hurts.
mommytime - I love this topic, and while technically I am not teaching my kids another language, I am desperately trying to keep alive the old southern words of my grandmother's time that are slowly fading away with every person from her generation that passes. Words like ICEBOX, which meant refrigerator. To this day that's what I call it. Phrases such as "Harder than a brick bat." Which quite frankly I cannot explain, other than it was told to me hundreds of times and we do have a Brick Bat Road here so it clearly has some sort of meaning. Also, phrases like someone's hair looking like HOO-RAW'S NEST. (What is a hoo-raw and what kind of nest does it build?)
Anyway, great topic. I seek to preserve these old-fashioned words and phrases because in a matter of time they will be, like me, defunct.
Lisa, thanks for such a long and detailed answer. I so wish I had that to pass on to my kids too!
Tara, I so agree that our children are really behind in this regard. Lceel has it right when he says that part of it is about being conscientious and making an effort. This is something I try to do always when I'm visiting places where English is not the first language -- even if you just learn a few phrases, it makes all the difference to people. And, as Mrs F's comment makes clear, there are so many parts of the world where being bilingual is not just (relatively) easy to accomplish; it is the norm and a necessity. It might be easy enough to find someone who speaks English in many places, but so much better culturally to make the effort at learning a new language too.
I find it fascinating, too, that there are two different groups of comments here: the ones from people who themselves tried to learn second (or third, etc) languages and hope to pass on some awareness of difference to their children; and the ones whose own families originally spoke something other than English and who would like to pass on a kind of sameness or a familial identification through language. (CBWoman, I think your efforts fall in this camp too. And as an aside, I think a brick bat is an instrument used in the making of bricks, to pound the clay to release any air bubbles.)
It's interesting, though, that even with the family connections, this is much harder than I thought. I never would have imagined, for example, that it would take recourse to videos and other outside supplements (as Lisa explains) to help this along. Not that this doesn't make sense; only that I'd never thought of that before.
Sorry for hurting your head, Foolery. In recompense, tomorrow's post (while long) will be all about pretty flowers and not Thinky Thursday-ish at all. :)
It definitely takes some extras to keep things going. In my family, both my parents could speak Mandarin but once my sister and I learned English, we never really spoke pure Chinese again.
One family I know where it's just the mom who speaks Polish (and dad speaks just English) got off to a good start. But aroudn age 3 (that's early!) the little girl seemed to realize that Polish was this "weird" language that only mama could speak, and she refused to use it. I'm guessing there'd have been less resistance if her dad could speak it, too, or if there were at least other sources to show her that it was "normal".
Ah ha.... so that is why you asked me about Polish.
Yes. I teach my kids Polish.
I essentially grew up in the States and saw how many of my friends were trying to connect with their heritages.
My parents barely spoke English and I spent summers in Poland. I was connected.
When I got married and had kids, I vowed for my children to be connected with my heritage. Always. And forever.
My children speak Polish. Eat Polish. Pray in Polish. I want them to be proud.
Wow... did I just babble away in a comment. So sorry. GREAT post!
OhMommy, thanks for the comment. My dad's father was Polish; his mother Russian (though she was born here, her 8 older siblings were born there) . English and Yiddish were what they spoke in common -- but even the Yiddish didn't get passed along. I wish it had.
I think it's great that you are doing this.
And, Fawn, I do think it probably matters what is around in terms of community; if there are others around speaking the language, then it matters far less, I think, if one parent does not.
I speak French. I always vowed to raise my children speaking it but sadly, since moving to the U.S. I have lost my conversational abilities. Not that it would do them much good down here. Spanish is where it's at!
to fawn:
We know another family who also has a dad (not a native speaker) speaking Spanish to his children while mom speaks English. Each of our eldest children went through a phase (about 2) where they refused to speak Spanish. They would clearly understand it, but only responded in English. The dad's persisted, though, and they eventually came around. Subsequent children (We have 1 more; they have 4 more) did not have this hiccup, probably because of big brother/sister's example.
Lisa, thanks for the addition. And here's a funny for you: I had to reread your comment several times because I at first thought it said YOUR two eldest children had this trouble but your ONE MORE didn't... and I was all "WHAAA?!? They have a third child I don't know about?" And I'm so goofy that I actually tried hard to get my head around this for a while before I realized that I am an idiot and that obviously you don't have a third (secret?) child who is already talking... I am snorting typing this because it's so ridiculous... and that I was misreading the grammar of your sentence because I apparently need more coffee. d'oh.
I'm one of those 2nd generation Chinese that had parents that wanted me to speak English right from the start, so my Chinese is severely lacking and I'm pretty much illiterate. By the time I was older, they sent me to Chinese school but we all just goofed around and didn't learn much. So it's a shame that I can't pass it on to my kids. Then again I still get people who ask me why I speak English so well. ARGHH!!!
Hi there. I just stumbled on your blog and found this post really interesting. I've been teaching English in Japan to Japanese children and adults for nearly 2 months now, and every day I am amazed by the expressions they use (one kid always says "oops" when she drops something!), the questions they ask, and their huge enthusiasm for learning English. Their grammar is usually better than mine, and they ask questions about things I have never even thought about before!
Teaching a language is so interesting and exciting, as is learning one. I am also learning Japanese right now, which is tough but very rewarding. I think it also gives me a better understanding of how my students feel too. We are all learning together!
Thanks for an interesting post. :)
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