whatMsg?

I video conference with my parents weekly as it is a great way to keep in touch with grandparents who live over 3000 miles away. We were video conferencing yesterday and for the most part K would speak to my parents, who speak Estonian, only in English. I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed, like I wasn’t doing my job teaching her the Estonian language. I’ve explained the situation to my parents before, but still, I was feeling embarrassed. I just can’t think what else I could be doing but at least take comfort in the fact the K understands Estonian perfectly as does 16-month old A. I keep trying everything I can think of. Perhaps with my parents and sister visiting in 3 weeks for 2 weeks, the kids will hear more Estonian conversations and will say a few Estonian words as well. I’ll be sure to let you know!

I can’t help but wonder in what language A will speak when she starts talking.  She’s 16 months old and saying a few words here and there along with a lot of phrases that I just don’t understand yet.  She understands just about everything I tell her in Estonian which I continue to find amazing though so far most of her first words are all in English despite the fact that I only speak Estonian with her.  It must be her sister’s influence.  A says Emmi (my name), Doggy, K (Her sister’s name), Daddy, cookie, “that’s bird”, “that’s books”, “my milk” and some other things along the way.  Everything she says is so adorable and of course I can’t “correct” her to speak in Estonian with me since she is using her words correctly.  So, I say in Estonian with a lot of excitement, as an example “To on oige, to on lind!” (That’s right, that is a bird!)  As with first words, I really just want to jump up and down and repeat what she just said in English but am trying to stay true to my commitment to bilingualism and so I don’t do this though it is killing me.  I feel that if I were to fall off the wagon now then there would be no turning back and we’d be an English only household.  This is also not the biggest challenge I fear I will face, though it is a little frustrating to not give in to the joy of her first words regardless of the language.

In a nod to my previous posts about the Amazon Kindle, I have now read quite a few books, novels, and blogs with the device. I am very pleased with my purchase, except that I paid full price before Amazon reduced the price. The price of being an early adopter I suppose. Anyhow, the Kindle is best when reading content without graphics. Those books that rely on graphics are best left to print. Otherwise the Kindle is wonderful, especially when reading books in a series as you can buy the next book immediately, no waiting! Also, the Kindle is great for reading when feeding a baby a bottle. In the past I tried to read while feeding my first baby and this proved nearly impossible as I didn’t have a spare hand to turn pages with. This is not a problem with the Kindle. I just need a spare finger to click to the next page. I wish I had this sooner as my oldest child is at the very end of being given baby bottles. So all you mothers out there with babies who like to read, the Kindle is for you!  Personally, I have no problem reading the Kindle for hours on end and find it no different than print on the eyes.  It’s also nice not to have to base my reading position on needing clearance to turn pages.  Finally, an interesting observation, as I still read print content as well as the Kindle, even when engrossed in reading the Kindle, it’s funny that I still go to turn the page when on reading “auto-pilot” instead of just clicking the page turn button.  Old habits!

Next post will be back to bi-lingual children…

I speak in Estonian with K and A 100% of the time, but K answers mainly in English and I’d estimate speaks English about 95% of the time. This has happened since she started watching DVD’s. At first she was speaking in English when she was in fantasy play and Estonian with me at other times. e.g. She was pretending to be a character from one of her DVD’s and was interacting with me not as K, but as someone else. But before too long was was only speaking in English except for the very rare occasion. There are also some words she just doesn’t know in English and so these she’ll say in Estonian as well. That means that the DVD’s and Daddy haven’t taught her the words yet. And, this is where we are right now with K at 2 years and 19 months old- excellent comprehension in Estonian and English, speaking mainly in English though.

As for this English only speaking I am getting, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that perhaps K doesn’t witness enough Estonian conversations and just gets the language one-sided from me. She also sees me speaking to Daddy in English and just about every other person we interact with on a daily basis is speaking in English. Of course this is going to have an effect. So my challenge is to figure out how to address the situation.

I should mention that all along I do speak with my sister and parents via video chat on the computer a couple times a week and here they witness Estonian conversations, but not in person.  Similarly on the telephone.   There are some Estonian American families around, but with children this little, and schedules busy, I haven’t established a network of contacts though it is fully my intention to do so once the girls are school age.

Anyhow, back to how to get K to speak more Estonian.  The first thing I did was to translate most things my daughter said in English with an Estonian confirmation. eg. K says, “Can I have some milk?” And I respond with, “Kas sa soovid piima? Utle palun!” (Would you like some milk? Don’t forget to say please!) This has limited success and the answer is usually “Yes.” And then I have to ask, “Jah mida?” (Yes what?) And then K finally asks in Estonian. And so we go throughout the day.

The second thing I did was to get some Estonian language DVD’s for children and a multi-format DVD player to play the European formats. I’ll expound on the differences between European and American programming for children in a future post. The differences are HUGE. This has had limited effect on Estonian speaking though during the program, she does talk about it and interact with the show in Estonian. Yeay!

Now my challenge is with A at 15 months.  She’s slower to speak but is really starting to pick up the pace with her word acquisition.  My biggest curiosity right now is that it will be interesting to see what happens when A starts talking. Will the K and A speak in Estonian with each other? How will I get them to do this without nagging?

Up until this point K assumes correctly that everyone speaks English until she hears otherwise.  She hasn’t hear A saying much and so assumes A must speak English and so she speaks only English with A despite my telling K that A understands Estonian.  Very logical.  I feel like I really have my job cut out for me now but will keep working on teaching A Estonian words.  But, I feel that A’s language development will take a different course since she interacts so much with her big sister and not just with me.  Unlike with K, I will not be her only daily language teacher.  I will keep you posted!

Finally, I breakthrough for me today in understanding whether or not K comprehends that we speak two languages.  She asked for something she wanted very much in English and I told her she had to ask in Estonian and she did!  The interaction went something like this:

K: “Emmi, can I have some cherry pie?”
Emmi: “Kusi Eesti keeles palun.” (Ask in Estonian please.)
K: “”Emmi, kas ma voin palun kirsi pie’d?” (Emmi, may I please have some cherry pie?)
Emmi: “Jah sa viod.  Aitah et sa kusisid ni ilusasti!”  (Yes you may.  Thank you for asking so nicely!)

Now that I know that K knows the English is English and Estonian is Estonian and I know she understands when I ask her to speak in ENglish, I can do so more often.  I just have to be careful not to nag about this and try to subtly sneak it in.   I can’t help but to hope that once A starts talking we can all speak Estonian together and that will help things.  I could be totally wrong, we’ll see!