First Words
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.
Interesting topic. My husband is partially bi-lingual. He speaks 90% fluently in Mandarin Chinese but can’t read or write in Chinese. He’s the first child. His Chinese accent is much more authentic than his younger sister’s. She also speaks less Chinese. Both his parents speak and read Mandarin fluently. Like your children my husband and his sister grew up in a mostly English speaking world. Their parents did send them to Chinese school weekends (similar to what a lot of Jewish parents send their kids to).
I agree with your assessment that with the first child it’s easier to keep the non-English language out of the house. But when the second child comes along and the first knows that English seems to be the preferred language of the outside world it corrupts the language skills of the non-English language. The younger sibling has no real incentive to learn the other language because his/her older sibling can translate for them.
I applaud your effort to stick with teaching two languages. My husband has yet to teach our toddler any Chinese. Pity, because the way the world is headed Chinese could be a really useful language to know in the business world.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:04 pm