Child distinguishing between languages
Apr 28, 2015 14:37:46 GMT 9
Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2015 14:37:46 GMT 9
Hey!
I hope this is the right place for my question...
I am aware that babies growing up bilingual learn to distinguish between their two languages from 7 months on.
Last week my son (who will be 1 on Saturday) absolutely surprised me. As both my partner and I have the same mother tongue, German is our majority language spoken at home. However English is the language spoken in the community. Anyway... Last Friday there was a parent afternoon in my son's daycare centre and there was another couple sitting nearby speaking in German. My son was playing nearby and suddenly started moving towards them. When there was a lull in their conversation, Benjamin just continued with his play. A short while later the couple resumed their conversation and as soon as he heard them speak he stared at them, started moving closer to them yet again and smiled at them. I followed him and all I said to him was "Does that sound familiar to you?" and he first smiled at me and again at the couple. We didn't know the couple but it was really cute to see how Benjamin reacted to them talking in our majority language.
It made me pretty proud of my little man as I realised that he definitely knows both his languages and is able to distinguish between them. I mean it's one thing when your child grows up with the OPOL set-up at home and learns that way that mummy speaks this language and daddy that. But for a little one whose parents both speak the same language at home to recognise "his" language while out and about in the community while surrounded by people speaking the community language. I also asked one of his educators how he was with understanding them (he's only just started daycare and it's the first time that he's got such a big exposure to the community language) and she confirmed that he was perfectly fine in understanding them.
Now I'm just curious... Have you experienced something similar with your child/ren? How old were they when you first realised they were/are able to distinguish between their (two) languages? Would love to hear your experience...
I hope this is the right place for my question...
I am aware that babies growing up bilingual learn to distinguish between their two languages from 7 months on.
Last week my son (who will be 1 on Saturday) absolutely surprised me. As both my partner and I have the same mother tongue, German is our majority language spoken at home. However English is the language spoken in the community. Anyway... Last Friday there was a parent afternoon in my son's daycare centre and there was another couple sitting nearby speaking in German. My son was playing nearby and suddenly started moving towards them. When there was a lull in their conversation, Benjamin just continued with his play. A short while later the couple resumed their conversation and as soon as he heard them speak he stared at them, started moving closer to them yet again and smiled at them. I followed him and all I said to him was "Does that sound familiar to you?" and he first smiled at me and again at the couple. We didn't know the couple but it was really cute to see how Benjamin reacted to them talking in our majority language.
It made me pretty proud of my little man as I realised that he definitely knows both his languages and is able to distinguish between them. I mean it's one thing when your child grows up with the OPOL set-up at home and learns that way that mummy speaks this language and daddy that. But for a little one whose parents both speak the same language at home to recognise "his" language while out and about in the community while surrounded by people speaking the community language. I also asked one of his educators how he was with understanding them (he's only just started daycare and it's the first time that he's got such a big exposure to the community language) and she confirmed that he was perfectly fine in understanding them.
Now I'm just curious... Have you experienced something similar with your child/ren? How old were they when you first realised they were/are able to distinguish between their (two) languages? Would love to hear your experience...