Frustration with the family...
Apr 23, 2016 5:52:17 GMT 9
Post by Beans on Apr 23, 2016 5:52:17 GMT 9
We have a weird situation - very lucky in that my ML husband's parents are also fluent in our ml (German), since his mum is originally from Germany. They did not, however, raise their children bilingually, partly because his older brother was severely disabled and needed years of hospital treatment and partly because in the 1950s Germans weren't exactly popular in the UK, so as a consequence my husband is not confident in his ml ability, even though he understands a lot more than many British people who actually took the trouble to learn the language formally.
Now we see his parents quite often, every week or two on average, and have requested from the start that they only speak ml to our two children. His father (who is ML) is very good and fairly consistent at talking to them in ml, but his mother (who is ml and also fairly hard of hearing) keeps switching into ML. At best she'll say things in ML and then repeat them in ml; at worst she only speaks ML, especially with our youngest who is only just starting to say a few words. Every time we see them, she starts off in ML, and it seems that the first few minutes of talk "programme" our oldest's choice of language, so from then on she'll reply in ML, which of course makes it more tempting to reply in ML.
This leads to some bizarre situations. Recently we were out for a meal all together; the oldest talked merrily in both ml and ML, but mostly ml. She phrased a beautiful ml sentence, and ml grandmother commented in ML how lovely it was to hear her speak ml so well...
Should I just give up on persuading her? I feel like I'm constantly nagging her; however it's such a valuable ml resource not to use! My partner keeps asking them to speak ml as well, but he's the "weak link" in that his ml ability is weakest, which means the adults' language will be ML anyway.
Now we see his parents quite often, every week or two on average, and have requested from the start that they only speak ml to our two children. His father (who is ML) is very good and fairly consistent at talking to them in ml, but his mother (who is ml and also fairly hard of hearing) keeps switching into ML. At best she'll say things in ML and then repeat them in ml; at worst she only speaks ML, especially with our youngest who is only just starting to say a few words. Every time we see them, she starts off in ML, and it seems that the first few minutes of talk "programme" our oldest's choice of language, so from then on she'll reply in ML, which of course makes it more tempting to reply in ML.
This leads to some bizarre situations. Recently we were out for a meal all together; the oldest talked merrily in both ml and ML, but mostly ml. She phrased a beautiful ml sentence, and ml grandmother commented in ML how lovely it was to hear her speak ml so well...
Should I just give up on persuading her? I feel like I'm constantly nagging her; however it's such a valuable ml resource not to use! My partner keeps asking them to speak ml as well, but he's the "weak link" in that his ml ability is weakest, which means the adults' language will be ML anyway.