Hallo from Germany!
Jul 4, 2016 19:18:07 GMT 9
Post by Marlissa on Jul 4, 2016 19:18:07 GMT 9
Hi everyone and hi Ivy,
I haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet.
We are an English-speaking family in Germany. My husband is German, but has a very good knowledge of English having spent some time in the US when he was a student. Half of my family is American and lives in the US and I was brought up bilingually in Germany. We recently spent 2 years in California where our son was born in 2013. He's three now and he speaks both languages pretty well.
We faced some challenges when he started daycare at 13 months when we came back to Germany. My son had already started using some English words and then started introducing German words. It was funny because sometimes he did it just to test my reaction. For example he had always said and loved the word "birdie" and then he came home calling out "VOGEL". He sensed really early on that English was the language that I wished for him to speak to me. And he was always eager to please me in that and so he was always ready to take my help when he didn't know a word or expression in English.
Up until my son was about 2 and a half he was constantly mixing in German words and expressions because he was using all the vocabulary he had to express himself. But over time his vocabulary in English expanded and he now is able to stick largely to English when he speaks to us. I'm so happy and proud because it took a lot of effort and discipline. It wasn't always easy for me to remind him to speak English and "correct" him when he used German.
There was another tricky part. At first he was confused when to use English and when to use German. He naturally thought that English was the language we spoke when we were only mommy daddy and him, and as soon as there were other people around, he switched to German. We then figured out that he was just imitating what his parents were doing most times. It took him a while until he was about 2 and a half, that he would stick to English when the other people around were English speakers! For example he would always switch to German when we went to our English speaking playgroup. People would ask him something in English and he would reply in German. But in the end he understood the concept, it just took some time.
I'm happy to have found this community and hear all your stories. I'll also keep you posted about our ongoing journey! Right now I'm especially curious about how our 7 month old daughter will do! Of course she's not speaking yet.
Best,
Marlissa
I haven't had the chance to introduce myself yet.
We are an English-speaking family in Germany. My husband is German, but has a very good knowledge of English having spent some time in the US when he was a student. Half of my family is American and lives in the US and I was brought up bilingually in Germany. We recently spent 2 years in California where our son was born in 2013. He's three now and he speaks both languages pretty well.
We faced some challenges when he started daycare at 13 months when we came back to Germany. My son had already started using some English words and then started introducing German words. It was funny because sometimes he did it just to test my reaction. For example he had always said and loved the word "birdie" and then he came home calling out "VOGEL". He sensed really early on that English was the language that I wished for him to speak to me. And he was always eager to please me in that and so he was always ready to take my help when he didn't know a word or expression in English.
Up until my son was about 2 and a half he was constantly mixing in German words and expressions because he was using all the vocabulary he had to express himself. But over time his vocabulary in English expanded and he now is able to stick largely to English when he speaks to us. I'm so happy and proud because it took a lot of effort and discipline. It wasn't always easy for me to remind him to speak English and "correct" him when he used German.
There was another tricky part. At first he was confused when to use English and when to use German. He naturally thought that English was the language we spoke when we were only mommy daddy and him, and as soon as there were other people around, he switched to German. We then figured out that he was just imitating what his parents were doing most times. It took him a while until he was about 2 and a half, that he would stick to English when the other people around were English speakers! For example he would always switch to German when we went to our English speaking playgroup. People would ask him something in English and he would reply in German. But in the end he understood the concept, it just took some time.
I'm happy to have found this community and hear all your stories. I'll also keep you posted about our ongoing journey! Right now I'm especially curious about how our 7 month old daughter will do! Of course she's not speaking yet.
Best,
Marlissa