Hello from Minnesota!
Nov 22, 2018 3:37:33 GMT 9
Post by Luke on Nov 22, 2018 3:37:33 GMT 9
Hi everyone - I have been a reader on this forum for some time, and I'm finally hoping to get more involved!
My wife and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the U.S., and we're raising our (almost) 2-year-old son to be bilingual. His minority language is Italian. So far the process is going better than I expected, but still has presented daily pitfalls and challenges! Currently, his verbal skills in his majority language (English) are stronger than in Italian, and his comprehension seems to be roughly equal. He does speak in Italian to me, but it's just not as fluid as his English (if you can call a 2-year-old's speaking fluid).
We are taking a "one parent, one language" approach by necessity, because while my wife understands Italian relatively well, her speaking is limited. She does speak in Italian as much as she can to him. When my son is awake, I speak only in Italian, including to my wife, so I'm hopeful that this gives him enough exposure in the language. There are unfortunately no Italian immersion schools in my area (although there are a number of other languages), but there is an organization that hosts classes and activities for Italian families in the area. My son is still too young to join, but I think that will be helpful once he is a little older. For the time being, we are trying to surround him with as many minority language books and other influences to supplement me speaking to him.
The largest difficulty that we face is that I am the sole influence in Italian, and I am a non-native speaker. I'm fluent, but I find that there are a significant number of idiosyncracies and manners of expression that are lost on me, which come naturally to a native speaker. Adding to the difficulty is that I am the primary worker in the family, so my time with my son is limited to early mornings, nights and weekends.
I have found though that a great side effect to this limited time is that it forces me to spend really devoted time with him whenever he is awake, which is great even if he never says a word in Italian!
Anyway, I look forward to trying to be a more active member in the community!
Luke
My wife and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the U.S., and we're raising our (almost) 2-year-old son to be bilingual. His minority language is Italian. So far the process is going better than I expected, but still has presented daily pitfalls and challenges! Currently, his verbal skills in his majority language (English) are stronger than in Italian, and his comprehension seems to be roughly equal. He does speak in Italian to me, but it's just not as fluid as his English (if you can call a 2-year-old's speaking fluid).
We are taking a "one parent, one language" approach by necessity, because while my wife understands Italian relatively well, her speaking is limited. She does speak in Italian as much as she can to him. When my son is awake, I speak only in Italian, including to my wife, so I'm hopeful that this gives him enough exposure in the language. There are unfortunately no Italian immersion schools in my area (although there are a number of other languages), but there is an organization that hosts classes and activities for Italian families in the area. My son is still too young to join, but I think that will be helpful once he is a little older. For the time being, we are trying to surround him with as many minority language books and other influences to supplement me speaking to him.
The largest difficulty that we face is that I am the sole influence in Italian, and I am a non-native speaker. I'm fluent, but I find that there are a significant number of idiosyncracies and manners of expression that are lost on me, which come naturally to a native speaker. Adding to the difficulty is that I am the primary worker in the family, so my time with my son is limited to early mornings, nights and weekends.
I have found though that a great side effect to this limited time is that it forces me to spend really devoted time with him whenever he is awake, which is great even if he never says a word in Italian!
Anyway, I look forward to trying to be a more active member in the community!
Luke