Hello from Southern Germany
Apr 6, 2021 1:06:07 GMT 9
Post by Miri L. on Apr 6, 2021 1:06:07 GMT 9
Hi everyone from Southern Germany,
For my son, the situation is more complicated. When he was born, we were both working a lot and thus put less work into his language skills. However, his sister was mostly speaking in English with him. He also started speaking rather late, only using one and two word sentences until the age of 3 (and even beyond). Like his sister, he started German kindergarten at 2 and I thought that like her, that would help his German skills. Well, that never happened. He insists on only using English since he started speaking more. His pronunciation, even in his German words is also influenced by English as well as his grammar. He is only now starting to construct some German sentences containing more than 2 words. And he very clearly does not see any use in German at home, knowing very well that we all understand his English. However he gets very frustrated when we or others don't understand him. We are not even talking about Vietnamese at this point. I still hope that with more consistent time in kindergarten my son might find German more useful.
Overall, the whole language journey up to this point was a combination of accidents and experimentations. We will probably have to find a more structured way to introduce Vietnamese for which we have to commit some time including me working on my language skills. I am thinking that English is useful for both kids but at the same time I feel sad that Vietnamese created such a challenge for us.
My name is Mirjam, mother of two wonderful wild kids living in Germany. I was reading all of your journeys. My husband is Vietnamese but grew up mostly in Germany and is fluent in German and Vietnamese.
Our language journey for the last 8 years was full of surprises and the outcome did not really end where we thought it would go. When our daughter was born 8 years ago, we tried for her to learn both German and Vietnamese. However, as my Vietnamese is basic, I did not feel comfortable to speak a lot of Vietnamese with her, making my husband mostly responsible. Furthermore, I took her into work a lot during her first year, where we spoke mostly English. In her second year, we moved to Vietnam, and her German and Vietnamese were real good for her age. However, we lived with an American friend, thus her English picked up. After returning home, that is what stuck with her. She started to lose her Vietnamese but continued to use German and English, which are still her two languages used today. She is now in second grade in a German school. She is starting to pick up reading in English by herself. At the moment, I am looking for a way to reintroduce Vietnamese, which she is interested in. However, with all the homeschooling and home office, I cannot find the time and energy necessary.
For my son, the situation is more complicated. When he was born, we were both working a lot and thus put less work into his language skills. However, his sister was mostly speaking in English with him. He also started speaking rather late, only using one and two word sentences until the age of 3 (and even beyond). Like his sister, he started German kindergarten at 2 and I thought that like her, that would help his German skills. Well, that never happened. He insists on only using English since he started speaking more. His pronunciation, even in his German words is also influenced by English as well as his grammar. He is only now starting to construct some German sentences containing more than 2 words. And he very clearly does not see any use in German at home, knowing very well that we all understand his English. However he gets very frustrated when we or others don't understand him. We are not even talking about Vietnamese at this point. I still hope that with more consistent time in kindergarten my son might find German more useful.
Overall, the whole language journey up to this point was a combination of accidents and experimentations. We will probably have to find a more structured way to introduce Vietnamese for which we have to commit some time including me working on my language skills. I am thinking that English is useful for both kids but at the same time I feel sad that Vietnamese created such a challenge for us.
I wish all of you a great week.
Mirjam
