Hi from a bilingual amateur in Wales
Feb 6, 2016 4:58:09 GMT 9
Post by Simon on Feb 6, 2016 4:58:09 GMT 9
Hi,
Why amateur? Let me explain...
Both my wife and I are English. About 15 months ago, we decided that we'd like to bring our children up speaking two languages, but we only spoke English. The decision was made that we'd teach them English and Spanish. My daughter, at the time was about 16 months old and I was allocated to learn Spanish and speak to her only in Spanish.
The first 2-3 months were difficult as I just didn't have the vocabulary but I stuck with it and by 3-4 months I was reading to her, counting stairs, describing toys, singing songs etc. I was also gaining in fluency myself. Then in February last year we had another daughter - cool! By 6-8 months, I was fluent enough to have relatively normal conversations with native speakers and my oldest daughter had begun to say some words in both English and Spanish.
Just before Christmas, just over a year into the project, my 2.5 year old was understanding pretty much everything we said to her both in English and Spanish and she had really got the idea that speaking to Daddy was in Spanish and Mummy in English. Feeling very proud at this point!
Then we moved house to North Wales where the local language is Welsh. Everybody speaks English too, but not often, and the preschool my daughter is attending is all in Welsh. So now she's having to work in three languages! She's not talking a *lot* but I was out with her the other day and she sang Twinkle Twinkle in all three languages, one after the other...to the delight of everybody in the pub!
I cannot stress how much work we have put into this but it seems to be working and on the rare occasions she gets to spend time with a native Spanish speaker she can make herself understood.
Now comes the hard work I think - I've always managed to keep my Spanish level well above hers but I'm aware I don't have the 'kiddy talk' and 'wittering' in Spanish and I need to put in some real effort now if I'm to continue as not only do I need to make sure my grammar is fairly good, my youngest daughter is going to be one next week and I'm going to have to go through this process again with her too. It's hard work when I'm tired to spend time in a different language and motivation at times is difficult. It feels almost impossible to speak to her in English but sometimes I just think of giving up. I cannot deny that there have been many occasions when I've thought I'd just stop, sometimes that feeling goes on for days. If anyone has any advice to keep me motivated here - please tell me!
And yes, I am learning Welsh as I need it for work etc. If I say anything to my daughter in Welsh (which isn't often as I'm not very good at it yet), she answers me in Spanish & then says the same to her mum in English.
Oh, and we have another baby due in July!
Simon
Why amateur? Let me explain...
Both my wife and I are English. About 15 months ago, we decided that we'd like to bring our children up speaking two languages, but we only spoke English. The decision was made that we'd teach them English and Spanish. My daughter, at the time was about 16 months old and I was allocated to learn Spanish and speak to her only in Spanish.
The first 2-3 months were difficult as I just didn't have the vocabulary but I stuck with it and by 3-4 months I was reading to her, counting stairs, describing toys, singing songs etc. I was also gaining in fluency myself. Then in February last year we had another daughter - cool! By 6-8 months, I was fluent enough to have relatively normal conversations with native speakers and my oldest daughter had begun to say some words in both English and Spanish.
Just before Christmas, just over a year into the project, my 2.5 year old was understanding pretty much everything we said to her both in English and Spanish and she had really got the idea that speaking to Daddy was in Spanish and Mummy in English. Feeling very proud at this point!
Then we moved house to North Wales where the local language is Welsh. Everybody speaks English too, but not often, and the preschool my daughter is attending is all in Welsh. So now she's having to work in three languages! She's not talking a *lot* but I was out with her the other day and she sang Twinkle Twinkle in all three languages, one after the other...to the delight of everybody in the pub!
I cannot stress how much work we have put into this but it seems to be working and on the rare occasions she gets to spend time with a native Spanish speaker she can make herself understood.
Now comes the hard work I think - I've always managed to keep my Spanish level well above hers but I'm aware I don't have the 'kiddy talk' and 'wittering' in Spanish and I need to put in some real effort now if I'm to continue as not only do I need to make sure my grammar is fairly good, my youngest daughter is going to be one next week and I'm going to have to go through this process again with her too. It's hard work when I'm tired to spend time in a different language and motivation at times is difficult. It feels almost impossible to speak to her in English but sometimes I just think of giving up. I cannot deny that there have been many occasions when I've thought I'd just stop, sometimes that feeling goes on for days. If anyone has any advice to keep me motivated here - please tell me!
And yes, I am learning Welsh as I need it for work etc. If I say anything to my daughter in Welsh (which isn't often as I'm not very good at it yet), she answers me in Spanish & then says the same to her mum in English.
Oh, and we have another baby due in July!
Simon
