Hi - I'm Alex, Italian with 4 British children!
Nov 13, 2016 9:13:57 GMT 9
Post by Alex on Nov 13, 2016 9:13:57 GMT 9
Hi there -
My name is Alex (Alessandra originally) and I am 100% Italian.
I was born and raised in Italy but moved to England about 20 years ago when I attended university here in the UK.
I am married to Matt, and we have 4 children. All boys. The twins, Josh and Luca are 11. Then Taylor is 7. And Riley is only 16 months at the moment.
I am really struggling in my bilingual journey and have become slightly disheartened about it and worried that the odds are in fact stacked against me.
I guess I am here because I need some support, some tips, but I also want to really understand whether I am wasting my time, and this is impossible in my situation. (I am the only one in my family who speaks Italian, and I have already failed with the first 3 boys!)
I think the main problem is that, after 20 years in the UK, my English is of a very high level. My accent is almost non-existent and I feel at home speaking English. I actually don't enjoy speaking Italian. I feel no emotional connection with it at all. (What I mean by this is that, if I am playing around with the baby and I say something like "Mummy loves you" in English, I feel that love, but if I say it in Italian, I feel nothing, does that make sense?)
Another problem is that, being the only Italian speaker in the family, I can't but speak English to my husband and the other 3 kiddies in front of Riley, who I am trying to bring up bilingual. This is ok now that he's 16 months old, but it will get to the point when he will realise mummy can understand and speak English just fine, and will probably fall into English, like his 3 brothers...
I do want Riley to be bilingual, and I hope that with him, the other 3 will get some of it back, but am I realistically fighting a lost battle?
My name is Alex (Alessandra originally) and I am 100% Italian.
I was born and raised in Italy but moved to England about 20 years ago when I attended university here in the UK.
I am married to Matt, and we have 4 children. All boys. The twins, Josh and Luca are 11. Then Taylor is 7. And Riley is only 16 months at the moment.
I am really struggling in my bilingual journey and have become slightly disheartened about it and worried that the odds are in fact stacked against me.
I guess I am here because I need some support, some tips, but I also want to really understand whether I am wasting my time, and this is impossible in my situation. (I am the only one in my family who speaks Italian, and I have already failed with the first 3 boys!)
I think the main problem is that, after 20 years in the UK, my English is of a very high level. My accent is almost non-existent and I feel at home speaking English. I actually don't enjoy speaking Italian. I feel no emotional connection with it at all. (What I mean by this is that, if I am playing around with the baby and I say something like "Mummy loves you" in English, I feel that love, but if I say it in Italian, I feel nothing, does that make sense?)
Another problem is that, being the only Italian speaker in the family, I can't but speak English to my husband and the other 3 kiddies in front of Riley, who I am trying to bring up bilingual. This is ok now that he's 16 months old, but it will get to the point when he will realise mummy can understand and speak English just fine, and will probably fall into English, like his 3 brothers...
I do want Riley to be bilingual, and I hope that with him, the other 3 will get some of it back, but am I realistically fighting a lost battle?
I play in the ml. Cooking in the ml is more fun. 
