Minority language is English in Italy
Sept 12, 2017 0:57:41 GMT 9
Post by Elena on Sept 12, 2017 0:57:41 GMT 9
Hello everybody,
It was great to chance upon this wonderful website and very interesting forum. I really needed someone who could support and advise me throughout the tough mission of raising a bilingual child.
I'm Italian but I lived abroad (Persian Gulf) for the first 15 years of my life. I attended an American school for 4 years when I was a teenager and everything around me spoke English: school, friends, TV, daily life etc. At home my Italian parents spoke Italian, my mother tongue. When I returned to Italy for good my English was perfect but I used to make several mistakes in Italian. 27 years have gone by since then and today I still live in Italy but I consider myself a bilingual woman. I'm sure I could never forget my English although I do happen to have some silly doubts every now and then because I don't practice the language that much anymore. Luckily, I teach English to kids in my own country and help my husband out in his work with translations from Italian to English...this definitely keeps me updated with the English language.
When my child was born 2 years ago, I decided to speak English to him right away and never changed my mind. Today he understands everything I say but he tends to speak in Italian, except for some words (blanket, cheese, stand up, bye bye, moon etc.) English is the minority language of course and I decided to adopt the method "one parent, one language": I always speak in English while my husband speaks Italian. Even when we are with other people I keep speaking in English.
I suppose it is normal that he speaks more Italian than English (his Italian friends wouldn't understand him and neither would his grandparents!) but I would like to ask you if this means I'm not succeeding...however, consider that he hasn't turned 2 yet and he still doesn't make complete structured phrases.
We speak English around 10 hours a day and once a week watch DVDs in English like for example The Jungle Book. We also listen to English nursery rhymes (Wheels on the Bus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes etc.)
Any advice?
Thank you,
Elena
It was great to chance upon this wonderful website and very interesting forum. I really needed someone who could support and advise me throughout the tough mission of raising a bilingual child.
I'm Italian but I lived abroad (Persian Gulf) for the first 15 years of my life. I attended an American school for 4 years when I was a teenager and everything around me spoke English: school, friends, TV, daily life etc. At home my Italian parents spoke Italian, my mother tongue. When I returned to Italy for good my English was perfect but I used to make several mistakes in Italian. 27 years have gone by since then and today I still live in Italy but I consider myself a bilingual woman. I'm sure I could never forget my English although I do happen to have some silly doubts every now and then because I don't practice the language that much anymore. Luckily, I teach English to kids in my own country and help my husband out in his work with translations from Italian to English...this definitely keeps me updated with the English language.
When my child was born 2 years ago, I decided to speak English to him right away and never changed my mind. Today he understands everything I say but he tends to speak in Italian, except for some words (blanket, cheese, stand up, bye bye, moon etc.) English is the minority language of course and I decided to adopt the method "one parent, one language": I always speak in English while my husband speaks Italian. Even when we are with other people I keep speaking in English.
I suppose it is normal that he speaks more Italian than English (his Italian friends wouldn't understand him and neither would his grandparents!) but I would like to ask you if this means I'm not succeeding...however, consider that he hasn't turned 2 yet and he still doesn't make complete structured phrases.
We speak English around 10 hours a day and once a week watch DVDs in English like for example The Jungle Book. We also listen to English nursery rhymes (Wheels on the Bus, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes etc.)
Any advice?
Thank you,
Elena
