05 July 2010
It's time for Carnival
Wow! How great to start the week with the Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism, this time compiled by Sarah, from Bringing up Baby Bilingual, with lots of interesting posts from families who are blogging on their experience raising kids with more than 1 language. Well done Sarah! Please pay her a visit and enjoy the wonderful literature review. If you want more information on the Carnival, you can check it out on the Bilingual for Fun blog.
25 June 2010
English 1 x 0 Portuguese
In times of World Cup, I must admit (sadly) that English is winning the game in the Linke family. Portuguese is still present, Oshwambo is somewhere there, Afrikaans appears sometimes, but it is the English team that is going for the second round. It is official: Julia wants or prefers or finds it easier to speak in English.
Of course she still speaks in Portuguese with me, but not as a golden rule anymore. When we are chatting, she shifts back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... until the moment she sticks to English. I keep answering in Portuguese, of course (and now more than ever). However, as of now, she has clearly chosen English.
I guess that is happening mostly because of school. She is now very active there, sometimes doesn't want to come home, has music and dance classes, has lots of friends (and keeps talking about them all day long), and is expanding her understanding about the world – weather, actions, animals, plants. We can see that in her vocabulary. So probably it all makes more sense if it is in English.
Her favourite DVDs are also the ones in English. If I trick her and put something in Portuguese, she will eventually get into it and enjoy. But if you ask her what she wants to watch, it will be definitely “Winnie the Pooh” or, the winner at home, the Australian “Playschool”.
Her repertory of songs has expanded tremendously, and she keeps singing “I'm a little tea pot”, “Twinkle twinkle little star”, “Bah bah black sheep”, “Five little ducks”, “Row row row your boat” and “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” all day long. She likes to hear a Brazilian CD with nursery rhymes, and when it is playing she might sing along. However if you just ask her to sing something spontaneously, it will definitely be an English rhyme.
Of course she still speaks in Portuguese with me, but not as a golden rule anymore. When we are chatting, she shifts back and forth, back and forth, back and forth... until the moment she sticks to English. I keep answering in Portuguese, of course (and now more than ever). However, as of now, she has clearly chosen English.
I guess that is happening mostly because of school. She is now very active there, sometimes doesn't want to come home, has music and dance classes, has lots of friends (and keeps talking about them all day long), and is expanding her understanding about the world – weather, actions, animals, plants. We can see that in her vocabulary. So probably it all makes more sense if it is in English.
Her favourite DVDs are also the ones in English. If I trick her and put something in Portuguese, she will eventually get into it and enjoy. But if you ask her what she wants to watch, it will be definitely “Winnie the Pooh” or, the winner at home, the Australian “Playschool”.
Her repertory of songs has expanded tremendously, and she keeps singing “I'm a little tea pot”, “Twinkle twinkle little star”, “Bah bah black sheep”, “Five little ducks”, “Row row row your boat” and “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” all day long. She likes to hear a Brazilian CD with nursery rhymes, and when it is playing she might sing along. However if you just ask her to sing something spontaneously, it will definitely be an English rhyme.
I wonder what went wrong with my approach. Is it just a normal path for Babel families? Or have I failed?
Recently I've been quite sick and she has spent a lot of time with daddy. I wonder if it is a consequence of that as well. Surely as a mother (and with the Brazilian Catholic blood) I feel very guilty for not being capable of playing games with her daily, dancing and singing and counting… But oh well. I'm pregnant and facing tough times and that's how it is, unfortunately. I hope this will change, or at least it won’t stop her Portuguese language acquisition at all.
Time will tell.
07 May 2010
sapato?
Michael, asks me "sapato"?
Julia turns to him and says, "sapato means shoes, daddy".
It does seem she will be the one to finally teach Michael some Portuguese!
Julia turns to him and says, "sapato means shoes, daddy".
It does seem she will be the one to finally teach Michael some Portuguese!
29 April 2010
which language is that?
Julia's new words: pilinho and blankinho for pillow and cover. She has been doing that quite a lot recently - applying the diminutive suffix as in Portuguese language to English words.
15 April 2010
23 March 2010
A fourth language?
We have noticed that there is a fourth language starting to show up in our language maze - that is Afrikaans. Since Michael and I arrived in Namibia we have both been reluctant to learn Afrikaans, for historical/political reasons. Despite the fact that I find it neither a beautiful nor an attractive language, I thought it would be politically incorrect to speak Afrikaans. However, for our surprise, Afrikaans is probably Windhoek's most widely spoken language. So even though English is the official language at Julia's school, we have already noticed a few words in Afrikaans. So I am taking the opportunity to review our language diagram and bring this question to our multilingual experience - will Julia, differently than her parents, speak Afrikaans? (and is it time for us to stop being lazy and learn as well?)
24 February 2010
nawa?
I woke up today hearing Julia greeting Maria in Oshiwambo. I felt so happy! My daughter is speaking a 3rd language that neither her mum nor dad has any idea about!
Between December and February, we spent 3 weeks in Australia and 2 weeks in Brazil. The impact of these trips on Julia's language abilities is incredible.
Looking back, I can't believe how unsure I was about her/our capacity to make it happen. We decided to try the OPOL approach, but I have always been a bit wary if this attempt would work, if that would make sense, if that wouldn't be too challenging. Since pregnancy I dedicated myself to speak only Portuguese with her, all the time, to avoid the baby speaking and make full and detailed sentences, to expose her as much as possible to my own language. It is strange to think that Portuguese is the minority language in my life today, but one that has always had such a central role in my family: my father is a journalist, mother is a psychoanalysts (with strong focus on psycholinguistics), aunt is an English/Portuguese translator/teacher, and sister is a psychologist. Writing and reading is what we do, daily - for earning life and for fun. It would be sad if Julia were not able to join us. So here I am, making me effort, trying my best, but doubting if that would really work.
BUT IT DOES!
I can finally say that she speaks full sentences in English and Portuguese, not mixing too much anymore. Improving as fast as she can. She also translates for her silly parents more commonly, just so they don’t get lost! It’s clear that she is getting better into swapping languages in accordance to the recipient (beyond mum and dad).
She had a lot of fun repeating Portuguese long/complex words (helicóptero, libélula, bailarina, papagaio, guanabara, "escada perigosa", and even "lagoa rodrigo de freitas"). She is so happy for being understood by others. In Brazil, there were just few times when she mixed sentences, as when she wanted to play with playdough, she didn't know how it was in Portuguese, so my mum told her, massinha. Normally she would be able to say "eu quero brincar" (=I want to play), but I guess she got a bit confused with a word that already has play in it, so her sentence came as "vovó, eu quero play massinha" (=grandma, I want to play with playdough).
And as a final note, she says por favor/please and obrigada/thank you in both languages and more regularly. So hopefully she is also turning into a polite young lady. ;-)
So far, so good.
***
Between December and February, we spent 3 weeks in Australia and 2 weeks in Brazil. The impact of these trips on Julia's language abilities is incredible.
Looking back, I can't believe how unsure I was about her/our capacity to make it happen. We decided to try the OPOL approach, but I have always been a bit wary if this attempt would work, if that would make sense, if that wouldn't be too challenging. Since pregnancy I dedicated myself to speak only Portuguese with her, all the time, to avoid the baby speaking and make full and detailed sentences, to expose her as much as possible to my own language. It is strange to think that Portuguese is the minority language in my life today, but one that has always had such a central role in my family: my father is a journalist, mother is a psychoanalysts (with strong focus on psycholinguistics), aunt is an English/Portuguese translator/teacher, and sister is a psychologist. Writing and reading is what we do, daily - for earning life and for fun. It would be sad if Julia were not able to join us. So here I am, making me effort, trying my best, but doubting if that would really work.
BUT IT DOES!
I can finally say that she speaks full sentences in English and Portuguese, not mixing too much anymore. Improving as fast as she can. She also translates for her silly parents more commonly, just so they don’t get lost! It’s clear that she is getting better into swapping languages in accordance to the recipient (beyond mum and dad).
She had a lot of fun repeating Portuguese long/complex words (helicóptero, libélula, bailarina, papagaio, guanabara, "escada perigosa", and even "lagoa rodrigo de freitas"). She is so happy for being understood by others. In Brazil, there were just few times when she mixed sentences, as when she wanted to play with playdough, she didn't know how it was in Portuguese, so my mum told her, massinha. Normally she would be able to say "eu quero brincar" (=I want to play), but I guess she got a bit confused with a word that already has play in it, so her sentence came as "vovó, eu quero play massinha" (=grandma, I want to play with playdough).
And as a final note, she says por favor/please and obrigada/thank you in both languages and more regularly. So hopefully she is also turning into a polite young lady. ;-)
So far, so good.
17 January 2010
dolfinho
We have just spent 3 weeks in Australia and Julia's vocabulary and control of English has expanded so much! She spent most of her time with her cousins (4 and 7 yo) and of course she tried to copy everything they did or said. "Excuse me", "don't!" and "nothing" were quickly introduced to her by them. She is now more emphatic with "please" (when she really wants something that one is not giving her). Australian animals are now mentioned daily: kookaburras, platypus and cockatoos. Dolphins, however, comes mixed with Portuguese (golfinho). She says "dolfinho".
Interestingly, she spoke quite a lot of Portuguese with me when we were there (sentences normally mixed with English). She only spoke in English with me when she didn't know the word in Portuguese. She didn't speak Portuguese with anyone else, but likewise sometimes could say a word in Portuguese that she still didn't know in English (and once she learnt it, she would swap to English). However this is pretty much the same reality here in Namibia, as I'm the only one speaking Portuguese. I'm curious to see how it will be when we go to Brazil in February.
When formulating sentences in Portuguese, she normally mixes both languages - particularly if she wants something. Most of the time she says "I want" in English and the rest might come in Portuguese (if she is speaking with me). Sometimes she says "Eu quero" (= I want), but not as a rule. She will tell me "I want to sentar aqui", and if I don't address it soon, she will turn to Mike and say "I want to sit down here". My guess is that there are 2 reasons for her difficulty with formulating sentences in Portuguese: it is the minority language and words can be very long. And oh lord, she is only 2 years and 2 months, what else would I want? :-) I'm a proud mother.
On a final note, many people in Australia were really amazed with the fact that Julia is learning 3 languages (and is already quite functional in all of them). Australia is a geographically isolated country and bilinguism/multilinguism (and the multi-cultural family) is something relatively new. Inevitably, this reality seems to be changing. We spent a couple of days in a caravan park on the beach where I saw 2 little girls (+- 8 yo) teasing a third one because she didn't know how to count up to 10 in Italian. They were doing it out loud and telling the poor girl that "she should know how important it is to know a second language".
Interestingly, she spoke quite a lot of Portuguese with me when we were there (sentences normally mixed with English). She only spoke in English with me when she didn't know the word in Portuguese. She didn't speak Portuguese with anyone else, but likewise sometimes could say a word in Portuguese that she still didn't know in English (and once she learnt it, she would swap to English). However this is pretty much the same reality here in Namibia, as I'm the only one speaking Portuguese. I'm curious to see how it will be when we go to Brazil in February.
When formulating sentences in Portuguese, she normally mixes both languages - particularly if she wants something. Most of the time she says "I want" in English and the rest might come in Portuguese (if she is speaking with me). Sometimes she says "Eu quero" (= I want), but not as a rule. She will tell me "I want to sentar aqui", and if I don't address it soon, she will turn to Mike and say "I want to sit down here". My guess is that there are 2 reasons for her difficulty with formulating sentences in Portuguese: it is the minority language and words can be very long. And oh lord, she is only 2 years and 2 months, what else would I want? :-) I'm a proud mother.
On a final note, many people in Australia were really amazed with the fact that Julia is learning 3 languages (and is already quite functional in all of them). Australia is a geographically isolated country and bilinguism/multilinguism (and the multi-cultural family) is something relatively new. Inevitably, this reality seems to be changing. We spent a couple of days in a caravan park on the beach where I saw 2 little girls (+- 8 yo) teasing a third one because she didn't know how to count up to 10 in Italian. They were doing it out loud and telling the poor girl that "she should know how important it is to know a second language".
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