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| Bilingual/Multilingual Families |
| Public online group |
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| What languages do you speak with your kids? I thought I was going to be more consistent with my native language and my husband too. In reality, if we want to be sure they understand us we address them in English. We feel they understand the other but how true is that? |
| Posted by Vero on 02/15/2007 07:12 PM
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You make a good point. Sometimes we use English just because it's easier to express something. Then we get all upset when our kids start doing the same. They learn linguistic lazimess from us I think.
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| posted by Brian on 02/17/2007 01:25 PM
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You make a good point. Sometimes we use English just because it's easier to express something. Then we get all upset when our kids start doing the same. They learn linguistic laziness from us I think.
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| posted by Brian on 02/17/2007 02:09 PM
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| I don't really speak to them in english. The exceptions are when we are having a conversation with other people in english or when we talk about homework or school stuff that is in english but even so I found that these exceptions have allowed for the possibility of speaking in english to me in their mind. |
| posted by katerina on 02/17/2007 10:15 PM
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| Also, I think that the linguistic laziness comes by itself and it really takes an effort to avoid it. |
| posted by katerina on 02/17/2007 10:16 PM
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| My son (who is now 20 months old) does not have the conversational skills that most English-only speaking kids his age have and that can be attributed to all the languages he hears on a daily basis. My native tongue is Portuguese but I also speak a creole dialect which we use in my country of origin. Because we spent 5 months there (from the time he was 13 to 18 months) most of the words he uses are either Portuguese or the creole. Since we've been back in the States (month and a half), his English vocabulary keeps growing because of the shows, dvds and books we watch and read to him. I'm confident that although he'll be slower compared to most other kids, he's getting something that most don't have. |
| posted by Eliana on 02/18/2007 01:37 PM
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| We have taught our 5 languages since birth. each language had about 25 hours per week exposure or more. We don't need to choose one that is more understood, since they are all her mother tongues. We don't have a tv, and figure this keeps english from dominating. My husband and i are native english speakers, but I speak exclusively to the girls in French. |
| posted by rokisha on 04/26/2007 02:08 PM
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