My girls are bi-lingual. They are being brought up speaking German and English. When I was brought up by my Austrian father, we only spoke English. When I first came to Austria, I tried to speak in my High School German and I didn´t understand anything. Living here was even harder. I was unable to have a conversation with anyone for at least 3 years. Even now my conversation skills are limited. My job opportunities are severely diminished as my German is not good enough to get a good job. By the time I will have improved enough (ie by the time my girls are old enough I can focus on studying properly), my previous skills and experience will be of little value. It was important to me that my girls would not have to experience this. That they would be conversant with both of their cultures. This includes speaking both languages fluently.
When Sweetheart was a baby, I spent time poring over the internet for different ways of bringing up bi-lingual children. This was also influenced by an acqaintance from England. Her husband couldn´t speak English which meant that at home they only spoke German. Although her daughter understood English, she didn´t want to speak it. We decided to approach the One Parent / One Language approach, with the dominant language at home being English. We decided that the girls would be speaking German the minute they stepped outside the door so having as much English as possible within the home would be of most benefit. So out came the Bananas In Pyjamas and Sesame Street DVD´s (although the favorite is Angelina Ballerina. Herzie´s favorite chant is 'I want it, Ballerina'). Shelves were stocked with all the favorites like Cat in the Hat, Blinky Bill, Where the Wild Things Are, Wombat Stew, Edwina The Emu....... Other people look at me funny when I speak in English to my children instead of German and others treat me like a Foreigner, but it is something we persist.
We must have done something right as Sweetheart and Herzie both had no problem differentiating between the two languages. After about 4 months of speaking single words, both in German and English mixed, they started identifying me as the English Speaker and my husband as the German one; they would only speak to me in English. Sweetheart would sit at the table, aged 2, and translate everything for my husband and I. With Herzie, it seemed that all of a sudden she identified us by language. Overnight she started only saying English words to me and German to F. It actually simplifies things at home. When they speak in German, we know they are addressing F. (really useful when they constantly speak German when asking to change nappies, help go to the toilet, fill water bottles, brush teeth, get dressed, etc. Although sometimes he hears me when I tell them to say it in German).
Being the primary English speaker, it means that the girls are learning my English - the words, idioms and slang that I use. I noticed this when my mother came to visit me and she asked Sweetheart if she wanted to do a ´wee´. I have always said ´widdle´as this is what my friends and I used to say. They didn´t know what my mother was saying. They learn a few extra words from the books that we read, but generally, dialogue comes from me. Of course this is a benefit with the lack of rude and crude words and silly things children pick up in the playground, which she is quite capable in saying in German (yet doesn´t translate to English).
When Sweetheart went to kindergarten she felt that she was different to the other children as she could speak English and the other´s couldn´t. She said that she didn´t want to be different. I arranged to do English play sessions in the kindergarten which resulted in her being proud of her ability. Now children come up to her asking her to translate things in English (and teachers don´t even try as they are scared that they will be corrected by a 5 year old).
The main difficulty being the English Identified Parent (as well as the primary carer being the Stay At Home Mother) is that Sweetheart will come home from kindergarten having learnt songs in German and not feel comfortable singing them to me. She will try and translate it for me which usually doesn´t work. She waits until her father comes home to sing to him. She was also uncomfortable singing to me at the Mothers Day Party at kindergarten and just mouthed the words. The uncomfortableness comes from me being so strongly identified as the English speaker that she is unable to speak German with me. I´m not sure how it will be when she is at school and needs help with her homework. Or whether I will be able to help her. The next stage will be trying to teach my children to read and write in English as this is not covered until they are in Highschool.
I´m amazed at how having two children means that the first now teaches the second. Sweetheart is now just as instrumental in Herzie learning English as I am. It is fasciniating to see in which circumstances they speak to each other in English and when they speak German together. Often it has to do with the other people around, but also can be identified by what they identify with their father and which with me, for example, the trampline is primarily a German domain as their father plays mainly plays with them here. Uno is English. It is interesting to see how their speech sounds change depending on what language thery are speaking. When they are speaking German, and I ask them to say Thursday, they will say 'Dursday' as German speakers cannot say TH very well. When speaking English they have no problems with this.
I´m so proud that my girls want to learn about their second culture and want to be Australian just as much as Austrian. I´m proud that they only want to sleep with their koala bears, can identify the major Australian animals and can say to others, 'We are Australian and Austrian'. In both English and German.
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3 comments:
It must be hard negotiating these things now but what a gift to give your children! Al and I can only speak English (I can get around in German, thanks to a fluent father and a mother with conversational level skills) and it's a regret that we can't easily offer them the chance to see the world through another lens.
On false economy: 'penny wise, pound foolish', my mother says. I use the mixmaster that belonged to my Nanny - over fifty years of biscuits and cakes and it's still whirring along. That would have been a huge investment for her at the time, but it's shown its value many times over.
So hilarious telling the girsl to ask in german for things you don't want to do. I always used to tell mine to "ask daddy to get you..." how funny, and I wonder if everyone does this?
My boys have become Bilingual in the past 5 years. I taught my youngest to read in English before he went to Swiss primary school because I remember a friend in Australia who could speak Spanish fluently but who couldn't read or write it and I desperately wanted Ewan to be able to read and write as well as speak English, his mother tongue.
I am so proud of my boys and their ability to speak Englisch, Swiss German and High German. And now they have 2 (arguably 3) languages, other languages, like French and Italian come more easily to them than to their classmates. They're so clever!
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