languages | Imamother

yo'ma

Sun, Mar 16 2008, 9:03 pm

I once overheard a lady on the bus saying that the majority of americans know only english. Sadly, I fit into that category. My husband on the otherhand, know four (he's not an american). My children now know two because we're now living in a spanish speaking country. When we were living in the states I always told my husband to speak to them in spanish, but he said he didn't want to if I didn't understand. I disagreed.
How many languages do you know and do you teach your children another language?

morahaviva

Sun, Mar 16 2008, 9:11 pm

What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Trilingual
What do you call someone who speaks several languages? Multilingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? American

The best way for your kids to learn a language is for you and your husband to use it as a secret language - anything you dont want them to hear/understand say in that language - they will learn fast!!

BennysMommy

Sun, Mar 16 2008, 9:22 pm

I also live in Argentina. A lot of ppl here speak more than one language. In my sons gan there are kids that understand 3 languages. I'm talking about kids that are 18 months old. My husband speaks 5 languages. (he's not American) My 3 nieces, (also not American) all under the age of 4, understand 3 languages (Spanish, English and Yiddish) and speak 2 (Spanish and English). My husband's sisters all speak Hebrew, English and Spanish. One also speaks Portuguese. My son is going to grow up speaking English and Spanish. (Right now he is only familiar with English from home. He started gan a week ago and they speak only Spanish to him.)

My family on the other hand are all Americans. We all speak English. My mother is the only one that also speaks Spanish.

I'm having a hard time learning Spanish. I think if I spoke or understood more than one language growing up it would be easier for me now.

BennysMommy

Sun, Mar 16 2008, 9:22 pm

morahaviva wrote:

The best way for your kids to learn a language is for you and your husband to use it as a secret language - anything you dont want them to hear/understand say in that language - they will learn fast!!

That's how my husband learned English:)

grin

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 2:05 am

BennysMommy wrote:

morahaviva wrote:

That's how my husband learned English:)

cute - now I know what my kids are complaining about when they say I didn't teach them English - my dh and I speak what I sall "lang. salad" to each other - what ever lang. works best for each word, since we both speak 21/2 (eng, Heb. and some Yiddish)!

mimivan

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 2:19 am

BennysMommy wrote:

morahaviva wrote:

That's how my husband learned English:)

wow that is good to know...Maybe my dh and I should start having our "discussions" in front of the children in Aramaic! (since I don't know any Aramaic...that would be great for shalom bayis!)

Amital

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 6:31 am

In many other countries, it's the norm for everyone to speak two or more languages. A nanny we had spoke 3 fluently and a 4th very close to fluent, and she wasn't unusual in her country!

I learned a second language (French) in high school, Hebrew when I started becoming observant, and Russian lately with my husband. My older son prefers Russian, and even claims he doesn't know English sometimes! (A recent thing) My younger son doesn't really speak yet, but he understands both.

I read an article yesterday on brain scanning technology which had an interesting tie-in here. Kids learn languages in a different section of their brains than adults do.

Kids learn a second language in one of the "action" parts of their brain, so they just do it. We don't think about every action we do-like walk, "Ok balance, pick up left foot, move forward..." That's how kids learn languages. It's almost absorbed.

Starting at about 18, adults learn languages in a thinking part, which means we often translate the individual words back and forth. It's a harder, less intuitive way to do it. (Good evidence for teaching your kids early!)

I thought this study was so interesting, then tuned into Imamother and here is a thread on it! Very Happy

yo'ma

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 6:52 am

Quote:

I read an article yesterday on brain scanning technology which had an interesting tie-in here. Kids learn languages in a different section of their brains than adults do.
Kids learn a second language in one of the "action" parts of their brain, so they just do it. We don't think about every action we do-like walk, "Ok balance, pick up left foot, move forward..." That's how kids learn languages. It's almost absorbed.
Starting at about 18, adults learn languages in a thinking part, which means we often translate the individual words back and forth. It's a harder, less intuitive way to do it. (Good evidence for teaching your kids early!)

Thanks, now I have an excuse to tell my husband.

greentiger

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 7:12 am

I want DH to speak to DD in his mother tongue but usually he speaks to her in english since thats what we speak to each other in so it just comes more naturally. I'm not worried about not understanding I figure I can pick up words as she does or if/when she starts using them.

Marion

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 8:00 am

What do you consider "speaking" a language? I'm fluent in English and Hebrew, and used to be in French (now I'm just a fluent listener, but tongue-tied). But I also took Chinese (Mandarin), Russian, Yiddish, and ASL in school.

My kids are both in Hebrew ma'on/daycare but we speak mostly English at home. Sometimes I throw in a bit of French, or Hebrew if we're out of the house.

I'm Canadian, and DH is American/British. He took French in school, but I cringe when I hear it, so we don't use it much.

Ruchel

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 8:44 am

I learned many languages, but still manage in a few of them.
french obvsiously
german almost forgotten, but helps for yiddish
english
latin almost gone
italian bad
chinese don't ask
yiddish I understand often, speaking is a horror
hebrew I understand easy conversations and speak very very bad
judeo-spanish understood often, no talking

voila...

My husband is fluent in French, German, Italian and Yiddish. Ok in Spanish and English and modern Hebrew (basically he learns in it, but modern conversations are harder).

maidale

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 8:55 am

The joke about the 1 language being american is pretty accurate... Except for the chassidic circles where they speak Yiddish as well.
I live in Belgium now and people here grow up with 4 languages at least. My 5 yr old daughter speaks yiddish from home plus some english, Dutch from school plus she's starting on French and some Hebrew. Girls here leave school with as many as 5-6 languages, speaking is ok, but none good enough to write or read in...

montrealmommy

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 10:58 am

I am fluent in English/Hebrew and French. Dh in English and French and Conversational in Heb and Yiddish. dh and I can also 'get along' in Spanish - but it ain't easy! dh and I used to be very good at ASL, but have really lost it.

We speak Eng and french equally at home and both our kids are fluent, but they tend to answer us in English (they completely understand both languages and can use theM). dc get hebrew from school and ds is getting a little yiddish.

I find that some people just have a head for languages and others less. a freind of mine travels alot (teaching ESL) and can now converse in over 8 langages.

Hadassa Avra

Mon, Mar 17 2008, 4:25 pm

I don't think it's an American thing - I think it's an English thing to only speak one language. I'm a member of another forum which is mostly British. The people there comment quite frequently about British people only knowing one language. Where I come from in Ontario the teaching of French is horrible and Canada is supposed to be a biligual country. Rolling Eyes