It's a bit of a touchy subject for me. As a German teacher, I know the benefits of kids knowing another language, and I want the girls to learn German, but I really struggle with raising them bilingually since it is not my native language. I love the German language, but it is simply not the language of my heart. I tried speaking to Karamea a little auf Deutsch when she was a baby and it felt very contrived to me. But speaking to a baby at that point was new, period. And I had enough on my plate just learning the whole baby lexicon in English, let alone learning all of those words in German...exersaucer? onesie? blowout? binky? boppy? Three years ago, these words sounded like another language to me.
Many parents who raise their kids bilingually strictly adhere to what is called the "One Parent, One Language" approach, in which each parent speaks a separate language with their children and I most certainly did not have it in me to do that. Mark doesn't know German, and I didn't want to be speaking in a language he doesn't know all the time; that just seems weird to me. So I wimped out and didn't do anything at all (with the exception of occasionally speaking in German and reading German children's books to the girls.)
Until recently, when Karamea asked me to say goodnight to her in German one evening as I was putting her to bed. It was quite out of the blue, or so it seemed. She knows I am a teacher and that I speak and teach German, but something piqued her interest lately and it is astounding to me how quickly she picks it up. We're mostly doing some greetings right now, and if I use too much German, she shakes her head, holds up her hand and says, "Mama, I don't know German. Talk normal." So far, she can say:
I just remembered something else that explains her increased motivation to learn German recently. When we were in the locker room after swimming lessons last Saturday, there was group of little girls who were speaking Spanish with each other. Karamea was absolutely enthralled and I explained to the girls that Karamea is learning German (I felt like I had to explain why she was just staring at them.) One of the older girls taught Karamea the words nadar (to swim) and adios. (Karamea seriously said "Adios" to everyone as we were leaving the rec center that day. Ha!) I think that seeing another language as a legitimate means of communication with others really helped her see the benefit of learning another language, regardless of whether it is Spanish or German (OK, clearly not her words-she just really wanted to be able to talk with those other little girls!)
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In other news, Kaylee is now saying what I would consider her first official word: "Up"
(Until now, the only other utterance she has really used in context has been "Num") :)
Exciting stuff! (Well, for me anyway...but that's the language teacher in me...)
Many parents who raise their kids bilingually strictly adhere to what is called the "One Parent, One Language" approach, in which each parent speaks a separate language with their children and I most certainly did not have it in me to do that. Mark doesn't know German, and I didn't want to be speaking in a language he doesn't know all the time; that just seems weird to me. So I wimped out and didn't do anything at all (with the exception of occasionally speaking in German and reading German children's books to the girls.)
Until recently, when Karamea asked me to say goodnight to her in German one evening as I was putting her to bed. It was quite out of the blue, or so it seemed. She knows I am a teacher and that I speak and teach German, but something piqued her interest lately and it is astounding to me how quickly she picks it up. We're mostly doing some greetings right now, and if I use too much German, she shakes her head, holds up her hand and says, "Mama, I don't know German. Talk normal." So far, she can say:
- Gute Nacht (good night)
- Schlaf schön (sleep well)
- Guten Morgen (good morning)
- Ja (yes)/Nein (no)
- Ich liebe dich (I love you)
- Danke (thank you)
I just remembered something else that explains her increased motivation to learn German recently. When we were in the locker room after swimming lessons last Saturday, there was group of little girls who were speaking Spanish with each other. Karamea was absolutely enthralled and I explained to the girls that Karamea is learning German (I felt like I had to explain why she was just staring at them.) One of the older girls taught Karamea the words nadar (to swim) and adios. (Karamea seriously said "Adios" to everyone as we were leaving the rec center that day. Ha!) I think that seeing another language as a legitimate means of communication with others really helped her see the benefit of learning another language, regardless of whether it is Spanish or German (OK, clearly not her words-she just really wanted to be able to talk with those other little girls!)
---
In other news, Kaylee is now saying what I would consider her first official word: "Up"
(Until now, the only other utterance she has really used in context has been "Num") :)
Exciting stuff! (Well, for me anyway...but that's the language teacher in me...)
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