Jan 10ยทedited Jan 10Liked by Remy Bazerque, Elin Petronella
Gosh, @Remy Bazerque I'm so flattered by the mention. I don't even remember what I said there, but yes, this is a topic that resonates. @Elin Petronella's reference to "caca" had me laughing too. ๐ฉ jokes always stick the landing with toddlers, don't they? ๐ For me it was a blending of English and Spanish as a small child growing up in the shadow of Lake (wait for it...) Titicaca. ๐.
Today I live in Berkeley California where we were able to put our daughters in a Montessori immersion program in the 90s that combined Japanese, Chinese, and English in the same classroom. Each kid was designated to either Chinese or Japanese plus English. While it's not for everyone, both of our daughters and most every one of their friends came out of the program with a long-term love of languages. It's like a gift of culture wrapped in education.
While immersion schools and International Baccalaureates are much more common now in California, back in the mid 90s it was a weird experiment. I'm delighted to see it succeed and spread, albeit here on the immigrant-welcoming Left Coast. (No politics, I promise.)
What a fun idea! I love the topic and the questions. Although I don't have kids, I'm super motivated to answer to (most) questions myself. I live with at least 3 languages daily, the local Spanish, English and a bit of French, and I also sporadically use my native Romanian, for which I definitely developed first language attrition, as Remy mentioned. I was in Germany for Christmas and I excitedly discovered that I can still speak German too, after having spent 3 years there some time ago.
So yeah, I will answer your list of questions like an expat-specific Proust questionnaire. ๐
Haha love this Monica thanks for sharing ๐ I how many of the languages would you consider yourself fluent in?
I felt a relief when I read Remyโs response (and now yours too) about the language attrition as I can sometimes get tired in the head when speaking to my family in a way like I did in the early days of a new language... itโs like everything has swapped ๐ ๐ซฃ
I'm fluent in all 4: English, Spanish, French, Romanian. Only in German I'm not fluent.
But just like you, I now speak Romanian a bit like a foreigner. I sometimes merge French and Spanish words together and form a "Romanian" word that my family protests to. ๐
On my language journey I have forgotten most of my Esperanto, Arabic and Farsi, but they have all made the process easier to find etymological connections, some almost ancient. Peace, Maurice
Thanks for a great post, Elin & Remy - wow, so much to think about here. Looking at it from the other end of the linguistic telescope (so to speak) - my father grew up in the Republic of Ireland in the 1940s, and he was taught the Irish language at school. He tried to pass it on to us kids, unsuccessfully. However, now that he is in his 80s, with dementia having taken away so much, he still loves Irish poetry and is fluent in the Irish language. So even if your kids seem to cast off their early language inheritance later, it will always be a gift you have given them.
I grew up with a father that spoke seven languages, even though he never went to school. He was still inspiring me decades after his death..... Just after which I was introduced to that eternally wonderful multi-linguist, Dr Dolittle. Peace, Maurice
I don't write about this a lot, but I worry a lot about my son learning Haitian Creole with me as the sole teacher. For me, language is so tied to identity. If we can't pass it on, it feels like part of our history doesn't get carried on. This is a reminder that I need to continue to make a conscious effort to speak to him solely in Creole - despite how mangled it might be.
My children only hear Catalan from me. Then I send them with my parents two weeks in the summer and come back fluent. Stick with it and when Myles is two have him spend summers with your family. Full immersion and heโll be set.
I agree, you need to continue talking to him in Haitian Creole even though it might be emotionally complicated for you.. I have a complicated relationship with my mother tongue (Russian) but I've recently realized (and might have accidentally written about) that I want my daughter to know it after all.
Ah pipi caca (prout prout) will never be out of fashion! A French tv show cleverly used it for a kidโs show called CabouCadin (from caca boudin... :)
I grew up bilingual Russian in the Midwest during the Cold War and yes, it did cause me some issues at school. I was called Commie, Red, Pinko, and other unkind names, but if it hadnโt been that, it wouldโve been something else. There werenโt tons of other Russian kids running around at school, so I learned not to talk about that part of my family at school and I didnโt have as many problems. But I never for one minute regretted my heritage, language, or my familyโs culture. I gained so much more from my background than any playground bully ever took from me on even my worst day. I knew that the Soviet Union was doing โbad thingsโ as was age-appropriate for me to know at the time, and my parents answered my questions honestly and helped me understand that I was Russian, but American too and not responsible for the actions of the Kremlin. As your children grow, you too will have to help them understand that their Russianness exists separately from Putin and his henchmen. But kids are smart and resilient. You will be there to guide them through this just like any other challenge in your lives--the first death of a goldfish, the discovery that Hogwarts isnโt a real school, etc. Family is a great help, and if you are lucky enough to live in a place with a Russian expat community, they can be a great support as well. ะฃะดะฐัะธ!
I'm also a native Russian speaker and have a complicated relationship with my mother tongue. I find it hard separating my own personal connection with the Russian language (which exists on a visceral level) from my aversion to everything Russian. It doesn't help that I'm a linguist and "should know better." :) Our relationship with our languages can be complicated.
I only have 2 languages, my native Filipino and English. When we moved from the Philippines to Australia and my oldest daughter was 7 and my youngest 3 (who wasn't even speaking straight sentences yet), I was very concerned about my 7-yr old daughter "acclimating" in school and being understood and knowing the language in a cultural sense. So we just continued to speak to our daughters in English at home, but of course, they understood some common phrases in Filipino (especially when I'm exasperated!) but do have a hard time speaking them -- especially my youngest.
Now that they're 23 and 19, I do wish I wasn't so worried back then and trust they'll learn their way through just like what you both have done. I have heard from them often that it seems they feel they have a missing part of who they know they are because they don't know the Filipino language very well when they love so many things about our culture -- especially the food.
My cousin currently lives in Belgium and between her and her hubby and where they live, I was told my nephews speak 5 languages -- English, French, Dutch, Czech and Filipino!! Now, I'm curious what it must be like in their home life. ๐
Thank you for sharing your experience Abigail! I completely understand the worry to fit in in a new place though, you did so with care for your daughters.
Yes Belgium is really a country with tons of languages so I can only imagine!
Well Abigail, it was curiosity that got you into almost everything you have experienced already, so go visit Belgium..... I had my base there for nearly six years, it's very different to it's neighbors. Peace, Maurice
How interesting and complex and rich to read about learning and using multiple languages in daily life. I'm curious how this shows up in their writing. In an interview with author Kao Kalia Yang she described how she writes everything first by hand using her multiple languages (Hmong, English, Chinese, French, Spanish) in notes only she could understand from looking at her pages and when she sits down to a keyboard is when editing and translation begins.
Oh that seems utterly overwhelming if you ask me ๐ซฃ I tend to start in the language that I know will be the end... but youโre right in wondering how this might develop for our children later on... maybe they have more inherent instincts in mixing it all and still make sense of it...
When I do personal journal entries I sometimes surprise myself when I start in Swedish or English and mix the two without noticing ... language is a fascinating topic!
With your last name it feels like you could potentially speak Swedish too or am I completely wrong haha?
I am now reading Haruki Murakami's Novelist as a Vocation. I love reading the part where he explained his writing process. He would first write in English and translate it to his native language Japanese. Then have the books translated back to English.
Since I am not patient with translating, I just tried my best to convey what I want to say in English. To do that, it has taken me a couple of years to train myself to speak in English in my head. I love it!
Good for you, it really keeps the brain quite fit. I think in a main mix of English, Dutch, German & French with bits of others to spice the soup....... Sometimes, I have to stop because of laughter at the conundrums on the plate....
I too frequently multi-tongues in my first drafts, but only a little French in my posts. Some of my kids are bi-lingual, but only one (a capitain, along the Rhein, can read my drafts.
This is fascinating.. I speak multiple languages but I can't imagine sitting down and producing a piece of writing using more than one language at once... I guess maybe because writing for me happens only in English (not my first language) :)
My children are growing up with 4 languages (Catalan, Italian, Swedish and English). At home we have a pool of words that are interchangeable. My husband speaks no Swedish but he conjugates Swedish verbs in Italian wonderfully. Like โtittaโ (โlookโ in Swedish) is now a staple- io titto, and โqua non cโรจ niente da tittareโ.
Wow Iโve seen my husband attempt to learn Swedish and itโs not an easy task... so many times I found myself answer โsรฅ รคr det baraโ, because I couldnโt find any better explanation for different linguistic situations ๐
Alfons ร berg is great, my daughter loves him but my husband thinks he looks like an old man haha ๐
Such a fun read thank you both! Itโs incredible how fast children learn new languages. But also as adults if we have a language talent (like with art or music some are just more capable of picking a language up quickly than others and thereโs no right or wrong).
I went to Israel age 20 and stayed for 6 months. At the end I was able to get by understanding a lot, able to read road signs and have very basic conversations, mind you that everyone speaks English there even children. It just happened somehow. And equally fast did I lose the language again after another 6 months learning writing at university level, writing short essays and gone.. now I canโt even read properly anymore.
And my German, complete rubbish after years abroad and English being my most used language. I had some fun interactions with German clients in the beginning (after returning to Germany) because I felt like such an imposter talking to executives making silly mistakes children make... ๐คฃ
Iโm fluent in English but often too lazy to write properly and oh in German, itโs worse. I canโt seem to be able to keep my French which I used to be quite good at. From one day to the other, while in Israel, I lost my French (it was handy there too) and started speaking Hebrew. Like one language pushed out the other. Such a shame.
I started picking up Persian through my partner and Spanish through friends. And then of course understanding some basic Italian and also Dutch is just logical based on the other languages I have some knowledge in.
I am confused very often starting a sentence in the wrong language or mixing them
I recognize myself in your Israel experience! I lived for a year in KwaZulu natal South Africa and spoke quite decent Zulu (a click language so that was a whole other ordeal haha) but since I left and broke off the relationship I had locally when moving to Paris I forgot almost everything but some key typical phrases โlove you, miss youโ oh and one odd one โI will respect you if you respect me backโ. It was one of the handy men in the first little village I lived that taught it to me. His name was Mdu... good man haha.
My son was 10 when we moved to Israel (I 'moved back' but my kids had never lived here before) and my son had trouble learning Hebrew because everyone was so accomodating and spoke English to him (teachers, friends, everyone). It wasn't until he went to middle school and had to insist that in the new school everybody speak Hebrew to him that he really started to learn :)
The advantage kids have is that they still pick things up much quicker. My British partner now trying to learn German in Germany isnโt going so well as everyone speaks English in our bubble and his work so thereโs no need unless heโs at the shops, doctors etc.
Great article which resonates for me too. My daughter was born in Prague, goes to an English speaking school (the French expats here are always surprised she is not at the Lycรฉe Franรงais ;), and will switch continuously between the two languages. Iโm myself half French half Japanese and it moves me to hear her sing Japanese songs which lyrics she memorised without understanding them. She speaks Czech far better than me and I found wonderful to see her joyfully sing Czech Xmas carols when we crossed the Xmas market two weeks ago! Much more than if she had sung Petit Papa Noรซl :D
So I'm reading this late but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and everyone's comments. I grew up monolingual (Russian) but have studied seven languages in my adult years, and recently embarked on a self-imposed challenge to learn 12 more languages in 12 months (and thats why I started my Substack in the first place, to write about this somewhat crazy adventure) But one of the things I've realized just recently (maybe because of all the new languages I'm learning) is that I want to speak Russian (my mother tongue) more to my daughter to make sure she knows it too.
I am lucky that I learn Chinese, English and Mandarin quite early. Even though the memories of learning these languages are sometimes not that enjoyable, I am glad to have 3 languages.
I also intentionally choose to write in English as the audience size would be much larger. I love English. And my English teachers at schools have been very encouraging to making me fall in love with the English language.
Descendant of Swedish immigrant homesteaders, yes, but the language of Swedish certainly felt like a cape of family secrets growing up as I heard only the occasional mutterings (under their breath) and it was a language to speak where the children would not understand. I felt fortunate to have learned German in elementary school as part of the regular curriculum (choice between Spanish or German in the 70s). Language is so fascinating to me because I am trying to learn the Ojibwe language and I realize how much language is infused with worldview. That voice in our heads, as writers....what language does the voice use? Always curious, thanks for your reply.
Ah yes then the Harry Potter cape became even more a symbol of Swedish...
in Swedish you wouldโve had a regular v. Svensson used to be the most common last name, but now so many are changing their names to made up ones (I learnt that you canโt do that in many countries but in Sweden you can.... so many traditional names are going away). I had a very traditional name before getting married but chose to take my husbandโs name...
there are very many German words in Swedish so it can give some hints, especially if you read it ๐ค
Jill, I just discovered your Substack. I'm curious what dialect of Ojibwe are you learning? I wrote a dissertation and used to be fluent in Oji-Cree (Severn Ojibwe) and taught it to Oji-Cree adults who had lost their language as children.
That is amazing to hear you know Oji-Cree and taught elders their language taken from them as children. I don't know that there is a name for the dialect spoken on Lake of the Woods. I know it differs from the dialect spoken on Red Lake Reservation 100 miles south. Closer to the dialect spoken in Kenora and Winnipeg. I confess I am a beginner and have been learning with Anton Treuer's Word of the Day videos. But learning about the language has certainly enhance my understanding of a different way of seeing the world. Thanks for reading!
I'm married to a Swiss who was taught three languages - German, Swiss German, and French - as a child and added English, though when she came to England to perfect it, she thought she'd landed in the wrong country. When we started living together I attempted to learn German to add to my English and French, just so I could talk to her family, but she couldn't help laughing at my efforts, and I soon gave up. We tried talking to our two daughters in French and English, but it became too exhausting. Despite, or because of, our efforts, our younger daughter is a multilingual wizard, and can pick up a language with apparent ease: she speaks English, French, Italian, German, Swiss German and is perfecting her Spanish, having married someone who is half-Spanish, half-English. But I don't think my genes can take much credit: my father labored for years to learn Mandarin, though he passed a basic exam at the age of 70, but Chinese defeats me utterly, as do Arabic and Hebrew. I think Russian is a rather musical language, and I can read (most of) its alphabet, but only because I learned classical Greek and Latin at school.
I still want to believe, as you briefly hint to, that the fact that your wizard daughter was exposed to different languages as a child improved her language learning abilities later in life !
Even though my husband and I both speak the same language, we talk to each other in English as that's the language we met in. So, ironically, we speak to our kid in our native tongue (which is the same for both of us) but to each other in English. Who knows how much she'll be able to absorb but it IS important to me. Not only because language is literally the gateway to understanding a different culture but also because when you speak multiple languages, I've found it's generally easier to learn new ones. You have a bigger repertoire of linguistic sounds to draw on and it makes all the difference!
Canโt help but ask the inevitable... how come you and your husband met in English when you both share the same mother tongue? I find this fascinating haha
We met at school in an English-speaking country so defaulted to that. And we just never outgrew it! We do talk to each other in our native tongue if we're trying to have a private conversation in public but it lasts for 10 seconds before we're back to English ๐
Gosh, @Remy Bazerque I'm so flattered by the mention. I don't even remember what I said there, but yes, this is a topic that resonates. @Elin Petronella's reference to "caca" had me laughing too. ๐ฉ jokes always stick the landing with toddlers, don't they? ๐ For me it was a blending of English and Spanish as a small child growing up in the shadow of Lake (wait for it...) Titicaca. ๐.
Today I live in Berkeley California where we were able to put our daughters in a Montessori immersion program in the 90s that combined Japanese, Chinese, and English in the same classroom. Each kid was designated to either Chinese or Japanese plus English. While it's not for everyone, both of our daughters and most every one of their friends came out of the program with a long-term love of languages. It's like a gift of culture wrapped in education.
Thank you again for the mention.
Titicaca is the funniest Iโve heard in a long time- you got me !!
Japanese, Chinese and English... Thatโs no joke!
While immersion schools and International Baccalaureates are much more common now in California, back in the mid 90s it was a weird experiment. I'm delighted to see it succeed and spread, albeit here on the immigrant-welcoming Left Coast. (No politics, I promise.)
What a fun idea! I love the topic and the questions. Although I don't have kids, I'm super motivated to answer to (most) questions myself. I live with at least 3 languages daily, the local Spanish, English and a bit of French, and I also sporadically use my native Romanian, for which I definitely developed first language attrition, as Remy mentioned. I was in Germany for Christmas and I excitedly discovered that I can still speak German too, after having spent 3 years there some time ago.
So yeah, I will answer your list of questions like an expat-specific Proust questionnaire. ๐
Haha love this Monica thanks for sharing ๐ I how many of the languages would you consider yourself fluent in?
I felt a relief when I read Remyโs response (and now yours too) about the language attrition as I can sometimes get tired in the head when speaking to my family in a way like I did in the early days of a new language... itโs like everything has swapped ๐ ๐ซฃ
I'm fluent in all 4: English, Spanish, French, Romanian. Only in German I'm not fluent.
But just like you, I now speak Romanian a bit like a foreigner. I sometimes merge French and Spanish words together and form a "Romanian" word that my family protests to. ๐
On my language journey I have forgotten most of my Esperanto, Arabic and Farsi, but they have all made the process easier to find etymological connections, some almost ancient. Peace, Maurice
Thanks for a great post, Elin & Remy - wow, so much to think about here. Looking at it from the other end of the linguistic telescope (so to speak) - my father grew up in the Republic of Ireland in the 1940s, and he was taught the Irish language at school. He tried to pass it on to us kids, unsuccessfully. However, now that he is in his 80s, with dementia having taken away so much, he still loves Irish poetry and is fluent in the Irish language. So even if your kids seem to cast off their early language inheritance later, it will always be a gift you have given them.
Thank you so much for sharing this Ann! How fascinating how the old memory remain ๐๐ผ really appreciate this insight!
I grew up with a father that spoke seven languages, even though he never went to school. He was still inspiring me decades after his death..... Just after which I was introduced to that eternally wonderful multi-linguist, Dr Dolittle. Peace, Maurice
I don't write about this a lot, but I worry a lot about my son learning Haitian Creole with me as the sole teacher. For me, language is so tied to identity. If we can't pass it on, it feels like part of our history doesn't get carried on. This is a reminder that I need to continue to make a conscious effort to speak to him solely in Creole - despite how mangled it might be.
My children only hear Catalan from me. Then I send them with my parents two weeks in the summer and come back fluent. Stick with it and when Myles is two have him spend summers with your family. Full immersion and heโll be set.
He doesnโt need more than one teacher and what better than his dad - youโll do amazing ๐ค๐
I agree, you need to continue talking to him in Haitian Creole even though it might be emotionally complicated for you.. I have a complicated relationship with my mother tongue (Russian) but I've recently realized (and might have accidentally written about) that I want my daughter to know it after all.
Yup, S'important, gone right thru many generations of my pan Euro forefathers
My kids grew up speaking English first, with French second, German ( Oma opa)
Funniest thing was our middle daughter.
Two and a half or three years old calling her older sister Jessica , JessyKaKa
Oh yea she had a blast with that.Even at that age she knew how to push buttons.
Ah pipi caca (prout prout) will never be out of fashion! A French tv show cleverly used it for a kidโs show called CabouCadin (from caca boudin... :)
I grew up bilingual Russian in the Midwest during the Cold War and yes, it did cause me some issues at school. I was called Commie, Red, Pinko, and other unkind names, but if it hadnโt been that, it wouldโve been something else. There werenโt tons of other Russian kids running around at school, so I learned not to talk about that part of my family at school and I didnโt have as many problems. But I never for one minute regretted my heritage, language, or my familyโs culture. I gained so much more from my background than any playground bully ever took from me on even my worst day. I knew that the Soviet Union was doing โbad thingsโ as was age-appropriate for me to know at the time, and my parents answered my questions honestly and helped me understand that I was Russian, but American too and not responsible for the actions of the Kremlin. As your children grow, you too will have to help them understand that their Russianness exists separately from Putin and his henchmen. But kids are smart and resilient. You will be there to guide them through this just like any other challenge in your lives--the first death of a goldfish, the discovery that Hogwarts isnโt a real school, etc. Family is a great help, and if you are lucky enough to live in a place with a Russian expat community, they can be a great support as well. ะฃะดะฐัะธ!
I'm also a native Russian speaker and have a complicated relationship with my mother tongue. I find it hard separating my own personal connection with the Russian language (which exists on a visceral level) from my aversion to everything Russian. It doesn't help that I'm a linguist and "should know better." :) Our relationship with our languages can be complicated.
I only have 2 languages, my native Filipino and English. When we moved from the Philippines to Australia and my oldest daughter was 7 and my youngest 3 (who wasn't even speaking straight sentences yet), I was very concerned about my 7-yr old daughter "acclimating" in school and being understood and knowing the language in a cultural sense. So we just continued to speak to our daughters in English at home, but of course, they understood some common phrases in Filipino (especially when I'm exasperated!) but do have a hard time speaking them -- especially my youngest.
Now that they're 23 and 19, I do wish I wasn't so worried back then and trust they'll learn their way through just like what you both have done. I have heard from them often that it seems they feel they have a missing part of who they know they are because they don't know the Filipino language very well when they love so many things about our culture -- especially the food.
My cousin currently lives in Belgium and between her and her hubby and where they live, I was told my nephews speak 5 languages -- English, French, Dutch, Czech and Filipino!! Now, I'm curious what it must be like in their home life. ๐
Thank you for sharing your experience Abigail! I completely understand the worry to fit in in a new place though, you did so with care for your daughters.
Yes Belgium is really a country with tons of languages so I can only imagine!
Well Abigail, it was curiosity that got you into almost everything you have experienced already, so go visit Belgium..... I had my base there for nearly six years, it's very different to it's neighbors. Peace, Maurice
Yes, it's definitely something I'd want to do ๐
How interesting and complex and rich to read about learning and using multiple languages in daily life. I'm curious how this shows up in their writing. In an interview with author Kao Kalia Yang she described how she writes everything first by hand using her multiple languages (Hmong, English, Chinese, French, Spanish) in notes only she could understand from looking at her pages and when she sits down to a keyboard is when editing and translation begins.
Oh that seems utterly overwhelming if you ask me ๐ซฃ I tend to start in the language that I know will be the end... but youโre right in wondering how this might develop for our children later on... maybe they have more inherent instincts in mixing it all and still make sense of it...
When I do personal journal entries I sometimes surprise myself when I start in Swedish or English and mix the two without noticing ... language is a fascinating topic!
With your last name it feels like you could potentially speak Swedish too or am I completely wrong haha?
5 languages! Wow!
I am now reading Haruki Murakami's Novelist as a Vocation. I love reading the part where he explained his writing process. He would first write in English and translate it to his native language Japanese. Then have the books translated back to English.
Since I am not patient with translating, I just tried my best to convey what I want to say in English. To do that, it has taken me a couple of years to train myself to speak in English in my head. I love it!
Good for you, it really keeps the brain quite fit. I think in a main mix of English, Dutch, German & French with bits of others to spice the soup....... Sometimes, I have to stop because of laughter at the conundrums on the plate....
I bet that is quite a combination, Maurice! I have been thinking about learning French or Spanish. It seems to me that Spanish is easier to learn.
well it appears the training you have done has certainly paid off!
Thank you, Jill! Very happy that I can just think in English now! Now I want to get better at speaking English as good as it has been for writing.
I too frequently multi-tongues in my first drafts, but only a little French in my posts. Some of my kids are bi-lingual, but only one (a capitain, along the Rhein, can read my drafts.
This is fascinating.. I speak multiple languages but I can't imagine sitting down and producing a piece of writing using more than one language at once... I guess maybe because writing for me happens only in English (not my first language) :)
My children are growing up with 4 languages (Catalan, Italian, Swedish and English). At home we have a pool of words that are interchangeable. My husband speaks no Swedish but he conjugates Swedish verbs in Italian wonderfully. Like โtittaโ (โlookโ in Swedish) is now a staple- io titto, and โqua non cโรจ niente da tittareโ.
Titta was one of my daughterโs first words haha but you must speak Swedish at the hospital I guess?
I do. I had to learn Swedish to work, and now I read Nike Nyfiken and Alfons ร berg with my children.
Wow Iโve seen my husband attempt to learn Swedish and itโs not an easy task... so many times I found myself answer โsรฅ รคr det baraโ, because I couldnโt find any better explanation for different linguistic situations ๐
Alfons ร berg is great, my daughter loves him but my husband thinks he looks like an old man haha ๐
Alfons ร berg is fantastic. And his dad is the unsung hero of single parenting.
My take is that one only learns a language when one is a child or when one works with ruthless nurses who are having none of your English babbling.
I want to learn Swedish so I can read the Moomins :) !
I am not sure about Moomins, don't they speak Finnish? My children are not big fans so I am not so sure. Alfons ร berg is my go-to <3
Tove Jansson was Finnish but she wrote in Swedish. My children are not big fans either but I am :)
Such a fun read thank you both! Itโs incredible how fast children learn new languages. But also as adults if we have a language talent (like with art or music some are just more capable of picking a language up quickly than others and thereโs no right or wrong).
I went to Israel age 20 and stayed for 6 months. At the end I was able to get by understanding a lot, able to read road signs and have very basic conversations, mind you that everyone speaks English there even children. It just happened somehow. And equally fast did I lose the language again after another 6 months learning writing at university level, writing short essays and gone.. now I canโt even read properly anymore.
And my German, complete rubbish after years abroad and English being my most used language. I had some fun interactions with German clients in the beginning (after returning to Germany) because I felt like such an imposter talking to executives making silly mistakes children make... ๐คฃ
Iโm fluent in English but often too lazy to write properly and oh in German, itโs worse. I canโt seem to be able to keep my French which I used to be quite good at. From one day to the other, while in Israel, I lost my French (it was handy there too) and started speaking Hebrew. Like one language pushed out the other. Such a shame.
I started picking up Persian through my partner and Spanish through friends. And then of course understanding some basic Italian and also Dutch is just logical based on the other languages I have some knowledge in.
I am confused very often starting a sentence in the wrong language or mixing them
I recognize myself in your Israel experience! I lived for a year in KwaZulu natal South Africa and spoke quite decent Zulu (a click language so that was a whole other ordeal haha) but since I left and broke off the relationship I had locally when moving to Paris I forgot almost everything but some key typical phrases โlove you, miss youโ oh and one odd one โI will respect you if you respect me backโ. It was one of the handy men in the first little village I lived that taught it to me. His name was Mdu... good man haha.
Ohh these pockets of life in which we learn something that will stay with us forever as a memory ๐ฅฐ
My son was 10 when we moved to Israel (I 'moved back' but my kids had never lived here before) and my son had trouble learning Hebrew because everyone was so accomodating and spoke English to him (teachers, friends, everyone). It wasn't until he went to middle school and had to insist that in the new school everybody speak Hebrew to him that he really started to learn :)
Thank you for sharing Tanya!
The advantage kids have is that they still pick things up much quicker. My British partner now trying to learn German in Germany isnโt going so well as everyone speaks English in our bubble and his work so thereโs no need unless heโs at the shops, doctors etc.
Hola, mia caro, Salam to khubi ? Ari!, Ciao, Peace, Maurice
Great article which resonates for me too. My daughter was born in Prague, goes to an English speaking school (the French expats here are always surprised she is not at the Lycรฉe Franรงais ;), and will switch continuously between the two languages. Iโm myself half French half Japanese and it moves me to hear her sing Japanese songs which lyrics she memorised without understanding them. She speaks Czech far better than me and I found wonderful to see her joyfully sing Czech Xmas carols when we crossed the Xmas market two weeks ago! Much more than if she had sung Petit Papa Noรซl :D
So I'm reading this late but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post and everyone's comments. I grew up monolingual (Russian) but have studied seven languages in my adult years, and recently embarked on a self-imposed challenge to learn 12 more languages in 12 months (and thats why I started my Substack in the first place, to write about this somewhat crazy adventure) But one of the things I've realized just recently (maybe because of all the new languages I'm learning) is that I want to speak Russian (my mother tongue) more to my daughter to make sure she knows it too.
Wow 12 languages in 12 months?! That sure sounds like some challenge, very impressed!! Excited to see how it unfolds ๐๐
I am lucky that I learn Chinese, English and Mandarin quite early. Even though the memories of learning these languages are sometimes not that enjoyable, I am glad to have 3 languages.
I also intentionally choose to write in English as the audience size would be much larger. I love English. And my English teachers at schools have been very encouraging to making me fall in love with the English language.
Descendant of Swedish immigrant homesteaders, yes, but the language of Swedish certainly felt like a cape of family secrets growing up as I heard only the occasional mutterings (under their breath) and it was a language to speak where the children would not understand. I felt fortunate to have learned German in elementary school as part of the regular curriculum (choice between Spanish or German in the 70s). Language is so fascinating to me because I am trying to learn the Ojibwe language and I realize how much language is infused with worldview. That voice in our heads, as writers....what language does the voice use? Always curious, thanks for your reply.
Ah yes then the Harry Potter cape became even more a symbol of Swedish...
in Swedish you wouldโve had a regular v. Svensson used to be the most common last name, but now so many are changing their names to made up ones (I learnt that you canโt do that in many countries but in Sweden you can.... so many traditional names are going away). I had a very traditional name before getting married but chose to take my husbandโs name...
there are very many German words in Swedish so it can give some hints, especially if you read it ๐ค
Jill, I just discovered your Substack. I'm curious what dialect of Ojibwe are you learning? I wrote a dissertation and used to be fluent in Oji-Cree (Severn Ojibwe) and taught it to Oji-Cree adults who had lost their language as children.
That is amazing to hear you know Oji-Cree and taught elders their language taken from them as children. I don't know that there is a name for the dialect spoken on Lake of the Woods. I know it differs from the dialect spoken on Red Lake Reservation 100 miles south. Closer to the dialect spoken in Kenora and Winnipeg. I confess I am a beginner and have been learning with Anton Treuer's Word of the Day videos. But learning about the language has certainly enhance my understanding of a different way of seeing the world. Thanks for reading!
I'm married to a Swiss who was taught three languages - German, Swiss German, and French - as a child and added English, though when she came to England to perfect it, she thought she'd landed in the wrong country. When we started living together I attempted to learn German to add to my English and French, just so I could talk to her family, but she couldn't help laughing at my efforts, and I soon gave up. We tried talking to our two daughters in French and English, but it became too exhausting. Despite, or because of, our efforts, our younger daughter is a multilingual wizard, and can pick up a language with apparent ease: she speaks English, French, Italian, German, Swiss German and is perfecting her Spanish, having married someone who is half-Spanish, half-English. But I don't think my genes can take much credit: my father labored for years to learn Mandarin, though he passed a basic exam at the age of 70, but Chinese defeats me utterly, as do Arabic and Hebrew. I think Russian is a rather musical language, and I can read (most of) its alphabet, but only because I learned classical Greek and Latin at school.
I still want to believe, as you briefly hint to, that the fact that your wizard daughter was exposed to different languages as a child improved her language learning abilities later in life !
Believe it sure..... worked for me and then for my kids
This was SUCH a fun read!
Even though my husband and I both speak the same language, we talk to each other in English as that's the language we met in. So, ironically, we speak to our kid in our native tongue (which is the same for both of us) but to each other in English. Who knows how much she'll be able to absorb but it IS important to me. Not only because language is literally the gateway to understanding a different culture but also because when you speak multiple languages, I've found it's generally easier to learn new ones. You have a bigger repertoire of linguistic sounds to draw on and it makes all the difference!
Canโt help but ask the inevitable... how come you and your husband met in English when you both share the same mother tongue? I find this fascinating haha
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We met at school in an English-speaking country so defaulted to that. And we just never outgrew it! We do talk to each other in our native tongue if we're trying to have a private conversation in public but it lasts for 10 seconds before we're back to English ๐