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Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

nytimes.com

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Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#221

Post by jknightco »

Manishearth wrote: post #210
yaantc wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IIRC Occitan and French are not that compatible either. Maybe you're thinking about the Basque language instead? I'm from the south of France, Occitanie really. Occitan is certainly different from French, but not completely alien. It's a bit similar to Spanish in closeness. Basque on the other hand is very different and is an isolated language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language

I mentioned Basque, but Basque is in Spain. No, I know that Occitan and French are not that different, but they're still pretty different. Like you say, similar to Spanish in closeness -- I would definitely consider them distinct languages that take effort to learn.

The Basque Country extends past the Pyrenees into France, there are lots of Basque speakers in France. France has historically shut down use of its minority languages, however.

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#222

Post by [deleted] »

Manishearth wrote: post #210
yaantc wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IIRC Occitan and French are not that compatible either. Maybe you're thinking about the Basque language instead? I'm from the south of France, Occitanie really. Occitan is certainly different from French, but not completely alien. It's a bit similar to Spanish in closeness. Basque on the other hand is very different and is an isolated language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language

I mentioned Basque, but Basque is in Spain. No, I know that Occitan and French are not that different, but they're still pretty different. Like you say, similar to Spanish in closeness -- I would definitely consider them distinct languages that take effort to learn.

[deleted]

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#223

Post by animal531 »

arde wrote: post #141
GolDDranks wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you but I'm also familiar with the original research the claim about screen time stems from. The claim is that screen time is not effective for "bootstrapping" a different language for very small children - having human interaction does a much better job at that.

Regarding that research, I can see that human interaction should more efficient but that doesn't imply that screen time should be ineffective. And my kid is a counterexample, because it did bootstrap her English. She had no other source since we live in Argentina and we practically didn't talk to her in English. For a while she had some serious British accent because she was hooked on Peppa Pig, but now she sounds mo…

I agree 100% with you. I'm also from a non-English primary language group (South African) and I taught myself English mostly from television. Assuredly people would have been better since it's an adaptive learning experience with feedback, but even tv worked for me.

I came out with a bit of an odd accent though, as if I combined all the television accents into one.

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#224

Post by muninn_ »

petecox wrote: post #104
muninn_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sure, but what's the point of learning another language if you're an American if you will almost without exception not ever need to speak anything other than English in the United States? Even if English wasn't the lingua franca what would the point be? Conversely in Europe you're surrounded by a ton of other languages, of course it makes sense to learn them. If they spoke French in Oregon, Spanish in California…

Why would an American not get a passport? You have French-speaking Quebec and a collection of Spanish speaking nations right on your doorstep.

Why would an American not get a passport? That doesn't make any sense.

But to your larger point about nations speaking other languages on the doorstep of the U.S. -> keep in mind that "on your doorstep (aside from Mexico and Quebec) means a 6 hour flight to South America. Largely depends on where you are, and you'll see in the American SouthWest they do speak a lot more Spanish, but it's not like in Europe where I can live in Germany, drive to France, circle around through Italy, then through a myriad of other countries (all speaking other languages) in a relatively quick amount of time.

The U.S. is fundamentally different that Europe and I think people should just chill out about the language thing.

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#225

Post by sliverstorm »

hueving wrote: post #218
sliverstorm wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but by that definition, virtually no one travels.

Well some people do, but my point was that to truly get the benefits of travel that Mark Twain was referring to, you can't just dabble. Back when he traveled, this was before airlines and even the Titanic. "Traveling" required spending months to get places far away so you certainly didn't spend just a week in a single place and then return.

Certainly, and I wish I could travel that way. But it's not really an option for many people.

My wife & I do still get a lot out of our backpacking travels, which nominally last two weeks but feel like a month or more.

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#226

Post by rahimnathwani »

jayhuang wrote: post #89
rahimnathwani wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read your comment and assumed you had no exposure to Mandarin before moving to Taiwan. Then I saw your username and am now assuming you did. But I could be wrong :) I'm curious to know how early you were exposed to hearing Mandarin sounds (from birth?) and whether you spoke Mandarin at all with your family before you moved to Taiwan. I ask because one of the toughest things getting started for many foreigners learn…

I'm actually of mixed origin (half Caucasian/Asian) (: I was born in Taiwan, so I assume the exposure was there, at least from the staff at the clinic if not anything else. That said, my first language was English as we came to Canada immediately after my birth. English was the language at home, and while I had a few Asian classmates, all of us only spoke English, and there weren't many immigrants from Asia (mostly T…

Wow. I wonder whether other people in a similar situation would have progressed so quickly, or whether you're an outlier. But I guess it's not a common situation, so hard to know. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#227

Post by spraak »

wingerlang wrote: post #162
spraak wrote: post #8

Somewhat related is an experiment I've been doing with my child, where the only media I've introduced to them (since birth) is in a language other than English (we live in the US). Usually this is Swedish or German, which are the languages I know best besides English, but sometimes Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean etc. etc. What I've found is that they have a play/babble language of their own that sounds like a mix…

> till Eksempel In Swedish it should be "till exempel".

Thanks! I meant to edit that but I think it was too late. I've learned some Danish and Norwegian as well and get them mixed up sometimes.

Re: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child

#228

Post by spynxic »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #154
spynxic wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forcing exposure onto someone is, physically, the only way one can leverage their own ability to change another's mindset. Beyond exposure, it's a matter of individual choice. ( i.e. consider when one tries foreign foods for the first time)

What's wrong exactly with individual choice? Foster exploration, present opportunities, allow choice, no?

Fostering exploration and presenting opportunity is essentially forcing exposure, however, choice is not suppressed by force.
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