I’m sorry it took me so long to get to read this, but I’m so glad I did, absolutely brilliant both Tanya and Sri!! I’m definitely having daily existential questions about my mother tongue…. We live in a French speaking environment now since 5 months, my husband is French and my daughter prefers only French so it’s crazy mind exercise to be consistent in the language I speak and mot flip over especially as my husband isn’t as good in Swedish… him and I always speak English together but never to the kids. To the kids it’s French (mostly) and I try my hardest for a minimum daily interaction with Swedish… could never imagine how hard it would be to speak ones’ mother tongue….
I exclusively read books in Haitian Creole to my son. I sing songs I've learned from YouTube and FaceTime his great-grandma and grandma as much as I can. But that's really the extent of it.
I need to be better about speaking to him exclusively in it, but it’s not always easy, especially since I'm not as strong as I would like to be. It's a lot more difficult when you're the sole person with the language in the home and village. But this was a healthy reminder to keep at it. Thank you, Sri.
There's really no easy way to do this. English is my primary language. It was the language I was educated in and the language I use in my daily life. My first language is Cantonese. But it's stuck at the level of a five year old's. When people ask how my Canto is, I tell them that I know enough not to starve and my pronunciation is reasonable. People in Hong Kong don't seem to think I was born abroad due to the pronunciation, but get the vibe (from my body language, most likely), that I'm not "from there." One woman asked me if I studied abroad. Well, yeah. My entire life? Can't read or write. My son knows a few words of Cantonese - such as numbers and some food words. We use "fun gow" to refer to sleeping (but interchange it with schluff(ie), which means sleep in Yiddish. The (ie) part is how kids say it). My son probably speaks more Cantonese than Yiddish since my husband can't speak it and we have yet to expose him to Hebrew. Being in Canada, my son gets exposed to French as well - they have two classes a week. Not really much. We're in Toronto, so it's not like French is part of our daily lives. If he wants to work for the government, then he'll need to be bilingual, but the career world is years away. He's only in Senior Kindergarten!
As for Cantonese, there really aren't many bilingual English-Canto pronunciation resources out there. Almost EVERY English-Chinese book out there uses Mandarin. I get it, that's what most people speak, but my ancestral language IS Cantonese and without too many resources, it could disappear. I have found a few on Amazon (all are self-published), which is a good thing. And I did include a few Cantonese phrases in the book I recently published. :)
As my own kids are well past their toddler years, I can say that I have read to them in both English and Russian when they were little and it worked well, indulging both for me (I love children's books still with a passion & reading my own childhood favourites to my children was the most wonderful trip down memory lane) and my children, who got to experience the best of both languages. Now they speak two languages and are learning more, forming their own cultural references, as I am sure so do yours. Plus reading actual books is such joy, as opposed to reading online
Fascinating indeed. I think to a degree speaking a language is like knowing how to ride a bicycle - if you know it, but had a break, it will come back to you as soon as you go back to practising/doing it regularly. But language is like a muscle too -needs to be used actively in order to be on top form .)
I have so many feelings about this. 🥲 My parents immigrated to the United States when they were children. Sadly, much of their culture and language was lost.
What an interesting post with no easy tips or tricks, as learning languages & speaking several at home can be as delightful, as confusing. I grew up with Russian, my native tongue, but was taught English from pre-school. Later I learnt French & Spanish. For my kids English is their first language, my son is relatively fluent in Russian when compared to his sister. To me Russian language & culture are part of my DNA, and I am ashamed to say that my husband spoken more Russian to kids when they were little than I did. Is their perception of Russian different to mine? Without a doubt, but they love Russian & am sure will continue improving their spoken & written one. Languages are like food for the brain & the more languages we speak - Tanya, your skills are VERY impressive - the better we will understand other people & cultures. My only tip would be to speak to kids in different languages, expose them to books, music, films in different languages & encourage their (as well as your own) language curiosity. Reading a book in its original language is the most wonderful pleasure & will give different complexity & nuances than when you read it’s best translation in another language. Thank you for this wonderfully heartwarming post
I’m sorry it took me so long to get to read this, but I’m so glad I did, absolutely brilliant both Tanya and Sri!! I’m definitely having daily existential questions about my mother tongue…. We live in a French speaking environment now since 5 months, my husband is French and my daughter prefers only French so it’s crazy mind exercise to be consistent in the language I speak and mot flip over especially as my husband isn’t as good in Swedish… him and I always speak English together but never to the kids. To the kids it’s French (mostly) and I try my hardest for a minimum daily interaction with Swedish… could never imagine how hard it would be to speak ones’ mother tongue….
I exclusively read books in Haitian Creole to my son. I sing songs I've learned from YouTube and FaceTime his great-grandma and grandma as much as I can. But that's really the extent of it.
I need to be better about speaking to him exclusively in it, but it’s not always easy, especially since I'm not as strong as I would like to be. It's a lot more difficult when you're the sole person with the language in the home and village. But this was a healthy reminder to keep at it. Thank you, Sri.
There's really no easy way to do this. English is my primary language. It was the language I was educated in and the language I use in my daily life. My first language is Cantonese. But it's stuck at the level of a five year old's. When people ask how my Canto is, I tell them that I know enough not to starve and my pronunciation is reasonable. People in Hong Kong don't seem to think I was born abroad due to the pronunciation, but get the vibe (from my body language, most likely), that I'm not "from there." One woman asked me if I studied abroad. Well, yeah. My entire life? Can't read or write. My son knows a few words of Cantonese - such as numbers and some food words. We use "fun gow" to refer to sleeping (but interchange it with schluff(ie), which means sleep in Yiddish. The (ie) part is how kids say it). My son probably speaks more Cantonese than Yiddish since my husband can't speak it and we have yet to expose him to Hebrew. Being in Canada, my son gets exposed to French as well - they have two classes a week. Not really much. We're in Toronto, so it's not like French is part of our daily lives. If he wants to work for the government, then he'll need to be bilingual, but the career world is years away. He's only in Senior Kindergarten!
As for Cantonese, there really aren't many bilingual English-Canto pronunciation resources out there. Almost EVERY English-Chinese book out there uses Mandarin. I get it, that's what most people speak, but my ancestral language IS Cantonese and without too many resources, it could disappear. I have found a few on Amazon (all are self-published), which is a good thing. And I did include a few Cantonese phrases in the book I recently published. :)
As my own kids are well past their toddler years, I can say that I have read to them in both English and Russian when they were little and it worked well, indulging both for me (I love children's books still with a passion & reading my own childhood favourites to my children was the most wonderful trip down memory lane) and my children, who got to experience the best of both languages. Now they speak two languages and are learning more, forming their own cultural references, as I am sure so do yours. Plus reading actual books is such joy, as opposed to reading online
Fascinating indeed. I think to a degree speaking a language is like knowing how to ride a bicycle - if you know it, but had a break, it will come back to you as soon as you go back to practising/doing it regularly. But language is like a muscle too -needs to be used actively in order to be on top form .)
So interesting, Sri!! Thank you for sharing your insight and Tanya’s experience 🤍🤍🤍
I have so many feelings about this. 🥲 My parents immigrated to the United States when they were children. Sadly, much of their culture and language was lost.
(Wow, Sri, look at this comment section! 🔥)
What about 1 on 1 lessons, at what age can this be started?
What an interesting post with no easy tips or tricks, as learning languages & speaking several at home can be as delightful, as confusing. I grew up with Russian, my native tongue, but was taught English from pre-school. Later I learnt French & Spanish. For my kids English is their first language, my son is relatively fluent in Russian when compared to his sister. To me Russian language & culture are part of my DNA, and I am ashamed to say that my husband spoken more Russian to kids when they were little than I did. Is their perception of Russian different to mine? Without a doubt, but they love Russian & am sure will continue improving their spoken & written one. Languages are like food for the brain & the more languages we speak - Tanya, your skills are VERY impressive - the better we will understand other people & cultures. My only tip would be to speak to kids in different languages, expose them to books, music, films in different languages & encourage their (as well as your own) language curiosity. Reading a book in its original language is the most wonderful pleasure & will give different complexity & nuances than when you read it’s best translation in another language. Thank you for this wonderfully heartwarming post