An increasing generation of trans-national couples, often residing in a third host culture, is faced with their kids growing up multilingual. This blog aims at monitoring the language development of kids from parents of different nationalities and understand their cultural/emotional affiliation.
Monday, July 09, 2007
I saw this in several publications, articles and blog entries regarding multilingualism, and it helps 'mapping out' our situation from time to time. I think I'll review it yearly to see if new arrows and/or new colors enter the diagram.
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Anche nella mia famiglia girano più lingue (Italiano, Inglese e Francese)ma sono solo tre, e le gestiamo piuttosto comodamente - viviamo in Inghilterra, fra i genitori si parla in inglese, ai figli nelle rispettive lingue, tra loro in italiano, e tata e playgroup in francese.
Su quattro lingue non ho esperienza, ma una famiglia che conosco e che si destreggia tra quattro lingue ha scelto di usare il francese, la lingua che i bambini ascoltavano passivamente (nel tuo caso, l'inglese) come la lingue attiva fra i piccoli, così da rafforzare la loro competenza in quella lingua.
Guardarli interagire era abbastanza difficoltoso agli inizi, ma poi ci si abituava.
Red is prevailing (3 times), Dutch and French are second (2 times), and English is the minority language (1 time). Why are you writing in English? (Answer 1: because of the love between you and your Belgianite. Answer 2: ...)
Monica, grazie per aver condiviso la tua esperienza, se hai voglia di raccontarmi di piu su come avete vissuto il vs multilinguismo crecscendo, scrivimi!
Ciao July, tutto bene!
Giovanni, I write in English because it's easier, it's more synthetic than Italian. Also if I blogged in Italian I would have never met all of the fantastic multilinguals like you that has become part of the MTK family! It's a topic that is not yet very relevant in my native Italy, unfortunately...And concerning the Belgianite, guess what: his Italian is getting better and better and I would not be surprised if one day that would become our common language!!!
I am curious (anxious) to see your reply to my question in the post on Mr. Zeno... And you should return or do something (more) with your childhood creativity... But you know I love so much reading your creative stories on your blog. I wish I could write like you, in English (though I think not even in Dutch I would equal your light tone, as long as do not speak about les Parisiens !) Un abbraccio
Hi. I'm an American living in Spain. My husband is Spanish, and we have three children. Both of us speak both English and Spanish to our kids, depending on the moment. At home I speak mostly in English with the kids and Spanish with my husband, although he says I should speak English all the time. The kids all understand and read English, but they speak mostly in Spanish. When they are with my mother they speak in English since they know she doesn't speak Spanish. It's interesting to see your diagram, and the one person, one language system you use. Is it difficult to maintain? We switch back and forth and don't have a real system.
my cousins are bilingual so dar, though they're just 3 and 5 and are too young to make any difference but i have noticed that actually they always have one language prevailing, especially at that age and especially when they're tired, they always prefer it
I saw this in several publications, articles and blog entries regarding multilingualism, and it helps 'mapping out' our situation from time to time. I think I'll review it yearly to see if new arrows and/or new colors enter the diagram.
10 comments:
Anche nella mia famiglia girano più lingue (Italiano, Inglese e Francese)ma sono solo tre, e le gestiamo piuttosto comodamente - viviamo in Inghilterra, fra i genitori si parla in inglese, ai figli nelle rispettive lingue, tra loro in italiano, e tata e playgroup in francese.
Su quattro lingue non ho esperienza, ma una famiglia che conosco e che si destreggia tra quattro lingue ha scelto di usare il francese, la lingua che i bambini ascoltavano passivamente (nel tuo caso, l'inglese) come la lingue attiva fra i piccoli, così da rafforzare la loro competenza in quella lingua.
Guardarli interagire era abbastanza difficoltoso agli inizi, ma poi ci si abituava.
Comunque, bel diagramma, e bellissima famiglia!
Whaoo ! Great sinthesis !
Red is prevailing (3 times), Dutch and French are second (2 times), and English is the minority language (1 time). Why are you writing in English?
(Answer 1: because of the love between you and your Belgianite.
Answer 2: ...)
Monica, grazie per aver condiviso la tua esperienza, se hai voglia di raccontarmi di piu su come avete vissuto il vs multilinguismo crecscendo, scrivimi!
Ciao July, tutto bene!
Giovanni, I write in English because it's easier, it's more synthetic than Italian. Also if I blogged in Italian I would have never met all of the fantastic multilinguals like you that has become part of the MTK family! It's a topic that is not yet very relevant in my native Italy, unfortunately...And concerning the Belgianite, guess what: his Italian is getting better and better and I would not be surprised if one day that would become our common language!!!
I am curious (anxious) to see your reply to my question in the post on Mr. Zeno...
And you should return or do something (more) with your childhood creativity... But you know I love so much reading your creative stories on your blog. I wish I could write like you, in English (though I think not even in Dutch I would equal your light tone, as long as do not speak about les Parisiens !)
Un abbraccio
This is AWESOME!!!
Interesting !
Hi. I'm an American living in Spain. My husband is Spanish, and we have three children. Both of us speak both English and Spanish to our kids, depending on the moment. At home I speak mostly in English with the kids and Spanish with my husband, although he says I should speak English all the time. The kids all understand and read English, but they speak mostly in Spanish. When they are with my mother they speak in English since they know she doesn't speak Spanish. It's interesting to see your diagram, and the one person, one language system you use. Is it difficult to maintain? We switch back and forth and don't have a real system.
Hi,
Have you stopped blogging for good? That would be a shame - this is a very interesting blog, one that I enjoy reading.
Seumas
my cousins are bilingual so dar, though they're just 3 and 5 and are too young to make any difference but i have noticed that actually they always have one language prevailing, especially at that age and especially when they're tired, they always prefer it
Post a Comment