March 7, 2011
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Multi-lingual Living
I love living in a city for the diversity here. The variety of accents is beautiful, I can't even think of all I've met here: Persian, Thai, Punjabi, Hindi, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Filapino, several First Nation peoples, Somali, Ukrainian, Polish, French, Saskatchewan, Québécois, German. When we first moved to Edmonton 4 years ago, I was not used to English in other accents and hearing other languages. Early on, we rode public transit everywhere and I felt immersed in a new world of sound that I could only understand half of! When my work permit finally came through, my first job was in a downtown daycare where 11 out of the 18 toddlers in my class didn't speak English at home. City-living was a big cultural adjustment for me after being in Podunk Idaho for 10 years! The only language I was slightly familiar with was Spanish from Sesame Street, Dora, and high school Spanish class.
My husband was born here in Edmonton. He went to french immersion schools, so when it was time for our oldest to start Kindergarten this year he went into French immersion. What I choose for my children has really been on my mind lately. WhoLiedToTheBlind recently had an interesting blog post about her experience in homeschool and how other homeschoolers she knew turned out. I've been thinking long and hard about what classes and learning opportunities to introduce my children to other than standard education and what benefit they will get out of the experiences later. My son, when asked by his teacher why kids should go to a french immersion school, replied, "It helps you get better jobs when you are a grown-up." I guess that's the end goal isn't it? When they are five years old we aren't usually looking that far ahead.
Every week, my son brings home one English book and one French book from the school library. He doesn't speak much French at home other than to teach his 3 and 4 year old siblings how to count to 10 in french and some of the french colours. But he does enjoy the French book story time, begging Daddy to read the french book every night at bedtime.
Here is Daddy reading to the kids from the "Un Champion" book. I love how his facial expressions turn french when he tries to speak french. Note the mini french shrug mouth at about 17 seconds in. (He does translate at the end of each page to English, I just stopped the video before the page was over.)Do you have experience with a language other than English? When did you start, how did you learn it and what have you done with your language skills as an adult?
Comments (2)
I speak Spanish fairly well. I learned it mostly because I love Mexico and wanted to be able to communicate when there. The other night I told a customer their total and almost said the "cents" in Spanish.
Big props for choosing the immersion school. Not only does a second language give you a bonus on the job search, but in life in general. I think learning another language unlocks certain parts of the brain-- the ability to think and relate to people in another language has incalculable value.
Me: Spanish in high school, Japanese in college (got a husband with that skill, lol) and Turkish now! whoot!