Amelia is Australian/French/Canadian. Her dad only talks to her and her brother in French so they will learn his first language. She of course understands everything he says to her and occasionally uses French words but so far speaks mainly in English.
lovely shot
I have friends who have raised their children bilingually like this and think it is wonderful.
Years ago a friend told me about the time she was telling her mischievous the 3 -4 yo son to behave himself or he'd get a smack (in Macedonian) and he looked around and shouted loudly in English - "No mummy, don't hit me" kids can be so clever nd manage to know which language to use when. I envy them. I'd love to be truly multilingual (I do have smattering of few languages and used to be reasonably fluent in Indonesian)
That reminds me of my childhood. My mom and grandmother always spoke Finnish and I could totally understand them but spoke English. Now, I barely remember any Finnish since I don't hear it as often. If you don't use it, you lose it! ;)
Really super composition Sheralee. It is such a gift to raise children with more than one language. But a very hard thing to stay consequent when you speak your child in one language and he/she answers you in the other.
@lbmcshutter funny story Megan but they are very smart and know just when to push your buttons ;) while this family lived with us for one year I picked up a few French words but I would love to learn it properly.
@alia_801@russianblue you're so right Kass and Linda. The family would like these two to go to school in Canada for a couple of years so they will speak French and my daughter can become a citizen, That way they can come back and forth as they wish.
@mtpagano apparently when it is the mother that speaks the foreign language the child is more likely to speak that language, which makes sense. Does your friend's kids speak the other language at all or just understand it?
I have friends who have raised their children bilingually like this and think it is wonderful.
Years ago a friend told me about the time she was telling her mischievous the 3 -4 yo son to behave himself or he'd get a smack (in Macedonian) and he looked around and shouted loudly in English - "No mummy, don't hit me" kids can be so clever nd manage to know which language to use when. I envy them. I'd love to be truly multilingual (I do have smattering of few languages and used to be reasonably fluent in Indonesian)
@alia_801 @russianblue you're so right Kass and Linda. The family would like these two to go to school in Canada for a couple of years so they will speak French and my daughter can become a citizen, That way they can come back and forth as they wish.
@mtpagano apparently when it is the mother that speaks the foreign language the child is more likely to speak that language, which makes sense. Does your friend's kids speak the other language at all or just understand it?