Ana's really not wanting to speak French anymore...

[conuly]

The other day, my mother was giving her her bath, and she said something (in French) about the soap. Savon. And Ana quite seriously replied "No, it's soap!"

Mommy: Non, savon.
Ana: No! SOAP!
Mommy: Ana, non, c'est savon.
Ana: It's soap!
Mommy: Savon.
Ana: *sighs* Nanen. Dit soap.

She understands the French, but she wants to speak English. So my mother's really trying to only speak French to her, and not English. Once she's got that down, she plans on making the replying in French more important.

In other news of multilingual (kinda) adventures, I was sitting on the bus yesterday. And this kid and her mom(?) get on. Kid can't be more than seven, just reading. And the kid reads a sign across from us: LOOK! FOOD!

Mother: (clearly bored to tears) Yes, food. How do you spell that?
Kid: F-o-o-d
Mother: *still bored*
Connie: *flash of inspiration* And you know, you can spell that with your hands too! Look, f, o, o, d!

Kid was fascinated. Mother was grinning. Another kid came up to watch and surrepitiously follow along as I carefully spelled out everybody's names and completely exhausted my ASL vocabulary by teaching them "thank you". I'm lucky nobody had a name involving P or Q, 'cuz I kinda can't do those :)

And this kept everyone occupied through the entire bus ride. So I think I may do myself a favor and work on a little basic vocabulary building in that area. I have no delusions, I that this does not in any way comprise knowing the language, but if it can keep kids from making nuisances of themselves, I'm all for it.

Comments

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

Do you mean you physically can't do them, that you weren't ever shown how, or that you can't remember?

If it's one of the latter two, this site (http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm) might help.

[conuly]

The first and last.

I often forget how to do them. However, even when I remember, it takes me several tries, and the other hand, to get the fingers in the right spot. I just don't get it.

[leora.livejournal.com]

How has Ana been exposed to French? Children raised exclusively with one language in the home that isn't the native language around them tend to lose their at home language, as odd as that may seem. Children raised with both languages from an incredibly young age and using both at home, tend to learn both and learn when it is appropriate to use each. Of course, children vary from the general guidelines, and there can be tricky parts along the way.

I very much want to raise bilingual children, which will be tricky, since I know I won't be bilingual, but I think it can still be done.

[conuly]

I'd be surprised that she knows it if she hadn't :)

Her nanen (my mom) mostly speaks French to her. Now we're going for "all the time speaks French to her", and Jenn and I are both individually contemplating improving our meager (for her, nonexistant for me) skills in the language.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest a little French from other sources. Children tend to try to be normal, as sick as that sounds. It's part of why kids who grow up in the US often speak English with the accent of their area, while their parents may speak it heavily accented or poorly. They start out learning what is presented to them, but then they try to get rid of anomalies that they only hear from one person or such. So, to Ana, she probably thinks that French is talking wrong... not consciously really, or maybe, hard to say, but that's the general idea. If she were exposed to it from a few other sources, even in small amounts, it might really help her see it as worth learning.

If you can get your hands on a kids video in French or somesuch, that might be good exposure (as long as the video doesn't totally suck). And a little French here and there from other people can help it sink in that this is worth learning.

[conuly]

She has French music, and French books (Martine and Babar, mostly), but anything else will simply have to wait.

[leora.livejournal.com]

French music sounds good, because it's French she can hear and from another source. Same basic idea as videos. Plus, you can throw in a little French if you can learn some. Learning a few phrases of the language should be easy... although accent is much harder. I know my Spanish, despite years of study, sounds like it's being said by an American English speaker.

[conuly]

*laughs*

I can *pronounce* French. I used to even be able to read it. I just can't speak it.

[conuly]

Ack! I wondered why you were asking IF Ana had been exposed to French. I somehow missed the How. I don't know how that happened. Ignore the first sentence in my reply to this comment, please.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Hey Con! I was going to ask you what size the girls are - since I've got the whole Sears discount I decided they're getting clothes for xmas ;) - but I read down and you posted already about it! How convenient. :)

I might get some clothes out sooner than xmas, depending on how much this paycheck ends up being. I'm about $300 in debt (YAY!), but after that my money is going toward presents!

Speaking of. What do YOU want for xmas? Not what do you want me to get the kiddos, I want to get YOU something. Or make you something, or I don't know. :P

Call me sometime this week? Or, tell me what day you're free and I'll call you. I miss you. OH AND EMAIL ME JENN'S CELL NUMBER PLEASE. ;)

[conuly]

ACK! I can't believe I forgot to email Jenn's number. You on AIM? I'll check. Hold on.

[conuly]

I guess I'll email you tomorrow.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Random thing that I've heard:

Around age 2, kids will want to speak the language that most people around them speak, and that is on TV (if they watch TV). This apparently chills out again when they aren't 2 anymore.

My niece is doing the same thing with Spanish.

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

Do you mean you physically can't do them, that you weren't ever shown how, or that you can't remember?

If it's one of the latter two, this site (http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm) might help.

[conuly]

The first and last.

I often forget how to do them. However, even when I remember, it takes me several tries, and the other hand, to get the fingers in the right spot. I just don't get it.

[leora.livejournal.com]

How has Ana been exposed to French? Children raised exclusively with one language in the home that isn't the native language around them tend to lose their at home language, as odd as that may seem. Children raised with both languages from an incredibly young age and using both at home, tend to learn both and learn when it is appropriate to use each. Of course, children vary from the general guidelines, and there can be tricky parts along the way.

I very much want to raise bilingual children, which will be tricky, since I know I won't be bilingual, but I think it can still be done.

[conuly]

I'd be surprised that she knows it if she hadn't :)

Her nanen (my mom) mostly speaks French to her. Now we're going for "all the time speaks French to her", and Jenn and I are both individually contemplating improving our meager (for her, nonexistant for me) skills in the language.

[leora.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest a little French from other sources. Children tend to try to be normal, as sick as that sounds. It's part of why kids who grow up in the US often speak English with the accent of their area, while their parents may speak it heavily accented or poorly. They start out learning what is presented to them, but then they try to get rid of anomalies that they only hear from one person or such. So, to Ana, she probably thinks that French is talking wrong... not consciously really, or maybe, hard to say, but that's the general idea. If she were exposed to it from a few other sources, even in small amounts, it might really help her see it as worth learning.

If you can get your hands on a kids video in French or somesuch, that might be good exposure (as long as the video doesn't totally suck). And a little French here and there from other people can help it sink in that this is worth learning.

[conuly]

She has French music, and French books (Martine and Babar, mostly), but anything else will simply have to wait.

[leora.livejournal.com]

French music sounds good, because it's French she can hear and from another source. Same basic idea as videos. Plus, you can throw in a little French if you can learn some. Learning a few phrases of the language should be easy... although accent is much harder. I know my Spanish, despite years of study, sounds like it's being said by an American English speaker.

[conuly]

*laughs*

I can *pronounce* French. I used to even be able to read it. I just can't speak it.

[conuly]

Ack! I wondered why you were asking IF Ana had been exposed to French. I somehow missed the How. I don't know how that happened. Ignore the first sentence in my reply to this comment, please.

[xiggaroo.livejournal.com]

Hey Con! I was going to ask you what size the girls are - since I've got the whole Sears discount I decided they're getting clothes for xmas ;) - but I read down and you posted already about it! How convenient. :)

I might get some clothes out sooner than xmas, depending on how much this paycheck ends up being. I'm about $300 in debt (YAY!), but after that my money is going toward presents!

Speaking of. What do YOU want for xmas? Not what do you want me to get the kiddos, I want to get YOU something. Or make you something, or I don't know. :P

Call me sometime this week? Or, tell me what day you're free and I'll call you. I miss you. OH AND EMAIL ME JENN'S CELL NUMBER PLEASE. ;)

[conuly]

ACK! I can't believe I forgot to email Jenn's number. You on AIM? I'll check. Hold on.

[conuly]

I guess I'll email you tomorrow.

[wispfox.livejournal.com]

Random thing that I've heard:

Around age 2, kids will want to speak the language that most people around them speak, and that is on TV (if they watch TV). This apparently chills out again when they aren't 2 anymore.

My niece is doing the same thing with Spanish.