Adventures in Trilingual Parenting

Look at me playing with my food in Japanese.... (Alex, nearly 3)

2009-04-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

Apparently we ate dinner too early today because Alexander was definitely not hungry. He showed us this by playing with his pasta and putting it into his milk.

I removed his milk from the table and then we proceeded to ignore him (after telling him to eat of course). He was quite persistent in trying to get us to notice him before he finally decided he was ready to leave the table and let us eat in peace.

HEY! MAMA! Look!

HEY LIZ (our visitor)! LOOK!

LYDIA, hora MITE YO! (hey look)

I'm sure if papa had been here he would have tried it in German too.

He is quite persistent.

We continue to encourage the children to speak Japanese with each other because that is how they feel most comfortable. They seem fine speaking English with other English speaking kids and German with other German kids. They are also doing great with separating the languages at home.

Lydia is learning Hiragana

2009-04-20T21:47:00.001-07:00

Japanese children first learn to write in Hiragana. Of course growing up in a western family, Lydia is learning the Roman alphabet first. She can write her name and knows more than half of the letters of the alphabet. She really enjoys letters.

Her friends at school are all impressed that she can write her name in Romaji, but Lydia, on the other hand, wants to write in hiragana like all of her friends.

I got some writing drill books for her and now we are working through them day by day. Today she was learning "te" て. "te" means hand. We were talking about "te" and other words that start with "te". She was practicing the pencil strokes and I asked her, "What letter are you writing now?" She replied, "Hand".

Lydia likes her "really really much"

2009-04-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Age 4 is presenting many challenges for us. Lydia knows exactly what she wants... but she doesn't quite understand limits. One of our daily battles is about picking up the baby. In reality I think she is big enough to pick up Hannah in certain circumstances and under supervision. The problem is Alex. If Lydia is allowed to pick up Hannah then Alex will want to pick her up too. So to make things simple, our rule is "DON'T PICK UP THE BABY!"

You'd think a 4yo (4.5 really) would eventually get this concept. I have to tell her 20 times a day... and still I have to tell her the next day, and the day after that. I am really losing my temper with this and have started making her sit on the steps when she breaks the rule. Then Lydia starts crying and says "but Hannah likes it. and I like Hannah reaaaaallly realllllly much!" How can I possibly punish her for loving her sister too much?

Hannah 10 months - our 3rd "talker"

2009-04-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

Hannah has started using her verbal skills in a way that seems purposeful and not experimental. She likes to say "baa baa baa" and "maa maa maa". She definitely uses the "maa" sounds more regularly when she sees me or wants to nurse. And she always uses "baa baa" when papa is around. So I guess those are her first words.

She is also signing milk like a little lunatic. When she gets tired she waves around her hands frantically squeezing them in the "milk" sign hoping someone will take her seriously - poor 3rd child always waiting for someone to notice her! I try as best as I can to react to her needs quickly. I want her to feel like she can communicate with us.

Hannah loves music. She bops to anything she hears. Her favorite song is Japanese and I am probably going to spell it wrong: Ouma ma mina papaka hashiru (about a little horse...). She mouths along with the "papaka hashiru" part. "pa pa pa pa pa" It is so cute. I should be better about talking video.

Pondering some "lydia talk"

2009-03-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking, maybe Lydia always says "I'll do it my/a lonely" instead of "I'll do it myself" is because in German it would be "... aleine." which sounds kinda like alone.

Also, Lydia consistently says "Morning" to mean tomorrow. "Morning we will go to the zoo, mama." At first I thought she was using that word because when I try and put something off I will either say, we will do it in the Morning or we will do it Tomorrow. But I think it is more likely that she is applying the German word to English here. In German, the word "morgen" means both Morning and Tomorrow. So she translates it from German "morgen" to English "morning" when she really means Tomorrow.

Lydia talk...

2009-03-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

March 11, 2009. Lydia age 4.

Here's what she dictated into her new elmo diary today:
"I eat obento upstairs. I played a game. Somebody runs to get a chair. (she demostrates) oops. no chair there! I sing Aruko. I'm big is, I wanna write this. (meaning: when I'm big...) I'm big is, I wanna pick Alex my lone is. (meaning: I wanna pick alex up [from school] by myself. I played outside and then go home. Now I go to nap. After nap I goin' to Motoki house. Mama went to doctor."

She constantly says, "I'm big is...." and "my lone is" or "my lonely"
I'm big is, I wear fancy shoes like mama. I'm big is, I drink coffee too. I'm big is, I drive mama's car.

Then there is Alex who is 2, nearly 3. His language is sometimes so much better than Lydia's! He was chattering away the other day and he said, "When I'm big, I be Lydia. When Lydia little, Lydia be Alex." So when Alex grows up he wants to be Lydia. And he thinks that when Lydia was a baby, she was Alex. He also thinks he is a girl penguin. So I guess where he excels in language skills he lacks in intelligence. Ha Ha!

January 2009 - Lydia 4.5, Alexander 2.5

2009-01-17T03:15:00.000-08:00

We have had lots of developments in the last few months.

Lydia has been really growing with her Japanese thanks to her new kindergarten. Her enunciation is much clearer. Long phrases that she has had trouble saying for aaaages she can finally say - for example: itadakimasu and gochisosamadeshita (you say these before and after eating meals in japan), she would always mumble. Now she can correctly say each syllable. Also lots of lyrics of songs she would mumble along and now she has learned what the actual words are. I think she is feeling very good about her communication abilities in Japanese. She is getting along in her new school just fine. She seems to communicate well with the teacher and with her friends. Perhaps she isn't as conversational as some of her friends but she definitely understands as much as they do and really loves going every day.

We went to the US for the month of December. Just for the heck of it I scheduled a speech evaluation for Lydia. Honestly I'm not really concerned, but I know she is much less conversational than monolinguals her age and I just kind of wanted to know *how* much less. Also I wanted to see if the therapist had any suggestions for us.

The result (as I suspected) was a minor language delay and a minor to moderate pronunciation problem. The therapist was also not overly concerned given our situation. She reminded me that Lydia really only gets English from me. Of course this is absolutely true but it honestly surprised me to hear this. Lydia doesn't have any English speaking kids to play with - all of our foreign friends are German. At home she doesn't speak English with anyone else but me. In regards to helping her pronounce some sounds more correctly the therapist helped me understand where in the mouth the sounds came from and some easy ways to remind Lydia how to get the sounds out more accurately - for example, she has a tendency to lisp when she says "s". When I remind her to keep her teeth closed and not let her tongue come out then she can say it perfectly.

The language evaluation was on one of our first days in the US. After this, Lydia and Alexander were enrolled in a full-time preschool for two weeks. Their developments were really amazing.

Lydia was very impressive. First of all, her ability to adapt to the new environment, teacher, friends (who were all nearly 1 year older than her) was amazing. She didn't cry about being there. She wanted to go every day. She loved it. At the beginning, the teachers said she seemed really quiet and shy about talking. I think she did have some trouble making herself understood because they didn't know her. Some of her classmates were so chatty when I would take her and drop her off. I was a little worried that she would get shy (something that is rare for her!).

But instead she fit right in. She learned lots of words. She tried really hard to talk and started talking a lot. She started wanting to tell me things about her day when I picked her up - something she doesn't really like to do in japan. Or maybe it is that she can't explain to me in English what she did at school in Japanese. Who knows. Anyway it was really nice to hear how excited she was about her days.

She also started talking more and more with my parents. She got very interested in learning some Christmas songs and reading certain books.

I would think that if I had taken her to the speech therapist at the end of our stay, she would have seen a VERY noticeable change in Lydia's language.

Now for Alexander. The transition into the daycare was much more difficult. He was very uncomfortable with having to speak English at school rather than Japanese. He was withdrawn and shy and clingy. The best thing that happened was that one of the teachers was fluent in German! Alex latched onto this teacher and followed him around like a puppy. Alex was really funny about trying to speak Japanese with people. Anytime he met anyone who wasn't Caucasian, he would try and speak to them in Japanese - the Mexican neighbor we met on the street, the African American friend, the Vietnamese teacher at preschool, the Caribbean friend - Japanese was the first language he would try, just hoping to find someone to speak back in "his" language!

He and Lydia continued to play in Japanese. They also started to incorporate more English into their play.

Alex's English is pretty good for his age anyway, but he became more comfortable with playing in English. He also started repeating some funny things that apparently I say a lot - he really likes to say "oh my goodness!" and "it's okay, sweetie" and "Don't do THAT. I don't like it!"

We are back in Japan after the busy month. The kids are both settled back into their Japanese schools. Lydia is fine as always. Alex was happy to get back to his Japanese teachers but is still talking about the teachers he had in the US, so he must have had fun!

October 2008

2008-10-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

Alexander is a little chatterbox - and definitely in both German and English. He will go on and on with me in English. "Mama! Hi! Mama cooking dinner? Alex want it ice cream. Mama cleanin' up? why? oh. Alex want it ice cream." Then papa comes home and Alex chatters away in German with papa, "Papa ein gekauft? Alexander auch ein gekauft. Alexander milch trinken. Was Papa gekauft? Papa yogurt gekauft? Alexander milch trinken."

on and on.....

until Lydia comes in and then they start fighting in japanese. Doh!

2008-08-29T04:54:00.001-07:00

I just updated yesterday, but I can't help document what the kids are doing tonight.

It is bedtime and apparently they aren't ready to sleep because they are upstairs in bed talking to each other, reading stories to each other, and singing. I'm listening through the baby monitor hoping they will eventually be quiet up there....

They are babbling away in Japanese. First Lydia was singing a song with made up words:
"blah blah something. anpanman. blah blah. something Alexander." Then Alex starts singing and Lydia doesn't like the competition so starts yelling at him "yatenai! yatenai" (don't do it)
Lydia: Book ga ii? (wanna book)
Alex: Hai. inai inai ba. (yes. peek a boo)
*** silence for alittle while***

Alex: mama iku (mama come)
Lydia: yada (no)
Alex: pee pee suru (I wanna go pee pee)
Lydia: ii yo. pee pee shite. (It's okay. go pee pee.)
**CLUNK**
Lydia: Alex? Daijoubu? (are you okay?)
Alex: (laughter) BUMP shita. (I went BUMP)
Alex: Itai (it hurts)
Lydia: ii yo (it's okay)

the conversation continues like this for a long time... and I had to go up and break up various fights and solve some problems. But it was so funny to listen to them babbling in japanese.

Lydia 4 yo, Alex 2 yo, Hannah just born! - August 2008

2008-08-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

Lots has happened since I last updated.

1) Alexander and Lydia's German grandmother (Omi) came to visit for 3 weeks.
2) Alexander and Lydia got a new little sister, Hannah.
3) Alexander and Lydia's American grandparents came to visit for 5 weeks.
4) Lydia attended one month of summer camp at the Deutsche Schule Kobe.
5) They both went on a 2.5 week vacation in Europe with German family members.
6) They both continue to attend Japanese preschool.

Omi's visit encouraged Lydia to speak more German and have more confidence with trying to say German words. She continues to have pronunciation problems in all languages, so she often gets frustrated easily when she is trying to say new words or repeat what she hears. Omi read lots of stories to the kids and Omi doesn't understand English (unlike Papa), so in order to communicate with Omi, Lydia was forced to speak German. She mostly got by with one or two word communication. I wouldn't say she was really speaking in full sentences, but she was able to get her point across.

Alex was didn't speak a lot more German, but he definitely took an interest in story time with Omi and I think it was great for his comprehension.

Hannah's arrival in late May was very exciting. My parents came from the US to help take care of Alex and Lydia while I tended to the new little one. Grandma and Grandpa are young and active and had lots of energy for many creative activities. Both Lydia and Alexander excelled in English during this time. Lydia is gradually getting better with pronuciation and speaking in more complete sentences. Alex is a little aper and repeats everything Lydia says (and subsequently uses some pretty poor grammar!!)

Lydia still usually says "My" instead if "I". Eg: "My drew a picture today." or "My thirsty." I usually correct her and she's fine with that and says it perfectly.

She has started using pronouns more accurately. She used to only say "Where's mama's glasses?" and now she will say "Where's YOUR glasses?" She always puts a lot of stress on the "YOUR".

Lydia is finally getting better at making sounds from the back of her mouth (K and G) and can do it pretty well if I draw attention to it. But it is still more natural for her to only make T and D sounds so it is sometimes quite challenging to figure out what she is trying to say. She usually calls her brother "Alets" (instead of Alex).
I am relieved she is at least able to make the sounds now - even if it it takes reminding. Also, she doesn't get so frustrated if I tell her about it.

Lydia became a lot more chatty in English while my parents were visiting. Alexander also likes to babble non-stop. He talks about everything. He also tends to say "My" (or the german Meine) instead of "I". So he sits at the table and babbles away, "Meine like it pumpkin. Meine no like it onions. Alex want it dessert too. Mama more milk please. Tant you mama. Uh oh. Meine drop it fork. No mama. leave it dere. Alex get it self."

He has just entered the "why" stage (mostly just repeating what Lydia likes to say...) Fortunately he usually accepts very non-informative answers from me. Alex: "Why mama no have socks mama?" Me: "Because I don't have any socks today, Alex." Alex: "Oh."

German Summer School:
Lydia really had a great time at the Deutsche Schule. She became much more comfortable playing in German. She seemed excited to use German at home with Papa, instead of shy or frustrated. She made lots of friends.

2.5 week Vacation with German Family:
This was a fantastic opportunity for language development of both kids. I stayed at home with Hannah and as they were with Papa and only german family, they heard and spoke exclusively German for the 2.5 weeks. When I spoke with them on the phone all of the answers were in German. When they came home they automatically switched back to English with me, but it was a noticeable effort to change their thinking. Lydia is much better at forming whole sentences in German. Alex is just really really good at repeating. Both kids are more chatty with Papa when we are at home. Lydia now wants to explain things to him, where before she would ask me to say it.

Continuing with japanese preschool:
Both kids are doing great with japanese. Lydia is starting to read a little bit. She and Alex both play at home in mostly Japanese. They fight in japanese. They discipline each other in Japanese. They read stories to each other in Japanese. They automatically switch to Japanese when we are out and meet someone on the street. It is really to the point now where Lydia definitely understands plenty of things that I don't understand.

Lydia 3.5 years, Alexander 1yr10mo

2008-03-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

As I haven't updated for a while, I figured it was about time.

At 3.5, Lydia is definitely having a preference for speaking English lately. She tends to reply to Papa in English sometimes - especially if we are all together. When it is just the two of them she is more likely to default to German with him. She has also started to ask me (in English) to tell Papa certain things. For example, if she wants to tell him what we did during the day but doesn't know the right words in German, instead of trying to use the words she does know, she said, "Mama tell it."

I'm wondering if we need to review the day in German before Roland comes home so she can have the proper vocabulary fresh in her head. I'm not sure.

Another thing that is putting more stress on the English lately is that we have an American woman living with us as of a few months ago. Karen spends a lot of time with the kids and obviously speaks English with them. It has been good for Lydia's confidence in language, but definitely putting a lot of stress on English.

Lydia constantly makes us laugh with her creative grammar construction. This must be a result of the differing grammatical structure of the three languages. She seems to just pick and choose whatever makes most sense to her. I get the impression she is using the Japanese construction a lot - she often puts the negative at the end of the sentence.

Here's an example:

"Karen sick more nope?"
meaning: is Karen still sick?

When Lydia and Alexander are playing together, Lydia usually speaks with him in Japanese. It is very choppy and somewhat made-up, but it is Japanese.

Roland's mother will soon be visiting for a month. It will force me to speak more German and I am hoping this will encourage Lydia to have more confidence with speaking it as well.

Alexander at 1 year and 10 months has become somewhat of a chatter box. He is such a mimic. Our conversation goes like this....
Me: "Alexander, what's that?"
A: "What dat?"
Me: "What's that?"
A: "Dat?"
Me: "Yes, what's that?"
A: "What dat?"
Me: "That's a doggy."
A: "Doggy"

(but if I ask him to point out the doggie, he will point to it right away)

He also is learning some really funny grammar and mixed up language from Lydia. If Lydia wants to know what I am doing she will say "Nani mama doin'" (nani is japanese). Now Alex repeats, "nani mama doin'"

He talks about what he sees. It was big excitement last week because we flew to Thailand and were on airplanes, boats, taxis and buses. While in the airplane he probably told me a hundred time, "I see it. Airplane." And on the boat when we see other boats going by, "I see it boat. I see it fish." And looking out the taxi window, "I see it purple taxi. I see it orange taxi. I see it pink taxi. I see it car."

He is also going through a terribly independent phase. He MUST do everything by himself. "I"LL do it" (as a screech) is just about his favorite thing to say.

In regards to German, he seems to understand that he uses different words with Papa than he does with mama. If he wants up, he says "HOCH" to Roland. If he wants down he says "RUNTER". If he is finished with his food he says "VERTIG" if he is talking with roland. There are some terms he understands better in English... for example the other day Roland was saying "Tür zu" a gazillion times and then finally I said it in English, "close the door" and he finally closed the door. I get the feeling there are some things that Roland says a lot that Alexander doesn't necessarily understand in English because I don't say the same things.

In regards to japanese, he seems pretty much right on track. He is having a fine time at preschool.

Alexander 18 months

2007-11-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

Alexander is still impressing us with an increasing vocabulary...

As a result of his days with the babysitter, his japanese vocabulary and understanding is also increasing. The babysitter told me he says the following words to her: (of course, pronunciation takes some getting used to. It sounds like babytalk but after you hear it a few times you definitely can tell what he's getting at!)

Dõzo (here you go, please)
Itadakimasu/Gochisosamadeshita (what you say before and after eating)
Ochita (it fell)
Dekita (I did it)
Konnichiwa (hello)
Aruku (walk)
Pan (bread)

In English he has added some words. He now says:
Please
Play
Walk
Milk
Bye-bye (sounds more like "bye"... a month ago it was more of a "baa")
Peepee/poopoo
Ball
sock
shoe
baby

He has also started saying his name and his sister's name. It's very cute when he runs around the house looking for her and yelling "Leelia, Leelia." Or he wants to play hide and seek so he starts saying his name "Ale? Ale?" to let you know you should start looking for him.

In German, to be honest I am not sure if he has many new words because I'm not the one speaking German with him. I'll have to get some input from Roland here! But Alexander is quite good at saying danke and bitte (thank you and please). He also seems to understand papa quite well.

Lydia 3 years and 3 months

2007-11-07T03:53:00.001-08:00

We are working on getting Lydia to speak in more complete sentences. Lydia says, "My water" (meaning: I want to drink some water please. ) and I try to get her to repeat her request in a more complete way. She's making some progress but her pronunciation is so bad and she gets really frustrated sometimes. Her "corrected" sentence becomes something like "I wannadana water, please."

We are going through the same thing in German.

I think her German and English are still pretty much on par with each other. She is very good at speaking with Roland in German. If she calls him on the phone, it's always German even if she and I were just speaking English with each other. She doesn't always know the correct word in each language. Today, for example, she was telling me why papa's shoes were outside but she didn't know the english explanation. She said, "Papa say LUFT". Ohhhh... papa said they needed some air. Ha ha.

Alexander 16 months (September 2007)

2007-09-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been noticing that Alexander is much more verbal than Lydia was at this age. I guess it is a combination of him just being him and him being the younger sibling and hearing a very repetetive 3 year old sister. He uses single words... here's what he is saying now:

Yaaaaa - yes, Ja
Nai - no, nein
Panpan - any kind of food (comes from japanese for bread)
Juuuu (along with the hand sign)- any kind of drink (probably comes from juice)
Baa Baa - bye bye
Papa - papa, dad
Papa - cell phone (because he talks to papa on the phone! LOL)
BooBah - any button like a light switch or elevator button (come from "push button" or "bee-baa" - the noise the buzzer on the bus makes when you push it)
wawawa (with head bow) - konnichiwa, hello
Nahnah - good night
Mama - mama

Back from 1 month in the USA

2007-08-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

Lydia's turned 3!:

We spent the month of July and beginning of August up to Lydia's 3rd birthday in the US with my parents. This was a great opportunity for the kids to get some more English exposure. Lydia and Alexander had such a wonderful time. And indeed Lydia switched from using mostly Japanese to using mostly English. I guess this is what I expected to happen because she couldn't get away with speaking Japanese and just assuming people would understand her.

Here are some observations about Lydia's language development during the month:

She started putting a lot of stress on the American "R" sound. ie. "Look Mama. Millie's caRRRRRR." "Lydia's tuRRRRn!" Before this, the "R" sound was more of an "Ah".

She started singing a lot of songs. Before now she only sung The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Zou-san (a Japanese song about an elephant). So I was surprised and amused when we were in the car and all of a sudden she was yelling (singing) "Da Warmer in da dell, Da warmer in da dell, Hi ho daderio, Da warmer in da dell" If you can't tell that would be "The Farmer in the Dell."
Then the next day she was singing "Heaaaaaaaaaad. Neezletoes Neezletoes, Heaaaaaaaad. Neezletoes Neezletoes." That would be "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes."

She still really doesn't speak in true sentences. She uses a lot of words together but skips many small words. And example of her sentence structure: "Ball under mama papa bed! Ball way way here" (The ball went under mama and papa's bed. The ball is way under there. )

While in the US, I couldn't help but compare her to kids her age. In Japan I really don't have any English-speaking kids her age to gauge her against. I know I shouldn't compare but it was interesting to meet some kids even younger than her who were total chatter boxes speaking in unbelievably proper sentences. But then there were other kids similar in age to Lydia whose language skills in English were pretty much on par with hers. Interesting how much variation there is in the stages of language development, even with mono-lingual kids.

She didn't have a problem communicating with my parents. Well I should say that it did start out a little rough, but then my parents learned to understand her!

Roland wasn't with us for the first 2 weeks in the US. When he arrived Lydia immediately started using German with him.

Now for Alexander's developments:

At 15 months he has really become a pro at the signs he has learned so far. I should really add some more because I think he would suck them up like a sponge! For now it's just milk, eat, drink, more, please, thank you, sleep and up.

He started sort of saying "up" (pah) and done "dah" and drink "juu" or "duu" (which I think actually might be juice even though we rarely drink it).

Japanese is taking off...

2007-06-05T06:07:00.002-07:00

Ever since Lydia started going to preschool, her Japanese vocabulary is increasing in leaps and bounds (and over-taking her German and English). She consistently asks me, "kore nani" (what's this?) and "papa wa, inu wa, sensei wa, panpan wa" (where's papa, where's the dog, where's teacher, where's the bread). She doesn't ask me, "what's this?" in English. I know it will come. I think she is mostly immitating the other kids in the class. I am glad she is trying to talk more and that she is able to make herself understood at school.

When we talk about things if she uses a word in Japanese or German with me I usually say, "yes, that's what _____ says. but mama says ____." Today she saw some flowers and she said, "mama, blume!" I said, "yes, the flowers. Aren't they pretty? Mama says flower. Papa says blume." She replies, "Lydia say?" Ha Ha. I didn't know what to tell her. So I said, "Lydia can say Blume and Flower and Hana. When Lydia talks to mama, she can say Flower. When Lydia talks to papa she can say Blume. When lydia talks to sensei she can say Hana."

We played with our German/Japanese friends this weekend. Their mom is German and Dad is Japanese. Maya is 1 year older than Lydia. Maya was chanting "Asobo! Asobo!" to Lydia (japanese - Let's play!). Lydia understood what she was saying but instead of replying in Japanese, she replied in German I guess because she knows that Maya's mama speaks German with Maya. So Lydia said "Ja!" meaning yes. But "Yaa!" in japanese means no! So Maya kept repeating "Asobo" because she wasn't happy with the answer. HA! For the most part, they were communicating in German and doing so rather successfully. Though kids don't really need to use words to play... they work with what they have.

Lydia .... gibberish

2007-05-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

Usually she doesn't have much to say on the phone. Today it's another story: she is talking to papa on the phone and she has TONS to say. Unfortunately we have no idea what she was trying to say... it was complete and utter gibberish. She's using japanese sounds and rhythm so I assume that's what she is immitating.

The conversation on her side went something like this:
"Ano ne, shino nino ani nani. Neno nini. Mama door close. Ano ne, nino shini nananite. Rice. Milk. Möhre."

The "ano ne" is actually japanese. It means "you know" or "umm". The other stuff is gibberish. She told me to close the door. Then she answered rice, milk, carrots, when papa asked what she ate for dinner.

Roland said to me, "For once she had a lot to say to me. I feel so sorry I can't understand her. Poor girl!"

Alexander 10 mo to 12 mo

2007-05-22T03:41:00.001-07:00

I have decided to try Baby Signing with Alexander and actually stick with it this time. I did try with Lydia and she ended up learning 3 signs but then I basically gave up. The first sign we worked with for Alexander was "milk". I started signing it to him while nursing at around 8 months. At 10 months he started signing it.

At this point I added 2 more signs - "eat" and "more" - while feeding him foods other than milk. He wasn't signing anything except for milk but just TODAY (at 12 months), he started signing "eat". WoooHOOOOO! I'm so excited.

I think that continuing with the baby signing will help our trilingual family. This way mama, papa and the babysitter can use the same sign but say a different word. I'm hoping this will help out with the distinction between languages.

Lydia 2.5 to 2 years and 9 months

2007-05-21T01:20:00.001-07:00

Lydia's vocabulary has finally jumped quite a bit, but not really like I expected. She hasn't really added more words, but she has added them in more languages. Also, she has started to link more words together.

The biggest development is that I really notice her separating the languages. For example, she has said "Auto" (German, Car) since just before she turned 2 but wouldn't say it in any other language. Now she says it in English and Japanese too.
A typical sentence mixing up all three languages a few months ago was "Mite Mama, midori auto see" (Look mama, I see a green car.) Interesting that she has the tendency to put the verb at the end of the sentence like in Japanese.
Papa came home from work recently and I was talking about what we did today (in english) and trying to get Lydia to tell him what we did. She pulled out the thing we bought and said to him, "Lydia Kauf" (German - Lydia Buy). I had no idea she actually could say "kauf" because she only ever said "buy" to me.

Another example, we were walking in the neighborhood and passed a dog. She pointed and said, "mama! dog! woof. woof." Then she sees a lady coming toward us and said to the lady, "Mite! Inu! ii ne." (Look, dog. Nice!). She knew the woman was japanese and she should not speak the same way she speaks with mama.

Recently, the big change in Lydia's life is that she has been going to a japanese preschool for the past month. Her japanese words have increased in leaps and bounds. She frequently tries to sing songs and games that she learns in school. Unfortunately I can't help her with them because I have no idea how they go!

The teachers were immediately quite impressed with the amount of japanese she could understand and say. That was a relief to me (and them too, I'm sure). I guess they didn't realize she was actually born here, they thought she had just arrived and was brand new to the japanese language.

For the first 2 weeks, lydia would come home after school and babble in nonsense that sounded like japanese. It really did sound japanese but I know at least enough japanese to know that it was just sounds. She'd say "Mama, Ano ne, neno nano nini. baba nini nano nano." She would use her hands and gesticulate like she was having a very serious conversation with me. It was hilarious.

Now that she has been in the school for a few weeks, she can really communicate with the teachers rather well. It's still more of them asking her questions and her nodding or shaking her head. That's what it is like at home a lot too....

Her pronunciation is changing a bit. Last week she started trying to incorporate the American "R" into her speach. She was telling me to "Parrrrrrrrk" the "Carrrrrrrrrr". And she told me about a "Farrrrrrrrrt" (yes, the english word!) and because I am used to such poor pronunciation I thought she was saying "Fork". Duh.

Poor kid with stupid parents who can't understand her!

Lydia 2 years to 2 years and 6 months

2007-05-21T01:14:00.000-07:00

Everyone says kids slowly get a few words here and there and then all of a sudden their vocabulary explodes. This hasn't happened with us so far. It has been rather frustrating at times. Lydia's language development is much slower than some of her friends. However she does have some peers who are monolingual and don't/can't really talk more than her either. So I have not been really worried about her language development at any point.

From age 2 to 2.5, her vocabulary hasn't changed much. The pronunciation of the words she does say is so bad. Really only mama and papa can understand her.... Her babysitter was telling me she feels really bad that she can't understand what Lydia is trying to say. I reassured her by saying that I couldn't understand her 90% of the time either. She babbles and makes noises that sound like words and she knows what she wants but can't actually say it.

I frequently resort to the phrase "can you show me what you want?" because I just don't understand what she is telling me.

Lydia 18 months to 2 years

2007-05-21T01:06:00.000-07:00

First I would like to summarize the development of Lydia's language so far:

At 6 months, Lydia started going to a japanese babysitter once a week. Also, Lydia went once or twice a week to japanese playgroups with mama. This was her only exposure to Japanese for the first 2 years and 8 months.

Her first real word was around 18 months. It was "bear" or "bär". Good that it was a word that sounds the same in both German and English because mama and papa couldn't argue about what language she spoke first.

By the time her brother was born (21 months), Lydia could clearly say "baby" (again, both German and English). She said "Meelt" (milk, not sure which language).

At 24 months we had an 8 wk visit to the US. At this point, Lydia wasn't very verbal but she was putting 2 words together. Mostly she was using a few words that only mama and papa could understand. She said things like "Oh-dohs" (yogurt, not sure what language!) "Nein" (German). She made animal noises for many animals but rarely said their real name.

I wasn't good at documenting things at this stage, but I do remember that the pediatrician asked me if she was putting 2 words together and if she was, then she was within "normal" development. She said things like "meow meow, gone" and "No night night"

The few words she said were indiscriminately German or English or Japanese. Here's a list of things I can remember her saying up to 24 mo:

"Bär/bear"
"Ba"- bus
"Ba" - bath
"Ba" - ball
"Beed" - big
"Auto" - german, car
"Panpan" - japanese, bread
"WanWan" - japanese, dog (from the sound)
most colors only japanese. The color red/rot/aka, she did occasionally say in either japanese or german.
"Mais" -German, Corn
"Mooma" - german, carrot (müre)
"Noh" (the name of her sheepy)
"No yike it" - I don't like it (very hard to understand)
"hayo" - Ohayo, japanese, good morning
"Eenie" - raisin, not sure what language
"Happy Doo-ha-ha" (happy birthday)
"Oh-ha-ha" - Elephant, from the japanese Zou-san
"Baum" - german, Tree
"HeeHee" - horse, from the sound it makes
"MeowMeow" - cat
"WahWap" - frog, from the sound

Our Family

2007-05-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

We live in Japan (Fukuoka for 3 years, now Kobe). I am Rebecca, American. My husband is Roland, German. We have 2 kids, Lydia (Aug 2004) and Alexander (May 2006). This blog is designed to follow the development of our children's speach. I guess I should have started this sooner because Lydia is already 2 year and 9 months old. But a little late is better than never!

For now we are using the One Parent One Language "OPOL" approach. Roland speaks to the kids in German only. I speak with them in English only. They get Japanese from babysitters, preschool and friends outside of home. We are most concerned about the kids getting a strong base of German and English. Rebecca is with the kids all day long, so they naturally hear more english. Roland gets special bedtime and bathtime routine and very actively reads to the kids (especially Lydia at this point) in German only.