The girls are back from their trip to the in-laws. As expected, their Arabic has improved a lot and their other languages have gone a bit rusty.
BK1 is currently building funny sentences with very interesting structure and she is clearly not as confident as she was before they left.
BK2 invents "German" words by adding an "en" at the end of whatever she is saying.
The effect is clearly more visible with BK2: she is talking to me in some language that remotely sounds like German but I do not understand a single word.
Poor BK2! We'll see how that works itself out. I'm sure it will.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
Multilingual Phrases are not Dead
No, they're back with a vengeance!
Babelmum and the Babelkids are still with the in-laws in Algeria. Their Arabic is getting better and better and naturally the other languages are on a bit of a holiday, so to speak. Probably relaxing at the beach while I'm working, those lazy .... Anyway.
I had BK1 on the phone earlier via skype, and when we had finished, she said:
"Kann ich abcrochen?"
That's three languages, German, English & French. German provides two words ("Kann ich" = "Can I"), one prefix ("ab") and correct grammar, French provides part of one word ("crocher" comes from "raccrocher" = "to hang up") and English, well, my guess is that she translated "raccrocher" to "hang up" and then split "raccrocher" apart and tried to make it German by translating the "up" to "ab".
Or maybe she actually said "Kann ich upcrochen", I'm not sure.
Whichever it is, "crochen" is the correct verb form for this sentence. Or rather it would be if it was a German word.
Babelmum and the Babelkids are still with the in-laws in Algeria. Their Arabic is getting better and better and naturally the other languages are on a bit of a holiday, so to speak. Probably relaxing at the beach while I'm working, those lazy .... Anyway.
I had BK1 on the phone earlier via skype, and when we had finished, she said:
"Kann ich abcrochen?"
That's three languages, German, English & French. German provides two words ("Kann ich" = "Can I"), one prefix ("ab") and correct grammar, French provides part of one word ("crocher" comes from "raccrocher" = "to hang up") and English, well, my guess is that she translated "raccrocher" to "hang up" and then split "raccrocher" apart and tried to make it German by translating the "up" to "ab".
Or maybe she actually said "Kann ich upcrochen", I'm not sure.
Whichever it is, "crochen" is the correct verb form for this sentence. Or rather it would be if it was a German word.
Monday, 2 August 2010
Still English!
Babelmum and the Babelkids are currently visiting the Babelgrands in Algeria.
After a week there, BK1's Arabic had significantly improved. Being in a purely bilingual environment (I was there as well, keeping the German alive!) seems to allow the little ones to concentrate on one language and help them to progress very quickly.
And then the Babelkids played outside and all of a sudden they were switching to English and happily chatting and playing like always.
I was the only one who realised it right away and it made me smile.
After a week there, BK1's Arabic had significantly improved. Being in a purely bilingual environment (I was there as well, keeping the German alive!) seems to allow the little ones to concentrate on one language and help them to progress very quickly.
And then the Babelkids played outside and all of a sudden they were switching to English and happily chatting and playing like always.
I was the only one who realised it right away and it made me smile.
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