You are Arab

This half term week has gone quickly. We were in the garden a lot of the time, making the most of the nicest end of October in many people's living memory. It has certainly been the warmest and sunniest autumn since we moved to the North of England almost eight years ago.
So, BK1 (6 and 1/2) and BK2 (3 and 3/4) are playing in their secret den (a rhododendron bush that's gone mad). Conversation between the two is flowing, in English of course. This is usually the case when they are playing.

The following conversation between BK1 and me took place mostly in Arabic, interspersed with French words. But for the sake of clarity and brevity, I'm relating it in English.
Me: "Why are you talking in English?"
BK1: "Because we are English"
Me:"Hm, really?"
BK1:"Yes, BK2 and I are English, daddy is German and you are Arab"
- pause -
Me, softly:"I am not Arab, I am, hmmm Algerian..."

How could I explain to my daughter, who is already exposed to four different languages and cultures, that I am Berber from the Atlas mountains, and proud of my lineage, even though I never speak a word of Berber at home?
I used to be very vocal of my Berber heritage back home. This part of my personality has fallen into the background since the arrival of the girls. I do not speak Berber fluently, though the girls are passively exposed to it when we are at my parents.
Now thinking about it, I should have trusted my daughter's intelligence and gone ahead and said "I am not Arab, I am Berber". I think I will next time.

English Really is the First Language

More and more often I find myself in this kind of situation with BK1: We are speaking about something or I'm telling a story and I use a word that BK1 doesn't know. Today it was "Abenteuer", "Adventure".

Not long ago I would have explained the word, but recently I found the easiest way is to say it in English.

Tonight I noticed I was doing it and I thought 'I'm being lazy, I really should explain this in German!'

The two main points are, of course: 1. her English vocabulary has passed German vocabulary in size. I'm guessing it is bigger than French and Arabic vocabulary, too. When did that happen? And 2. she grew that vocabulary entirely outside our house, it is truly foreign to me. This is very strong evidence that both OPOL and MLAH work and work very well.

One thing: I have this idea in my head that at some point, I will start wondering how well I know my children. I always thought that and I probably placed that time somewhere around puberty. But now I'm wondering just how unknown my daughters will be given their first language is not mine. The time might come a lot earlier than I thought!

Ew.

All I can do is keep OPOL alive. Let's hope the little German part inside their heads will always be my home...

Identity and the World Cup

BK1, 5, seems to be having a hard time knowing which Football team to cheer. Initially, she had no doubt she would support her country, Manchester. Then she understood Manchester was not playing in the World Cup, so had to settle for England. I was slightly disappointed, albeit not surprised, that she chose England over Algeria or even Germany. After all, she was born and raised in England, she goes to an English school where she spends most of her waking hours with English people. She knows mummy is Algerian, and her grandparents live in Algeria, but does not feel Algeria is her country. Or does she?

When reading this, you could be forgiven for thinking that I am a big fan of football. I actually am not. I am mainly interested in this world cup as it's only the third time that Algeria is taking part in the tournament. The last time was 24 years ago. Also, BK1 has shown lots of interest in various countries, particularly what their flags look like.

In the build-up to the Algeria-England game on the 18th of June, the England team players in particular (Rooney commented that even an under-par England can beat Algeria) and football commentators in general were rather dismissive and patronising of the Algerian side. I felt slightly annoyed by this show of smugness and arrogance. As it happened, the game yielded a 0-0 draw, much to the Algerian team credit.

That pre-game morning, I had decided to hang an Algerian flag on our front door. When BK1 came back from school, she asked me if there was another Algerian flag that she could hang. So, we made one out of paper and stuck it on the window. During the game itself, she was chanting "1, 2, 3 viva l'Algerie" spurred on by 5 other people cheering the Algerian team. Majority rules.

Fast forward to the 27th of June, it is now Germany's turn to face England. I asked BK1 which side she would be cheering, and she pointed to her dad. I could sense that deep down she wanted England to win, but felt she had to be loyal to her dad (who incidentally does not give a toss about football, who wins or loses). We were joined for the game by our Algerian friends. Their seven-year old son, A, was having a similar kind of dilemma; his parents were cheering Germany, a form of retaliation to the English jibe about Algeria. But the son was clearly drawn to cheering England. Later on during the game, I heard them whispering to each other:
A: Who do you want to see win?
BK1: England
A: Me too

Unfortunately for these two sweet little people, we all know the outcome of this game.

So, what is the conclusion of this very long post? I don't know, only time can tell what impact their mixed background will have on our daughters' sense of self. For the time being, our oldest daughter feels she is English, but shows some emotional attachment to Algeria and Germany, the countries of her parents. Not hers.

This post is part of the Blogging Carnival on Bilingualism. Head over to the June carnival for more interesting and funny reading on children and multilingual environments.

A Flag for MY Country

Walking to the car in the pool parking lot BK1 saw her first car with flags. She asked why the car had flags and I told her about the World Cup and that those were England flags.

She said she wanted "Manchester flags" so I told her it was not towns but entire countries who went to the World Cup. I mentioned Algeria, England, France, Germany and a couple of other countries.

BK1 then asked me whether we could have the flags of "MY country" and I thought "Aha! I wonder which one ..." and asked which one that was.

Without even thinking she said "Manchester".

There you have it, my daughter really is English.

And the Babelwife has a major problem being Algerian and living in the UK :-) (Note from the Babelwife: No, I don't!)