Six False Friends

Of course, languages borrow and steal from each other. That's normal. I've come to realise, though, that a language often adopts a word from another language only for it to mean something slightly or completely different.

Here are a few false friends in French, English and German.

Handy

An English word meaning something useful. German speakers, however, use the word to mean mobile phone. Go figure.

Cutter

Another English word, used in French to mean a kind of a pocket knife used to cut cardboard and other thick materials. Otherwise known in England as a carpet knife.

Costume

In French, a costume usually designates a two- or a three-piece suit. In English though, a costume is what people wear to dress up, such as a clown, a witch, Superman etc.

Etui

This French word is used occasionally to mean a sheath or a slim-fitting case. In German, it is often used to designate any kind of small case: a pencil case, a wallet, a credit card holder. You name it, if its purpose is to carry any kind of small stuff then it's an Etui.

Manege

A French word meaning carrousel, German speakers use it to designate an arena, in particular, a circus arena.

Mobbing

When I hear that someone is being mobbed in English, I imagine somebody running away from a group of people who are ganging up on him. In German, though, mobbing is bullying.

And you, what are your most memorable linguistic false friends?

Family Language Diagram Update

I feel a bit bad: we haven't updated the family language diagram for ages! I cannot even remember how long ago I touched it. Bad Babeldad!

Then again, the situation has only changed very slightly when it comes to languages. All three Babelkids are now sufficiently fluent to be able to speak pretty normally with native speakers of their four languages. English is the dominating language, by a mile, but it has always been.

So all good in the Babelhouse from a language perspective.

Small Changes

Drill down into details though, and you will notice changes.

BK2 is more and more defaulting to English, when in the past she would speak Arabic or maybe German. We now witness (and sometimes interrupt) long conversations between BK2 and BK1 entirely in English. BK2 starts it, usually.

BK3 has recently jumped onto the bandwaggon as well. And while the long days in school are a good justification for why BK2 does it, BK3 doesn't even go to pre-school yet, so she got it entirely from her sisters!

BK1 is probably the one with the most solid knowledge and command of all four languages, as she's always been. I guess the time we were able to devote to her when she was alone really paid off for her.

Slightly Bigger Change

So all is more or less as usual in our Babelfamily.

Just the right time to overthrow it all and add more complexity to the mix: we're moving to Basel, Switzerland!

This is a work-related move, of course, but we did actually chose Basel on purpose based on its proximity to France and Germany and the hope that we would come into a multilingual environment. I won't make any guesses as to what the move will do to the girls' language, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

If you were thinking "Basel... hm... German-speaking part of Switzerland, isn't it?" then all I can say is "technically yes", which obviously means "nope!". There's a fine line between a dialect and a language, I guess. For me, personally, Swiss German is a language. I recently spent four days in Basel and quickly found that I was better off speaking English if I wanted to actually understand what people said to me. So, depending on how you see it, the girls will either pick up yet another language (and a new majority language, too!), or learn a dialect that is quite frankly very different from mine.

This blog might just come to life again in September!

On Good Books and Difficult Translations

"We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury is on of my favourite books for the babelkids. (I might have mentioned it before.) All three of them like it and BK3 (now 2.5yo) wants to see and hear it pretty much every night currently.

We managed to get three versions of the book: English, French and German.

Now I fully get that translating is a difficult job. Especially for a book that comes with a rythm and all.

(Btw: BK3 has seen this video a couple of times a lot and demands that I do the same routine.)

So how do the French and German version fare? Honestly: sub-par.

The French translation tries to stay close to the text. That works in a sense, because if you know the original, you can read from the French version in English, i.e. translate on the fly. I'm sorry, but the French just doesn't work.

The German version, though, is absolutely abysmal. The translation is trying to stay closer to the pattern, but it does so in a stupidly funny way that I think really doesn't do the book any justice. At all. As in: do NOT buy that.

Yes, I do understand that translating is difficult. Maybe for some really good books it just shouldn't be done at all.

Nochmal auf Deutsch, weil es wichtig ist: Die Deutsche Version ist wirklich schlecht. Lieber die Englische kaufen und ein paar Wörter lernen.

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.

Lost German

The other day I when I was on the phone with the Babelmum, BK1 walked past and decided she wanted to speak with me. So BM passed the phone over.

It felt slightly weird after two and a half weeks to speak with my eldest daughter. I had almost forgotten her voice.

But for her, it was apparently even weirder!

For the first couple of minutes she wasn't really able to say anything but "Ja" ("yes"). I think it took about 3 minutes for her to muster all her German and produce a sentence.

Funny. Makes me wonder how it'll be when I see them on Monday.

Updated Family Language Diagram

It's been a long time but here comes the updated language diagram, now with BK3!

BK1 & BK2 both speak English by default, except when they talk about what they play, which they still do in Arabic. They also speak German and French when the situation is right. The mix a lot when they speak with us, and even when they don't, the grammar more often than not is English.

It is called "majority language" for a reason. *sigh*

BK3 obviously doesn't speak so far. The girls will address her in whatever language is appropriate. They will speak Arabic with her if she is with Babelmum and German if she is with me. If BK3 is alone they will use whatever language first crosses their minds, I think.

We need more holidays in Algeria and Germany, I guess. Or more visitors.

Bilingual Carnival November Edition

It's Bilingual Carnival time again!

Head over to Where going havo? for this month's fun and remarkable blog articles on raising children in multi lingual environments.

ICP - Why I Want my Children to be Multilingual

InCultureParent just put up our second guest posting: Why I Want my Children to be Multilingual

Enjoy!

Babelkids and Languages

It's interesting to follow the development of language between BK1 and BK2.

When they are playing they often switch to English, especially if they're pretending to be someone else or something else. They have done this for a long time, even before BK2 started attending pre school.

But when they discuss something serious or switch to talking about what they play, they switch language immediately.

Amazingly, they have different preferences: BK1 always switches to Arabic while BK2 uses German as much as Arabic!

I have no explanation for this. Is German easier for BK2? Maybe.

The funny thing is that whoever switches away from English first sets the language they both will use, at least for a couple of phrases. They will then invariably fall back to Arabic at some point before they go back into play and use English again.

Funny, isn't it?

Invasion of the English Accent!

BK1 is jumping about in the living room, singing a nursery rhyme.

It takes a bit before I realise she sings it in French but with a really thick English accent. I turn to the Babelmum and whisper: "did you hear that? She sings in French with an English accent!" when I notice she has switched to German with a really thick English accent.

No idea whether she was making a joke or trying on accents and languages, but she clearly did it on purpose.

All I can think about is how incredible is the linguistic computing power in that head?! I'm completely in awe!

More English

BK2 started pre-school yesterday.

She will only go twice a week for the time being, but it's the first time she'll be immersed in English more or less exclusively. How will that affect her languages?

Currently she is speaking mostly French and Arabic with Babelmum and BK1 and something that sounds like German with me. She also speaks English when she plays in the street, but because we're in Manchester and it is raining all the time she doesn't do it that much.

I guess the good thing is that her friend is in the same pre-school and she speaks french and arabic with him.

We'll see how the diagram changes in the future ;-)

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.

Why English?

I think we have mentioned before that BK1 & BK2 often use English when they're playing. Now that BK2 is starting to really speak this has only increased. The Babelwife and I try to stop them, but frankly, it's a losing battle.

The funny thing is that they switch back to Arabic, German or French as soon as they want to tell the other something important or non play-related.

So why do they use English when they play?

My guess is that BK1 spends most of her time with children who speak English and she obviously plays with them a lot. She does not play with me or BW as much. So in a play situation, the language is likely to be English. That means that whatever she says in that situation will be easily available in her head in English but not necessarily in another language.

BK1 and now BK2 basically have a huge repertoire of play-related phrases in their heads, all English.

BW has another theory which she will hopefully publish here soon. Watch this space!

Updated Family Language Diagram

I have updated the family language diagram again. BK2 is now also speaking German to BK1 when she feels in the mood. It looks like the language of play for them is English, though.

A Day at the German Embassy

About ten days ago, we went down to the German Embassy in London, to renew BK1's passport. The whole family had to go, because to renew a child's passport, the child and both parents need to be present. Sigh.

Anyway, 190 miles, one night, 110 gbp in hotel fee later and a lovely breakfast, here we are sat in the busy waiting hall of the German Embassy. Available is a good selection of children's books, mostly in German. The Babel Father is busy reading to BK1, while BK2 and I sit down a bit further away, to play.

We are sat next to another family: mum, dad, a 3-year old or a bit less girl and a small baby. The mum starts speaking to her daughter, in English, in a noticeable German accent. I think to myself, the dad must be British, poor mum, her efforts to teach her daughter German are probably not enough to counteract the influence of the father and the whole society.

Then the father asks his daughter:"Would you like Daddy to read you a book?" in an even heavier German accent. Hum. Now, this was not the odd English sentence. The parents would converse between themselves in German, then invariably and consistently switch to English whenever they spoke to their little girl. At one point, I heard the mother tell her daughter:"Your English is so much better than mine", in a somewhat proud tone. After about 40 minutes, hopelessly waiting for one of the parents to speak German to their little girl, I got so annoyed that I stood up and left to look for a free seat further away.

Now why was I so annoyed? I still can't put my finger on it. Maybe because I am a southern girl, and am genuinely interested and curious about people. I ask myself, can a parent be truly him/herself when speaking to their child in a language that is not their own?

In trying to answer this, I realized this is exactly what my own parents did. They spoke Arabic to my sister and I, while their own language was Berber. They did it with the best intention, so that their children would not feel ostracised, so that we would feel at ease and blend in. I suppose the parents in the German Embassy have the same reasoning, to allow their children to fit in. After all, we all want to fit in. The question is, how much different can we be before this hinders us, or worse, stops us from fitting in?

Updated Family Language Diagram

I have update the family language diagram to reflect that BK2 is now happily babbling and can build "sentences" that have more than one or two words.

It's fairly obvious that English is slowly but constantly invading our space, which is not really surprising given we're in England.

BK1's mother tongue is now clearly English. I guess it was inevitable. We shall see what her 5 week stay in Algeria in July will do, but for now there is no doubt.

BK2 picks up everything people speak her way. She happily replies to Souad in Arabic or French, to me in German and to other people in English. Or at least she tries.

Between BK1 and BK2, things are not clear. When they play, BK1 will use English, but when she addresses BK2 for something, she'll use French or Arabic. My guess is that the summer holidays will change this, like they did last year.

And maybe some German will creep back into the picture at some point. I hope.

Countdown

I found out yesterday that BK1 counts in English exclusively, at least when she counts down from 10.

She was sitting in the bathtub singing "10 little ducks" and at some point switched to just counting from 10 to 0 in English. She then looked at me and started at 10 again, this time in German.

"Zehn ... Neun ... Acht ... ... ... wie sagt man ...? ... ... Ah! Sieben!" ("10 ... 9 ... 8 ... ... ... how do you say ...? ... ... ah! 7!")

It sounds like she had to translate "seven" to "Sieben" while she was doing it. I guess what that means is that counting or at least counting down is an English thing for her. Probably because she has learned to do it at school.

Must remember to do more counting with her. In German of course!

Missing out on Finesse?

Does any of our readers happen to know whether there is research on a possible correlation of parents' use of language and the time when children start to speak?

I have a theory: my daughters build sentences later than some of their monolingual friends because I do not speak with my wife in my native tongue.

Let me explain.

One of our friends' 2yo daughter is building sentences while BK2 is still at the stage where she uses at most two words together or speaks her own babbling. I am not concerned or anything but I wondered whether the fact that her mother studied languages and expresses herself extremely well helped the girl develop a better framework in her head while she acquired her language skills.

In our case this doesn't happen. I love talking, writing and reading German. I love playing with it. I am able to be a total nitpicker or use my German fairly creatively. But that only works well with people who are similarly eloquent. It certainly does not work with a 4-year-old like BK1. It also doesn't work for me when I speak English or French.

I'm sad to say that my daughters lose out on this aspect of German completely! And not only that: they do not see any of their parents use language in a way that we both are truly capable of. It is not a fundamental flaw in the OPOL method, though. Even between the two of us, we are not able to gauge the linguistic abilities of the other properly.

Makes me wonder whether my children would have been able to speak more refined German had both their parents been German-speakers...

I am an optimist. I am willing to bet that once they start reading books, they will be able to catch up or maybe even more than that: catch up for more than just one language.

Bilingual? A bit more complicated than that ...

I often come across people, who hearing me speak with the girls, ask "So you are raising the girls to be bilingual?" (implying English and whatever language I happened to be speaking at the time). I invariably smile, and either reply "Hum, Hum, yes ..." or more often "Well, actually, it is a bit more complicated than that...".
I sometimes explain that I speak Arabic and French to the girls, the Babel Father speaks German to them, and the two of us speak French between us. It can be confusing for people. I will be confused if a mum comes up to me and says she speaks Portuguese to her Child, the father speaks German, the parents speak French between them, and they all live in a Dutch-speaking environment (incidentally, this is a real example of a family we know).
It can be reassuring to put people in boxes, know what to expect, and how to generally behave with them. On the other hand, putting our daughters in boxes is not a straightforward. I love it!

It's a Carnival: Raising Your Child Bilingually

Welcome to It's a Carnival: Raising your child bilingually, a monthly get-together for all interested in bilingualism and in raising bilingual children and an opportunity to share experiences, info and best practices.

Every month the Carnival is hosted at a different blog. You can check the schedule and book your turn for hosting (next available slot seems to be March, so if you’re interested you should let us know as soon as possible). If you’d like to be updated about future issues, know when and how to submit your posts to the carnival, or just make sure you won’t miss any, please sign up to the newsletter, which will be used only for the bare minimum of communication needed to get the Carnival going, normally 2 emails per month, nothing else.

So, in no particular order, here are the articles for this month:

- Clo at "Multi Tongue Kids" shares how she and her family might come across as crazy in everyday situation, simply because they are using so many languages and nobody else understands them.

- Deanna at "Bilingual Readers" looks at whether watching TV might have a positive effect on learning more languages.

- Stefanie at "Mummy Do That" tells the story of her daughter's first Laternenumzug (lantern procession) and evokes an aspect of bilingual life: multi-culturalism.

- Tanja at "Intrepidly Bilingual" is also reporting on culture and how by actively following the traditions of all cultures, she motivates her children to speak the minority language.

- Maria at "Fab Mums" writes about the same subject, cultural exposure. Her example fits nicely into the time of year: christmas songs.

- From "Blogging on Bilingualism" comes a very interesting question: do we, the parents, have to make some sacrifices?

- Solnushka at "Verbosity" discusses Stephen Krashen and the silent period. She also explains why learning from TV won't work.

- My own post from Babelkid is on OPOMLAH and why I think that's a good constellation.

- Last but not least I would like to point out two articles that were not submitted but somehow touched a nerve. Suzanne at "Notes from the OPOL family" gets help from her cat and Reb at "Uh Oh Spaghettios" deals with the perception others have when they think she is not a native speaker.

I hope you enjoyed our carnival this month! Please do not hesitate to pass on the message! Tweet it, share it on Facebook, invite people to read and participate! We are still a tiny minority on the network, but I can't see why that wouldn't change...

The next carnival will be held at Bilingual Readers on January 20th. So sign up to the newsletter, check out the schedule and most importantly: keep sharing those great bilingual and multilingual stories!

Thanks a lot,
Souad & Jan at BabelKid