| विषय में पृष्ठों की संख्या: < [1 2] | A multilingual kid, indeed! विषय पोस्ट करनेवाला व्यक्ति: Seadeta Osmani
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Monica Devi Lim (X)
बेलजियम
Local time: 16:31
मलय से अंग्रेजी
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| multi-lingualism not a problem | Jul 6, 2004 |
I am of mixed parentage, Chinese and Indian, and grew up in Singapore, where offering a 2nd language at school from age 4 onwards is mandatory.
Normally, the child would learn his/her mother tongue. But since I am of mixed parentage, my parents had the option of choosing which language I would study - and they lovingly chose Malay, as both Mandarin and Tamil would require me to learn a non-Latin script.
So from a very young age, I was exposed to 4 languages simultaneously - English... See more I am of mixed parentage, Chinese and Indian, and grew up in Singapore, where offering a 2nd language at school from age 4 onwards is mandatory.
Normally, the child would learn his/her mother tongue. But since I am of mixed parentage, my parents had the option of choosing which language I would study - and they lovingly chose Malay, as both Mandarin and Tamil would require me to learn a non-Latin script.
So from a very young age, I was exposed to 4 languages simultaneously - English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil - and have grown up comprehending all 4, although I never had formal schooling in either Mandarin or Tamil.
When I went on to university, I learnt another foreign language - Vietnamese. And now I live in Belgium, where I have picked up Dutch.
I think I may have been blessed with the gift of languages, but I also believe that the best time to be exposed to languages is when one is young. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Don't feel bad Chademu! | Jul 6, 2004 |
chademu wrote: I often do not understand jokes or cultural allusions. Everybody laughs and I feel bad. I cannot laugh, not because my knowledge of the language is poor, but because I do not know the cultural references:
Don't worry about that too much Chademu. Too many "cultural" references these days are to mindless TV programmes that weren't worth familiarising yourself with in the first place.
I have tried to give my daughter a taste of "Englishness" through Nursery Rhymes, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc and also through the excellent CBeebies TV Channel and Website (Kids' BBC).
There is always the risk that you are recreating a childhood that no longer exists - but I think there are some cultural references that do form part of a universal appreciation of any particular culture. I just hope that knowing the names of the contestants on "Big Brother" never becomes one of them
Cheers,
Berni
Dad to Jana (11/11/98 )
OPOL Dad ENG. Mum ESP, Street CAT
[Edited at 2004-07-06 17:24]
| | | | Parrot 
स्पेन
Local time: 16:31
स्पेनी से अंग्रेजी
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chademu wrote:
The negative side: I have no real "home". Although this may be turned into positive: whole Europe is my home...
But one day, I would like to move to some place where I feel particularly good, stay there and feel: I am accepted there like I am, even if I am different. Perhaps one day I will then understand the jokes of the people there in the bar?
This is your planet...
I used to feel that way myself, until I noticed one day I didn't dress up to the nth to go to the airport anymore. I ate breakfast on planes, changed into working clothes in the terminals, did my job in strange cities and flew out on the same day as though I had commuted. Wherever those strange bipeds of my own species may be found is a potential home. (They live there, you know?)
| | | | Saifa (X)
Local time: 16:31
जर्मन से फ्रांसीसी
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| Yes, my country is the planet | Jul 8, 2004 |
Hi Claudia, Berni and Parrot,
Thanky a lot for your nice words.
I do not feel toooo bad!
I always try to see the bright side: I prefer to feel like on ice all the time than missing my German beer and dark bread on holidays like some German tourists.
What I said about budo sport did not mean I am afraid to speak. But I sometimes feel very lost. I am than glad to fight without having to say anything. And when I am in Spain, all commands are the same a... See more Hi Claudia, Berni and Parrot,
Thanky a lot for your nice words.
I do not feel toooo bad!
I always try to see the bright side: I prefer to feel like on ice all the time than missing my German beer and dark bread on holidays like some German tourists.
What I said about budo sport did not mean I am afraid to speak. But I sometimes feel very lost. I am than glad to fight without having to say anything. And when I am in Spain, all commands are the same as here because they are in Korean.
As we went to Iran for ex., although my Iranian was not that good, I had no problem with talking and expressing myself. Everybody could see I was a foreigner and nobody expected to me a perfect Iranian sentence. But I feel lost in my own country. I think, you can understand what I mean.
Claudia: Before I read you I (and my husband) came to the same conclusion: we want to stop moving. We definitely feel comfortable in Spain (hi Berni, hi Parrot), above all in Andalucia because it is otro mundo! So we are making serious plans now to leave Germany and move there. The first step for me was to stop working as an employee in a law institute to work only as an independent. Now we think we will need one more year to see how things are and, what it is not easy, find an affordable flat in the village we would like to move too.
We hope we will be able to move at the end of 2005 or beginning of 2006.
It is a strange feeling to feel at home there although we are not Spanish. Why? Perhaps because it is a small village. You meet the same people in the bank, in the pub and in tha bakery. After a couple of days, everybody knows your story and nobody asks you why you are there and for how long etc.
Parrot: you are right. My country is this planet. Friends are to find in the smallest village and here on the Web.
Have a nice day!
Chademu ▲ Collapse
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| It's a matter of personality | Jul 15, 2004 |
Entirely agree with Seadeta:
So I guess, chademu, that those moments you have described do not depend on multilinguality, but on our personalities.
Do we, as individuals, have the NEED to be identified according to "us-not them, ours- not yours, we- not you, here-not there..."?
No, we don't (at least I don't)!
You're also so very right, Berni -
Berni Armstrong wrote:
Too many "cultural" references these days are to mindless TV programmes that weren't worth familiarising yourself with in the first place.
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