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Learning other languages
One of my personal goals is to learn Spanish in the next five years. I'd like to teach Mini-moose along the way, but I'm worried that I'll get things wrong and then pass along my inaccuracies to him. I just found that the library system in the neighboring county (for which I still have the library card I obtained as a kid) offers courses online. They're Mango for adults and Little Pim for kids, but it looks like there are only 3 short videos for kids in the Little Pim section. I always said I'd get the Muzzy videos for him, but that was mostly because I wanted them so frakking bad when I was a kid. Instead, I got the Little Mermaid. Now I see that the reviews aren't so great.
So, a few questions. If you've taught yourself or your kids another language, how did you do it? I don't have the time (or the babysitter, more specifically) or the money for college courses or $500 computer software. I do have a friend who's fluent in Spanish and who I can probably call to spot-check my pronunciation, but I can't expect him to teach me an entire language over the phone. (He's in Costa Rica at the moment.) I have another friend a few hours away who is fluent. That's about it.
I think a couple of you speak multiple languages at home. Moose is barely two and still learning English--how confusing is it going to be for him to learn Spanish at the same time? I know kids do it all the time, but I'm just curious how it works out. Is there anything I can do to help him keep languages straight?
Our eventual goal is to be able to return to Honduras when a young girl who is very dear to us graduates high school. Last time I went I was with a group and needed a full-time translator. I'd very much like to be able to hold my own the next time around.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by rommie on -
Just watched the first two Little Pim videos. They're entirely in Spanish. I can't figure out about 50% of what they're saying, and I can't pronounce any of it properly. We usually talk about what we're seeing when we watch videos, but I don't know if I should try to repeat things back to Moose or say "look, a red triangle!" in English or what. I feel like a failure 15 minutes into this.
Commence panicking. At least I can teach him English and science and history. Languages are hard!ETA: I tried to teach myself Spanish in middle school and didn't get far because the grammar confused me and I didn't have anyone to turn to for help. At least now I have the internet, right? My only "real" classes were two years of Latin, primarily focused on written translations.
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Permalink Reply by ks on -
I think it is easier for littler kids to learn languages than it is for us adults. Something about the connections in the brain still forming and growing and it being easier to learn your second language at the same time as your first rather than doing them sequentially.
I really wanted the boys to learn Tamil when they were smaller, but S only barely speaks it (he can understand when his mom or other relatives talk to him, though) and the mother in law doesn't live with us full time (thankfully), so there really hasn't been an opportunity for them to learn. Maybe at some point they will, but I doubt it since most of S's generation is in the same boat as him--they understand when their parents speak it, but they aren't terribly good at it themselves.
For myself, I took French in high school and college. I was never fluent, and my accent has always been pretty bad (think southern US hillbilly French) but at one time I could at least carry on a simple conversation, so long as the person talking to me spoke very slowly so I could understand. Now, I've lost most of it, but I can still read a bit and at least order food and get directions in Paris. I'd like to pick it up again, but languages are really hard for me and I don't have time right now. Maybe in a few years I'll take lessons or something.
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on -
I have taught myself some conversational Japanese, including reading, and refreshed some Mandarin that I learned years ago. I've enjoyed the xxxxPod101.com family of sites and found them to be useful if you buy the subscriptions.
I recommend having a target group of people to speak to, or a purpose such as an upcoming trip. Spanish is easier in this regard; if you live in a heavily hispanic area, it is well worth learning since there are people all around you who can speak with you.
There are different levels of proficiency, and you need to define what you want. Some people only want to get listening proficiency, for example, or only reading knowledge.
I strongly believe you should start with an audio-only approach (audio-video counts too) with a minimal approach to the written language. We were born with an innate ability to learn a language, and I think this method is the most efficient until you get aurally and orally strong. Depending on the language, you will likely need to do weird things with your mouth and tongue that you never tried before, but who's complaining about THAT?!?
You do not need to know much grammar to get proficient quickly, although after six months you will want some grammar if you wish to form your own thoughts!
HTH
There is little ways around spending the money eventually. Quality language instruction is not cheap because it is a straight labor exchange. But don't invest the money until you are nearly in a situation where you have to use it.
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on
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While it is true that kids learn faster, I've also read research that says they forget just as quickly. Adults learn more slowly and deliberately, but we often have more sophistication and maturity. We know what we are aiming to say, and we can make faster use of grammar than kids can. So, the accent may not be as good, and that hurts in some languages. You can still get your point across and still inspire people. I heard one person describing a speech they just heard from a native Russian speaker about conditions in his country: "Who cares if he doesn't know the word for bus?"
That being said, I think humor is hard to cross language barriers. It's hard to learn how to be funny in another language.
My advice is that if your kid needs to learn a language, he'll tell you. Otherwise, learning in Jr. High works just fine, if they keep with it.
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on
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Failure is good. If you knew it all, you'd be so bored you'd kill yourself. Being a beginner means you have a child's mind. Enjoy that!
rommie said:Just watched the first two Little Pim videos. They're entirely in Spanish. I can't figure out about 50% of what they're saying, and I can't pronounce any of it properly. We usually talk about what we're seeing when we watch videos, but I don't know if I should try to repeat things back to Moose or say "look, a red triangle!" in English or what. I feel like a failure 15 minutes into this.
Commence panicking. At least I can teach him English and science and history. Languages are hard!ETA: I tried to teach myself Spanish in middle school and didn't get far because the grammar confused me and I didn't have anyone to turn to for help. At least now I have the internet, right? My only "real" classes were two years of Latin, primarily focused on written translations.
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on
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After reading the entire post in more detail, I would say get started with whatever you can, but definitely start saving the money for one on one lessons or conversation practice. You can learn enough to get by, and you'll refine it when you get there.
FYI - my kids have resisted all attempts to learn a second language as young children (age 2-5). If it's not part of their second culture, and they don't hear it every day, it's not worth the trouble. For instance, when I was a kid, several of my friends were Japanese. I spent a lot of time with them, but today cannot remember any phrases.
This is one of my favorite topics. Sorry for rambling.
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Permalink Reply by wookie on -
Is it possible that a school near you may have a peer conversation partner program? Up near us, they look for native english speakers to literally "chat" with people who are new to english, so that these new Canadians can work on their non-academic language skills. Quid pro quo?
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Permalink Reply by YoYoWannaBe on
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vraiment?
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
I grew up with English and Spanish speakers in my house. I seemed to have a hard time with it - I started talking a bit late. However, neither sister seemed to have any issues.
Unless you are going to be speaking Spanish to him at home on a regular basis, I don't know that it will do any good to have him learn it this early. Non-usage guarantees that one will forget most of it. It has been over 18 years since the last time I lived with a Spanish speaking relative, and my Spanish skills are kaput. But they slid downhill much earlier. Probably in less than five years.
For yourself, see if you can find a demo of Rosetta Stone to download - the demo should be free. Their pronunciation guides are quite good.
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Permalink Reply by Boring User Name on -
I've rarely used the Spanish I learned in high school...but what I remember was what I used to gossip with my friends. So, if I want to describe a cute boy or relationship status--I can totally do that. You want me to name vegetables, I have no idea.
Anyway, my kid asks to know a few words. I teach him those and he thinks it is cool. We know a few songs in French or Spanish. That's about as far as we've done anything and although I would love him to speak a language better than I do, he's got enough on his plate for now. :-)
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Permalink Reply by rommie on
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Unfortunately, the library's Mango/Little Pim programs are the best I've been able to find in the area. We live in an area with very few non-native English speakers, so there is very little available (at least that I've found) for either people learning English as a second language or English-speaking people learning other languages outside of a middle/high school setting. I'm going to keep looking, but I'm not holding out much hope at this point.
We do write to J, who I've sponsored through Compassion since 2004, on a monthly basis, and she writes back to us. The letters go through a translator, so I get letters from her written in Spanish and then translated to English underneath, and she gets the opposite. That does give me an ongoing incentive to learn, even though our potential travels are years away. When E, our other sponsored child, graduates from nursing school in two years and is no longer in Compassion, we hope to sponsor someone who is Moose's age and just entering the program. I hope that will give him a reason to learn, as well.
I don't plan to do flash cards or worksheets or anything like that, but I figured that easing him in slowly might be helpful. I don't know. I guess the main thing at this point is to start learning myself and to make sure that we keep going slowly but consistently, right?
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Permalink Reply by DLBK on -
English is my second language--despite that, I've been too lazy to teach Romanian to my kid. I feel bad. My husband isn't Romanian, and I hesitated early on to stress the Romanian language skills that would make him unable to communicate with the rest of the family. My in-laws are Greek, and for a while they were speaking Greek to my son for the 3 days a week they were watching him. My mom always speaks Romanian the one day of the week she sees him.
He doesn't speak Greek or Romanian, although he knows words in both and he has some rudimentary understanding. I can definitely tell you that it's very hard to teach a language to a kid unless you're going to speak it to him all the time. We have other friends in mixed-language marriages who speak their own languages to their child, and she's able to go back and forth in 3 languages (at 2 years old) very well, although her main language is the one her mom speaks to her all the time.
As others have said, for you to learn Spanish you'd definitely need a native (or fluent) speaker to have conversations with. I can't imagine how else you'd do it. I studied English for years before moving to this country, and until I had practice speaking it and hearing it my conversation/understanding skills didn't improve dramatically.
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