As you know I speak Spanish because I am half Chilean, but when it comes down to it, I have only been there one time, so not much experience in that deparment.
But obviously mami tells me about it so that much count for something?
Last week mami took me to the Chilean embassy and I got my very own passport and ID card.
That's me signging my new passport
I already have my USA passport that I use to travel with but my Chilean passport had not been processed yet.
Some people have asked "Why bother?" to mami "It's not like it's an EU passport" and mami responds with "Because he's Chilean too!"
Now what I want to know is, does being bilingual mean that I am bicultural too? I mean, I know about Chile, just like I know about the USA but I was born here in the UK and live here now.
Outside the Embassy
And what about papi? He's not fully bilingual (he knows a little bit) but knows a lot about Chile and has been there plenty of times. Does that make him bicultural?
I'm just not clear on all of this. Besides, sometimes I think I am trilingual! Half of the time papi and I have different words for things in English.
For instance, last week mami asked me to throw away some paper for her in the basura. Okay, got it. No problem. Then papi says, "Go on, throw it in the trash". And I just looked at both of them, shook my head, and said "no papi, rubbish".
See? Confusion I tell you.
Oh and the two things I know for sure about Chile is that it is very, very, VERY far away and that everyone there loves me very very VERY much.
That is good enough for me!
How about you?
Do you speak another language? Or maybe only speak one language but have different customs? What makes you bicultural?
My little girl is only 7 weeks old but I try to speak as much German with her as I can. I want to make sure she'll be able to understand her German family when why fly over and I'll do my best to introduce her to all the German traditions so that she'll get an understanding for both her daddy and mummy's culture x
ReplyDeleteThanks Carolin for stopping by! It is very important to us too. I speak to Little M only in Spanish and I want him to feel comfortable with it. Little M is two and understands it, but you have to be consistent ;)
ReplyDeleteBlondie Boy has a UK and US passport and we try very hard to make sure he celebrates both his American and Scottish culture. We also teach him about Jewish cultural traditions as well.
ReplyDeleteBlondie Boy has books in Spanish and German but since we are doing baby sign language we haven't introduced a second language but he does understand several Yiddish words :)
My hubby and I are both English but are trying to teach Leo the little Greek we know - he can count to 2 in both languages now :)
ReplyDeleteWe went to get Marie's first French passport and ID card last week too! I was the one feeling a bit strange about seeing her picture and nationality french written underneath. As you know,I only speak French to Noelie and she can understand everything I say and speaks a lot in french too. I believe my girls are bicultural as we tend to live very much the french way (food, meal times etc...). They probably more bicultural than they are bilingual! X
ReplyDeleteWe speak Spanish to Kung Fu Baby too, we only watch TV in English and he understands a lot. Hubby is from Argentina and I'm Venezuela so we have bicultural food and traditions. Good that you speak to Little M. in Spanish!! he'll speak it with no problem
ReplyDeleteawww I love that I found you! Maybelline asked us to vote for you and I certainly will.
ReplyDeleteI am from Chile too and I'm trying to raise my daughter bilingual and bi cultural.
We lived in Chile for a while but 9 months ago we moved to the USA.
Good luck with the nomination!
Anita
Thanks for all the comments. Some days I feel more confused than ever, especially because his English is better than his Spanish. I just want him to be comfortable hearing it and not feel left out when he is older
ReplyDelete