Daddy is learning Spanish too! (Bilingual Corner No.1)

Reading a Dora the Explorer book before bed

¡Hola! It's been a very busy weekend here. Saturday while mami was doing housework and daddy was watching cycling, I managed to get some time on the computer and catch up on my blogging. On Sunday mami had theatre rehearsals and daddy and I went to the park, and today we went to Battersea Zoo! I finally saw a real monito (monkey)! Mami always says that I'm her monito but I don't think I look like them at all!

As some of you know, I blogged about my Bilingual Corner to tell you about the funny side of being bilingual and to meet other mamis and daddies doing the same thing. Being bilingual means knowing another language, and sometimes that means that one parent does not know the other language. At least that is how it is with daddy!

See, daddy does not speak Spanish naturally like mami does. He has been learning over the past few years. But truth be told, I know more than him! He sounds a bit funny when he calls me over to sit down "Little M, ven aqui" because it doesn't sound like mami at all.

He sometimes gets his words confused like the time he mixed up the word for socks (calcetines) with the word for olives (aceitunas) when getting me dressed. That one really made mami laugh! But he is learning more and more each day.

I may not be able to fully speak to mami and daddy, but I understand everything she says. My two favourite words in Spanish that I can say to them are tete / dummy (absolutely essential to know this word) and mama (also, very important, especially to lay on the guilt!) Pretty smart huh?

I'm saving the rest of my words for a few months from now to keep them in suspense. From what I can understand, no is the same in both English and Spanish, but I purposely ignore that one all together. Eh.

So for all you other bilingual mamis and daddies:

1. How do you work around not knowing the other language?
2. What language do you mostly speak at home?
3. Do you have certain times or activities you do using just one language?
4. Anything funny, including mistranslations?

I would love to hear from you! (you don't have to answer all 4 questions, they are just suggestions!)

• Blog about your experience on your site
• Then come back here and leave a link to your site in the comment box so that we can all read it
• Link to Little M's Bilingual Corner on your site
• You can also just read it, enjoy it and leave any comments or suggestions
• Have fun!

¡Chao!

P.S. You can also find a review of my 3 favourite Spanish books at RedTedArt's blog