Speak soon

Uh oh! I think mami is worried.

I heard her talking to abuelita on the phone, and when she asked if I was talking yet, mami scrunched her eyebrows, looked over at me and said “Hmm? Not really. I mean nothing, just sounds. He can quack like duck”.

She is sort of right. I’m not speaking like my friends at nursery, but I do repeat mami’s animal noises. They are so funny! I can quack like a duck and bark like a dog.

But the thing is, I can understand (almost) everything she says.

So far we understand each other just fine. She speaks and I respond by either pointing to what I want, shaking my head no, holding out my hand or just running away. See, I can speak, but it just doesn’t sound like the words she and daddy use.

A few months ago I did start saying mama and tete/dummy, but I haven’t really used those lately. I am now a year and a half (19 months to be exact) and I just want her to know that I hear her and daddy, but I am not ready to say anything yet.

Even the way I say “no” sounds different to her. Mine is more like “ne ne ne “. Maybe I just have a different accent?

So I wrote mami a little letter so that she won't worry anymore.

Querida mami,

Please don’t worry, I am going to speak soon, I promise. I hope you know that I understand both English and Spanish, and just because what I say doesn’t sound like your words, I am learning them.

Daddy has been teaching me how to say “tree” and this week I said it! I hope you are proud of me.

Remember, I blow kisses at you every morning and I hope that makes you happy until I can say more.

¡Te quiero mucho!
 

Bilingual Corner No 3 - Nicknames!

A special badge for all bilingual families.

My friend Rebecca over at two became four made it specially for me!

Last month I blogged about choosing names in bilingual homes. This month I wanted to talk about something similar – nicknames! 

I found out the hard way that nicknames don’t necessarily make sense from one language to the next.

Nicknames are personal and sometimes can be funny, really funny! But only to those that understand the language. It may sound strange to others but only you and your family know how you got it.

Daddy calls mami another name, Yoyi.

Yes, Yoyi. Sounds funny, huh? It doesn't mean anything but its just an example of how it works better in Spanish than in English (it took me a long time to figure out mami had another name!)

Okay, you can all laugh now.

She said abuelito/grandad gave her that nickname when she was a baby and it has stuck with her.

So what do mami and daddy call me?

When I was a baby mami called me her “pollito” or little chicken because she says I was really thin and yellow!

After that she started calling me her “monito” or monkey because I would roll around everywhere.  I’ve seen the monkeys at the zoo and I look nothing like them by the way!

Now she calls me her “gordito” or “gordo” which means chubby because I love to eat and I have a very big tummy! I know, I know, doesn’t sound very nice but in Spanish it is actually a term of endearment.

When mami calls me her “gordito” her voice is soft and gentle, her eyes sparkle and she always has a smile. That’s how I know she says it with love.

Daddy didn’t like her saying that at first, but he understands now that mami is not saying it to pick on me.

Mami had a friend from a country far away whose nickname for her daughter meant something not very nice in English. She decided not to use it anymore, at least not at the playground where others could hear. It must have been a very, very bad word.

So tell us, what are your nicknames? Do your nicknames sound okay in one language but don't make sense in the other? Or make sense in English but not in your second language?

I can't wait to hear your stories!

You know what you have to do:

Think about it.
Blog about it.
Link to my site.
Come back and leave your link.
Read everyone elses posts.
Enjoy!

Bye bye

“gordo”

P.S. Please share with other friends who might want to join in each month. When you come back I will have a little suprise for you!

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

Little M's Bilingual Corner

Hmm? What is a four letter word for poop in Spanish? C-A-C-A

The Funny Side of Being Bilingual

London is a terrific city, no denying that! What makes it vibrant and exciting is the wide range of languages you hear on the street everyday. After doing some very serious research at my local sandbox and paddling pool, I realised that there are a whole lot of us little ones not only speaking English, but another language too!

Remember my post about being bilingual? Well, it got me thinking, with so many mami's out there raising a bilingual family, why not start a little corner on my blog where all mami's and daddy's in a bilingual (or multilingual) home can stop by to post their thoughts, ask questions and more importantly, share funny stories!

So get your passports ready, because on the first Tuesday of the month I will pose a question/topic and feature a country to get you talking and we can learn from each other too! You do not even have to be bilingual, you might be a British or US expat elsewhere, etc. Because believe me, there are plenty of funny moments when more than one language is involved!
So what do you think? Why not tell your bilingual mami friends to join so we can get this going.

Let me know if you are interested in joining Little M's Bilingual Corner by leaving a comment below and a little about yourself, what other language(s) you speak, what country you are from twitter name. Make sure to follow mami too @verybusymama.

besos,

Little M

¡Hablo español!

We are a bilingual family!

Daddy has always pointed to the milk and called it just that, milk. Mummy offers me milk and calls it leche. I hadn't paid too much attention, but I suddenly realised, mummy speaks another language, and so do I! Mummy or mami as I call her, and daddy (papi) speak English to each other with some words in Spanish, and mummy speaks Spanish to me. As for daddy - well, he tries to speak Spanish to me, but it sounds funny!

Apparently, I am not alone. According to the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) one in four children in the UK has a mummy born overseas – which means at least one parent speaks a foreign language at home. I know this to be true – my friend Little G at nursery speaks Spanish too. I over heard his mami saying “adios” to him one morning. Then there's Little A, whose mummy speaks German to him (at least, that’s what I think it is). It all makes more sense now!

Mummy is a great example of a successful bilingual upbringing. She was born in Chile where Spanish is spoken and moved to the United States where she was raised speaking both English and Spanish sans accent (there’s a bit of French for you!)I’ve heard her constantly tell daddy that she wants me to understand Spanish – but what she doesn’t realise is that I already do! Its daddy who needs to catch up!

But don’t just take my word for it - I’ve included a blurb from the Literacy Trust explaining bilingualism and children’s development: “children will not get confused by learning more than one language in the household; up until about the age of 10 or 12, children learn foreign languages almost as if they were one big language. As children, people process language in the frontal lobe of the brain, but later on, the brain has to "scramble" to find storage space somewhere else. Importantly, learning two or more languages can help a child's development in his mother tongue”.

For those mummies who are unsure of brining up a family with more than one language, mami says to look at these links I've highlighted above where everything is explained in more detail.

For the fun stuff, I recommend looking at:
1) Dora the Explorer - English and Spanish
2) Handy Manny – English and Spanish
3) Kids Music Town – Songs in Spanish and French
4) Little Linguist (for music and books in all languages).

I am lucky that most of mami’s friends speak both English and Spanish so I am always able to practice and hear it all the time. If you want to find out who speaks the same language as you here in the UK, try finding new friends on the Multilingual Families page.

¡Buena suerte!