Language.

[same_sky]

E is playing computer games in Swedish. I am sort of doubting that listening to words that she doesn't understand is helping her language at all. I suspect it's helping ME, to hear it in the background, but I know more words than she does. I mean, it's not hurting her, I don't think. I just wish that she was getting more practice out of it since I went to the trouble of finding them for her and getting her interested. She's pretty good with games, and figures out the point of them pretty quickly, so I guess she's having fun and I heard this rumor that some parents can let their chidlren play games EVEN IF they aren't educational. Hmm.... nah, surely not. ;)

Maybe I should be playing them instead of her.

Evie's lack of Swedish really stresses me out but I am just so not sure what to do about it. It's not like I can teach her much myself because my Swedish sucks. I have forgotten a lot of what I did know. M is perfectly okay with me not really knowing Swedish. He sort of thinks that putting effort into it for me is kind of silly... which, I think he's happy that I care, but if it were him, he would not dream of learning a language useful with nine million people in a country far removed from the one we're living in. As it is, though, I spend more time working on her Swedish than he does. M has a bit of a talent for languages, but he isn't good at switching them--speaking to Evie in Swedish and then me in English, and of course since he didn't keep that up to begin with, it's sorta hard to start now if he expects her to understand him at all. So... we failed, starting off, so how are we supposed to fix what we did now?

Seriously, that's not a rhetorical question. How do you force a language on a four-year-old? She's not *completely* without words that she knows, but for most practical purposes, she doesn't understand anything. Oh, but she did ultimately find a part of the game that was actually educational for her as far as learning words goes, and it happened to be the one that she liked the best.

We have a free three-day weekend and we have absolutely no plans. I don't understand how this happened. I'm thrilled! But confused. We could go to the zoo! Or hang around at home! Or go shopping! Or go on vacation! Or find a house project to work on! Or! Who knows. The beauty of having nothing going on. I suspect we will do a little of all of them. Except probably that vacation thing. I'm not really seeing that one happening, alas.

Comments

[carrieb.livejournal.com]

I don't know how to interest a four year old in a language when there is not any support for learning it. Yes, M could do stuff with her, but it is not like she is going ot be hearing it in the real world. Hire a Swedish au pair? *l*

Erik refuses to speak any Swedish at all. He was doing ok with it until last Christmas when we went to Sweden. I thought that would improve his Swedish, but he totally shut down and doesn't want to hear it or speak it. Mike still only speaks Swedish to him, but most of the time Erik looks at me and wants a translation if it is anything at all complex. So even though we did it "right" we don't have a success story.

[grain-damaged.livejournal.com]

The Rosetta Stone Language program is fun... maybe she could play with that when she's a little older and able to read in English? I don't know the best way to interest a kid in speaking a foreign language. I wish I did. Sophie's starting Spanish next year but there won't be anyone at home to speak it with... will she keep up with it if it's not used? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll need to seriously brush up on it myself.

[e11en.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I'm no help either. As you may remember, Ingrid did fine with speaking Swedish, until I was too pregnant with Anders to do the usual night time bath and bedtime story routine so G took over. He, doting daddy that he is, would never be stern enough with her that she would actually do what he said. I would come along and discover they had gotten nowhere on things and bark commands in English, which Ingrid would respond to. G, rather subconsciously I believe, started to follow my example and after politely pleading with her in Swedish and getting no action, would speak more firmly in English and what do you know? Results! Now, I'm 100% sure what was going on was not that she didn't understand him, but that she knew she could get away with stuff with him that I wouldn't stand for. If I came along, she knew it meant business. If G resorted to English, she knew she was seconds away from getting in trouble. But after Anders was born, the need for stuff to get done increased and the Swedish decreased.

Ingrid can remember a handful of phrases. I suspect she understands a little more than that but not much. Anders knows only those Swedish words we use as substitutes for English words. When we visited Farmor last year, Anders prattled on to Farmor in English and didn't care that she couldn't understand him. He watched Swedish cartoons and didn't care that he couldn't understand it. But his knowledge did not improve from that extra exposure - it just wasn't enough time. If only Farmor were younger and we could pack the kids off to stay with her for the whole summer. Then, maybe.

It saddens and, to some extent, angers me that he dropped that ball so completely. I have very little knowledge of Swedish and my accent is not that of a native speaker. Even the fact that his family can not communicate with the kids is not enough of a motivator when one is tired at the end of work day. I get it. But still...opportunity lost.

[(Anonymous)]

Det enda sättet är att tala svenska.
Tala svenska och tala svenska!
Var inte så lata att ni berövar barnet ett andra språk.
Talar mamman dålig svenska får hon väl hjälpa barnet genom att t ex bara talal svenska vid matborde och därigenom lära sig själv mer? Mamman är väl inte obildbar?
GNÄLL inte, gör något åt situationen med språket innan det är för sent! Framförallt mammorna kan väl lyssna och lära de med? Det finns språkkurser och talböcker.

Jösses, vuxna människor som inte förstår att barnet lär sig genom att härma, göra och lyssna!

[blue-eyed-girl.livejournal.com]

M has a bit of a talent for languages, but he isn't good at switching them--speaking to Evie in Swedish and then me in English ...

Olof is sort of this same way. We don't have the exact issue you have, but I have tried to encourage him to speak Swedish to me to help me improve, but he just can't do it. Even when we're in Swedish-speaking company, he speak to me in English (which drives me up a wall, actually, because my Swedish is just fine), but there's something in his wiring that won't let him speak anything other than English with me. He's the same with the kids, which has actually been to our advantage, but yeah.

So, even though it's not remotely helpful, I just wanted to say that I understand and sympathize. It must be nearly impossible to be only one fluent person trying to teach a kid an entirely different language, particularly a language that you just don't ever encounter in day-to-day life. I have the same trouble in trying to give my kids a sense of American-ness ... it's just not going to happen with me being the only American passing this stuff on to them.