At the risk of going off at a tangent, I would make the following observations.
At the most basic level, kids absorb language from the people around them. They don’t have to be taught it. Two stories – both genuine.
My first wife and I were friendly with a Ghanaian couple who had a small daughter. Mother and father spoke different tribal languages – neither spoke the other’s: their common language was English. To make things really entertaining, they lived in Italy. They wanted my advice (as a psychologist) what to do about language. It wasn’t my field – but what the heck!
My advice was simple. Mother spoke her tribal language to her; father spoke his; when necessary they used English. If she went to an Italian nursery school, and later main school, she would learn Italian anyway. Mother was sceptical, but they agreed to try it.
We lost touch for maybe 10 years. When we met up again, mother’s comment was that I was right. Daughter spoke both tribal languages fluently and with no trace of an accent in either. She spoke English, but with an accent – until she went to an English school (with English teachers) in Italy when she lost it. She spoke Italian fluently without an accent. Moreover she could translate seamlessly on the fly between all four languages. In fact, she could (and did) translate between mother and father when necessary.
Reading and writing are a different matter. To be exact, writing is but reading may not be.
I had a colleague with a bright daughter. He normally read her a story before bedtime – except if she had stepped out of line during the day. As might be expected, one day she stepped out of line: result, no story. The next night he started reading to her but said that she wasn’t really listening. After a short while she said, “Daddy, if I learned to read you couldn’t punish me by not reading a story to me.”. She learned the basics of reading in two weeks, and was getting on for fluent in four.
The conventions in writing are different: there you have to learn the rules. Yu canut jus put dahn wot yew ear. The rules of written English are there, simply because similar sounding words need to be distinguished and where you pause in speech needs to be indicated when written.
Emphasis also needs to be indicated. The question, “Do you eat fish” can mean (at least) four different things depending on which word you stress. Try it. Spoken, which word you stress tells which question you are asking: written you need to indicate by italicising the relevant word.
At the most basic level, kids absorb language from the people around them. They don’t have to be taught it. Two stories – both genuine.
My first wife and I were friendly with a Ghanaian couple who had a small daughter. Mother and father spoke different tribal languages – neither spoke the other’s: their common language was English. To make things really entertaining, they lived in Italy. They wanted my advice (as a psychologist) what to do about language. It wasn’t my field – but what the heck!
My advice was simple. Mother spoke her tribal language to her; father spoke his; when necessary they used English. If she went to an Italian nursery school, and later main school, she would learn Italian anyway. Mother was sceptical, but they agreed to try it.
We lost touch for maybe 10 years. When we met up again, mother’s comment was that I was right. Daughter spoke both tribal languages fluently and with no trace of an accent in either. She spoke English, but with an accent – until she went to an English school (with English teachers) in Italy when she lost it. She spoke Italian fluently without an accent. Moreover she could translate seamlessly on the fly between all four languages. In fact, she could (and did) translate between mother and father when necessary.
Reading and writing are a different matter. To be exact, writing is but reading may not be.
I had a colleague with a bright daughter. He normally read her a story before bedtime – except if she had stepped out of line during the day. As might be expected, one day she stepped out of line: result, no story. The next night he started reading to her but said that she wasn’t really listening. After a short while she said, “Daddy, if I learned to read you couldn’t punish me by not reading a story to me.”. She learned the basics of reading in two weeks, and was getting on for fluent in four.
The conventions in writing are different: there you have to learn the rules. Yu canut jus put dahn wot yew ear. The rules of written English are there, simply because similar sounding words need to be distinguished and where you pause in speech needs to be indicated when written.
Emphasis also needs to be indicated. The question, “Do you eat fish” can mean (at least) four different things depending on which word you stress. Try it. Spoken, which word you stress tells which question you are asking: written you need to indicate by italicising the relevant word.
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