Saturday, February 26, 2011

One Parent One Language...Kind Of

I'm trying to speak to Bean in Spanish as much as possible. Ideally, I'd like to only speak to him in Spanish, but I just don't have all the vocabulary I need. I figured it would be easy because he's just a baby and you shouldn't need to say that much- but in reality, I talk to him a lot. All day, everyday I talk, talk, talk, talk.

Plus there are the times when I forget my Spanish only rule. It's just not natural to me yet.

But each time I come across a phrase that I only know in English, I find out how to say it in Spanish and make note of it in my SRS (I use Anki).

I'd love to find a list of parenting-related sentences to add just for review, but I guess I'll have to take it one sentence at a time.

2 comments:

  1. If you don't have the vocabulary he will still pick up Spanish with you using it with him while you are also speaking to him in English. I'm going to have the same problem. I'm highly proficient in Spanish but I wouldn't even know one thing about certain words to use with a kid. How do you say bib? I'd have to look up everything and I wouldn't want to compromise developing the child's cognitive abilities or my bond with the child. I'm just going to try to talk to my kids as much as possible, but then I will also try to improve my vocabulary to speak as much as possible in Spanish. Are there any Spanish play groups anywhere?

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  2. I think you don't realize how much your vocab is lacking until you try to talk to a baby....or at least that's how it is for me. Sippy cup, exersaucer, stacking rings, bib, overalls, and all these other common household items that come up. Plus there are all the words you make up because it's cute baby talk.

    Right now I am just doing the best I can- studying at least two hours a day- and keeping it moving.

    There are a lot of Spanish speakers in driving distance so hopefully this summer we will be able to find playgroups. We definitely plan on taking a mommy-baby Spanish class this spring.

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