Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Where we are now
I have a long list of blog post titles that I want to blog about, lots of them looking back at things that have happened/not happened over the last two years, but it seems to make sense at this stage to look at where we are now. Our daughter is now 2.5 years old and never seems to stop talking...predictably, but still rather sadly, this is just about always in English. My husband has done a great job of being totally consistent in talking to her solely in Persian, but of course she knows he speaks and understands English as it is our main language between us at home and so she seems to have subconsciously decided to speak to him in English too. I can only assume that seems the easier option for her developing brain! She does however appear to understand everything he says to her, and often tries to translate things for me, knowing as she does that I only speak a "tiny bit Persian" (her words!). She responds really positively to other people talking to her in Persian, but unless she spends a significant amount of time around people speaking the language, it doesn't seem to have much of an effect on her talking. We have noticed that when spending whole days or weekends with other Persian-speaking friends or family members that her output increases a bit, she will use more Persian words when talking to my husband. The hope remains that one day if we can manage to spend some time in Iran, or if family could come and stay with us for an extended period, that she would happily start talking a bit more. For the moment, we have small victories! She always calls her father "Baba", something which is very important to him. I am watching out for this changing when she begins school and she may feel the need to conform... There are a few other words that have remained stubbornly Persian - I am not sure why - perhaps they are easier to say, or sound nicer to her, or they have just become habit. Some examples are "patou" for "blanket", "cammerband" for "belt or seatbelt" and "gardan" for "neck". Other words that she seems comfortable using in Persian and does use with her father are the numbers 1-10, the colours, some food names and body parts. Her production of Persian language can be quite strong - if asked outright what a word is "in Persian", she usually knows. The main thing for us at the moment is that she seems to be really happy trying out her Persian words and having this special language relationship with her dad, and some other friends/family members. She has a really good grasp of the differences between the two languages and can identify which books are English, and which are Persian. She knows who speaks which language, and will have a good go and speaking to her family in Iran on the phone - and sometimes pretends to talk to them on her play phone, in Persian. The conversation is limited (!) and consists mainly of "Salam, khoobi? Khoda hafez!" (Hello, how are you? Goodbye!), but it is wonderful to see her trying it out and experimenting, having fun. We definitely want to avoid her bilingualism becoming a burden on her and so far, it seems to be working... Khoda hafez!
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Starting out
So, we are having a baby (circa. early 2009)...
We decided right from the beginning that we would want to bring up any children bilingually in Persian and English as far as possible - now was going to be our chance to put it into practice! Living in the UK means that English will inevitably be the dominant language, and I think we are prepared for a bit of a struggle in trying to ensure that the Persian gets enough of a look-in, but we are determined to give it a try. We both agree that it is really important that our child/children is/are able to participate fully in their Iranian culture and in particular, to converse with their grandparents. I think it is sad when children are not able to at least understand their maternal/paternal language and must miss out on the intimacy we gain from speaking the same language as our family and friends. So, we are ready to give it our best shot, knowing that it will be difficult especially given that Persian (Farsi) is my husband's language, and I do not speak it well enough to be of any great use to my child (she was a daughter, N!) other than through my enthusiasm for all things linguistic and my commitment to bilingualism as an essential part of all our lives. I am the one who will be mainly at home with our daughter, although my husband is lucky to be able to work from home fairly often, allowing him extra time with N, and extra, valuable language time with her. I think for my part I will be able to encourage the language, try to make it as positive experience for N as possible, and to ensure we have plenty of additional materials to hand such as Persian-language books, DVDs etc.
My background is a language-focused one (although I can only manage to speak French with anything approaching fluency in addition to English - and my Farsi is coming along slowly, learning as a child in random bits and pieces that come up ...). I studied French and German to A-level, and spent a year in France after that, gaining firsthand experience of what it's really like trying to manage in a country where you don't have a great grasp of the lingo... I then went on to study French and Arabic at university. To my shame, my grasp of Arabic is rudimentary at best (I never could get my head round the very difficult pronunciation), but it did provide me with a good insight into learning a language with a completely different script, and left me relatively comfortable with grappling with alphabets other than our own (this has proved useful in learning and applying Farsi, for my own purpose and assisting my daughter). Since then, I've picked up bits and pieces of other languages - I'm never keen to be an Anglophone wallflower in the corner when visiting other countries - but the dominant language in my life, as well as that of my child, is now Persian, or Farsi.
Over the last two years we have watched our daughter's language(s) develop and on this blog I want to share some of the highlights - some funny bits, some challenging bits - and to reflect on how we have approached the whole bilingual business and to continue into the present to watch, wait and listen... This is going to be a largely lighthearted look at the process, but we may learn from it, and I hope I can signpost others towards some useful Persian language resources along the way. And so, here we are, with fingers crossed, hoping that the magic will work and one day our little one will trot around the globe to happily converse with her extended Persian family and friends... Let's hope so!
We decided right from the beginning that we would want to bring up any children bilingually in Persian and English as far as possible - now was going to be our chance to put it into practice! Living in the UK means that English will inevitably be the dominant language, and I think we are prepared for a bit of a struggle in trying to ensure that the Persian gets enough of a look-in, but we are determined to give it a try. We both agree that it is really important that our child/children is/are able to participate fully in their Iranian culture and in particular, to converse with their grandparents. I think it is sad when children are not able to at least understand their maternal/paternal language and must miss out on the intimacy we gain from speaking the same language as our family and friends. So, we are ready to give it our best shot, knowing that it will be difficult especially given that Persian (Farsi) is my husband's language, and I do not speak it well enough to be of any great use to my child (she was a daughter, N!) other than through my enthusiasm for all things linguistic and my commitment to bilingualism as an essential part of all our lives. I am the one who will be mainly at home with our daughter, although my husband is lucky to be able to work from home fairly often, allowing him extra time with N, and extra, valuable language time with her. I think for my part I will be able to encourage the language, try to make it as positive experience for N as possible, and to ensure we have plenty of additional materials to hand such as Persian-language books, DVDs etc.
My background is a language-focused one (although I can only manage to speak French with anything approaching fluency in addition to English - and my Farsi is coming along slowly, learning as a child in random bits and pieces that come up ...). I studied French and German to A-level, and spent a year in France after that, gaining firsthand experience of what it's really like trying to manage in a country where you don't have a great grasp of the lingo... I then went on to study French and Arabic at university. To my shame, my grasp of Arabic is rudimentary at best (I never could get my head round the very difficult pronunciation), but it did provide me with a good insight into learning a language with a completely different script, and left me relatively comfortable with grappling with alphabets other than our own (this has proved useful in learning and applying Farsi, for my own purpose and assisting my daughter). Since then, I've picked up bits and pieces of other languages - I'm never keen to be an Anglophone wallflower in the corner when visiting other countries - but the dominant language in my life, as well as that of my child, is now Persian, or Farsi.
Over the last two years we have watched our daughter's language(s) develop and on this blog I want to share some of the highlights - some funny bits, some challenging bits - and to reflect on how we have approached the whole bilingual business and to continue into the present to watch, wait and listen... This is going to be a largely lighthearted look at the process, but we may learn from it, and I hope I can signpost others towards some useful Persian language resources along the way. And so, here we are, with fingers crossed, hoping that the magic will work and one day our little one will trot around the globe to happily converse with her extended Persian family and friends... Let's hope so!
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