Back on track about how it is actually to bring up a child in a multilingual family, in our case Russian-Hindi-English-a little bit Punjabi... now that's enough I think.
Russian language
There are as well folktales, fairy tales, poems available for little A, and many good reads are with my parents, and I can't wait to introduce my little boy to them.
I show him Russian cartoons from time to time too, like Domovyonok Kuzya (a Hob?), so he hears the speech not only from me. Many of my friends who live in India say that it is difficult to inculcate your language when the environment is not there. But as soon as I don't have an option of staying in my country, I shall use other means in order to make it happen. I need to put an effort.
So as you see his exposure to Russian language is limited to my speech, books, cartoons, and Skype with his grand parents. I am not going to overburden him with it, but just wanting to lit up interest in his mother's tongue. My D however is learning Russian now and is on his second year at the University, so I expect a little help from him too :)
English language
English makes a big entry in our day to day communication.
Among the books introduced to A is his favourite Little Red Riding Hood, which I purchased in the bookstore because of its illustrations. It was long before little A was born, but I knew it right there then that it was going to be for my baby.
This one is an old Indian edition of short stories found among many old books my in-laws keep with them. The stories are too long for my A, and have slightly strange plots to my liking.
Moreover his exposure to English language will increase when he goes to school, as mostly all the playschool programs here are in English, just like the one I used to work for. Hence I don't have much worry for this language, he will definitely learn it.
Hindi language.
Absolutely everywhere. Speech at home and outside, children's TV channels ...BUT little A has no Hindi books as of now, only newspapers, in which he likes to point at the words written in Devanagari. Beside,s of course, little A will be learning it at school.
Punjabi language
Exposure is very limited to occasional conversations by my in-laws. D doesn't speak Punjabi at home, but only when it is required. However this language is taught in many schools here in UT.
I know I take sides - I wrote the most about Russian :P ))) However aiming to bring my A up with the knowledge of three languages I would not like to enforce any of them but implement in such a way that he enjoys this unique opportunity and uses it later in life effortlessly.
Until Little A starts speaking we won;t get to know which one of the languages he would prefer, but just recently he started trying to say the word "bird" in Russian (ptica "птица").. Yey!!! I win! lol
Russian language
Long before my little A was born I decided that I would speak only Russian and would make it a language of communication at least between two of us. I have been speaking Russian with him since then, mixing it with English words here and there on the way (like ешь it - eat this).
However communication alone will not suffice for him to learn my mother tongue. Written word is also very important so that he sees the Russian language around, its usage, and understands that this language has equal rights with others. For that purpose I always keep a calendar on the wall which is usually given by my parents every year.
Little A has his own backpack, gifted by my Lebanese friend, in which we store all the books. Every day little A brings this precious bag of books, and we start reading, he comments, points at the pictures, asks to turn the page or not to...
My parents provided many books for A, so we don't have lack of Cyrillic written words.Some of them were gifted by our friend from Moscow, who also has an Indian husband and two kids. So she knows how it is raising children in a mixed family. She brought most popular children authors of all times A. Barto (А. Барто), S. Marshak (С. Маршак) and K.Tchukovsky (К.Чуковский).
However communication alone will not suffice for him to learn my mother tongue. Written word is also very important so that he sees the Russian language around, its usage, and understands that this language has equal rights with others. For that purpose I always keep a calendar on the wall which is usually given by my parents every year.
Little A has his own backpack, gifted by my Lebanese friend, in which we store all the books. Every day little A brings this precious bag of books, and we start reading, he comments, points at the pictures, asks to turn the page or not to...
My parents provided many books for A, so we don't have lack of Cyrillic written words.Some of them were gifted by our friend from Moscow, who also has an Indian husband and two kids. So she knows how it is raising children in a mixed family. She brought most popular children authors of all times A. Barto (А. Барто), S. Marshak (С. Маршак) and K.Tchukovsky (К.Чуковский).
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| S. Marshak poems and tales for children |
Agniya Barto, poems for children. (Агния Барто, Стихи для детей)
"Hare", one of the most known short poems by A. Barto.
"Elephant" ("Слон")
He loves seeing pictures in the book by K. Tchukovsky (К. Чуковский) "Wash'em clean" "Мойдодыр" - it's a book about a boy who was so dirty that all his belongings ran away from him.. so in order to gain them back he had to take a good bath :D
He absolutely loves a little book called Сорока-сорока (Magpie-magpie). This is a folklore nursery rhyme which you say to a child while making circles on his palm, and then press each finger tip as the story goes... He tries to do this with my hand too :)
I read him this alphabet book too, and he repeats A, О, У vowels :)
I show him Russian cartoons from time to time too, like Domovyonok Kuzya (a Hob?), so he hears the speech not only from me. Many of my friends who live in India say that it is difficult to inculcate your language when the environment is not there. But as soon as I don't have an option of staying in my country, I shall use other means in order to make it happen. I need to put an effort.
So as you see his exposure to Russian language is limited to my speech, books, cartoons, and Skype with his grand parents. I am not going to overburden him with it, but just wanting to lit up interest in his mother's tongue. My D however is learning Russian now and is on his second year at the University, so I expect a little help from him too :)
English language
English makes a big entry in our day to day communication.
Among the books introduced to A is his favourite Little Red Riding Hood, which I purchased in the bookstore because of its illustrations. It was long before little A was born, but I knew it right there then that it was going to be for my baby.
This one is an old Indian edition of short stories found among many old books my in-laws keep with them. The stories are too long for my A, and have slightly strange plots to my liking.
Hindi language.
Absolutely everywhere. Speech at home and outside, children's TV channels ...BUT little A has no Hindi books as of now, only newspapers, in which he likes to point at the words written in Devanagari. Beside,s of course, little A will be learning it at school.
Punjabi language
Exposure is very limited to occasional conversations by my in-laws. D doesn't speak Punjabi at home, but only when it is required. However this language is taught in many schools here in UT.
I know I take sides - I wrote the most about Russian :P ))) However aiming to bring my A up with the knowledge of three languages I would not like to enforce any of them but implement in such a way that he enjoys this unique opportunity and uses it later in life effortlessly.
Until Little A starts speaking we won;t get to know which one of the languages he would prefer, but just recently he started trying to say the word "bird" in Russian (ptica "птица").. Yey!!! I win! lol
Have a nice day! Just one more day left, and we can enjoy our weekend :)
You are doing all the right things Anna, I think it's lovely that little A will be fluent in so many languages.I had the same issues when bringing up my four children in Syria, Arabic was spoken all around me but no English so it was entirely up to me to teach them, my ex husband wouldn't speak to them in English because he didn't want to give them his accent. I did the same things as you are doing and took them to English friends homes who had children, but they would invariably speak in Arabic with a few English words thrown in here and there. I can remember feeling very frustrated with it all because it was like a battle for me to uphold my language, if we were walking in the street and my kids spoke to me in English my husband would shout at them and say you speak Arabic outside the house! Anyway years down the line I felt very proud when we came to England to live because my youngest son who was 6 then was the most advanced in his class for reading and writing, I had taught him with ladybird books, I loved those books! All my kids have gone on to do really well and you would never guess that English was their second language, your little boy is getting the best of both cultures and because your husband is so supportive your son will be so much the richer for it. :) xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda, and yes, it is not easy to keep a minor language at use every day. I slip to English frequently and even Hindi, it is unavoidable I believe, and one shall not be scared of it. I will do my best to make little A know Russian, at least speaking.
DeleteBut this is not good when a partner doesn't support your language, it makes it double tough. I am glad you were able to teach your kids English in its best form :))) Thanks for a long comment Linda!!
That's good that you are trying but he is too young to speak four languages at a time. My daughter speaks Hindi, English and Marathi and she has Telugu (state regional language) as third language in school. Earlier she spoke only Marathi with me and Raj but Raj speaks more Hindi at home. When she could not understand what other kids spoke, I taught her Hindi and English when she was 1.5 years old. She forgot Marathi later when school started. She understood but could not speak properly. I started watching Marathi serials on TV and seeing that from the past 2 years she can speak Marathi fluently. So just take it easy, if you don't teach now, he can still learn later. Give him more exposure to Russian children songs and rhymes than written word. Children love music. My parents gave me lot of CDs with Marathi rhymes. Anyways, you are language specialist, you know better:)
ReplyDeleteTry Tulika books for children in English, they are the good ones in India. The old bookthat you have is for 6+ years and might not be that interesting as of today.
Hi Preeti! Yes, Indian itself actually has such a variety of languages that kids speak two three of them right from the start. I am glad your daughter picked up so many of them!Surely I try to show him cartoons, good old ones, with quality Russian language. Thanks, that book was just a random book, but he likes few pictures from it :)
DeleteWill try Tulika books, thanks for suggestion!!
Your son is going to have a huge advantage when he goes to school with all this exposure to different languages. Kids are such sponges. My mom has told me that when I was little, I would sing along, in perfect Spanish, to my dad's records by Los Indio Tabajaras. I didn't understand what was being said, but I could mimic the words in the songs.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I want to expose him to all the language at this age and not at when he is even 5-6 years old. He will learn sooner now, and will sort out all the languages in his little head :)
DeleteSure, when you were small you could absorb so much information, and learn anything easily. How is your Spanish now? :)
You are giving him a rich linguistic heritage! The time to learn languages is when you're little, that's for sure -- so much easier than later in life!
ReplyDeleteHope so Debra! We have many examples of such mixed kids who speak 3 languages by the time they are 5-6 years old! And it's incredible!
DeleteGreat idea! Your little man will be a very intelligent young man when he gets older.
ReplyDeleteThanks Charlotte, I hope so too, we will try our level best!
DeleteI think it's great that you will teach your child your mother language along with the native one. Good job! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Teresa! We hope so too ))) Hugs!!!
DeleteYour child is blessed to have a multilingual culture. The children's books are delightful and a good way to learn. I hope your little one grows up speaking all these languages and especially your mother tongue.
ReplyDeleteI am sure he is! Thank you we hope so too, but also depends on us :)
DeleteHi Anna, nice to read your new post... So many languages and one little baby.I'm sure u'll win :) Kids catch up all words and phrases they hear.. as they grow. Your A will gather vocabulary from all members of family in coming years. As I notice my daughter learn few unique phrases of our rajasthani languages even on a short visit to family.I've seen russian books for first time here.. Cute images.. But cant understand any of it. Russian literature n authors are best in world. So great opportunity to read the best of authors if he learns it from basic years. Pls do post about russian religion, rituals etc and what conception of godhead you'll inculcate in your indian russian baby.
ReplyDeleteHi Archana! Surely, kids learn fast and in their own ways. He already speaks some Russian words!!! :)))And Hindi, and English. And certainly understands many!
DeleteSure, will see what I can post about.
The background of blog is looking wonderful. What type of painting is this?
ReplyDeleteIt's a Russian style folk art... flowers and birds, nature theme.
DeleteI think it's brilliant that your little one will know 3 languages! Very smart of you! Well done!
ReplyDeleteOh let's see :) I am so eager when he starts speaking!!
DeleteYou're doing a wonderful job exposing your child to these languages. When we moved to the US, our daughter who was 3 at that time only spoke German. After six months she was fluent in English, but she also had to keep up her German since we only spoke German at home. Now she's almost 18 and just passed her diploma in German. Her German is very good even though I think she prefers English. She has also learned French and is pretty good at it. I think it's important to speak more than one language since it's the language that opens up another country's culture.
ReplyDeleteThanks Carola.
DeleteOh your daughter is definitely benefiting from knowing so many languages at young age. It's a great deal that you were able to teach her German.. and she proceeded onto pursuing diploma in it.
Of course, a new language - a door to another culture.
Dear Anna, You are a wonderful mother and you are taking such good care of all of A's needs. You are right about concentrating on Russian as eventually kids learn English and Hindi in school. Also it will be a huge advantage for him later on in life. Your blog background is beautiful. Our mother tongue is Konkani but when I got married my husband and his siblings spoke to each other in Marathi. I insisted that my son speak only Konkani at home and today not only does he speak pure Konkani, my husband has improved his language too! :) Have a lovely day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treasure for your child❣Multi-cultures and multi-languages❣And your husband D will learn Russian from your sweet son. I guarantee❣Linda@Wetcreek Blog
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda.. I hope we will manage it in the best way possible.
DeleteI would be careful when mixing phrases. Speaking different languages with different individuals in the household and in his daily life is wonderful. But mixing phrases from different languages can be problematic. It can create association problems. For instance, his brain can start to get used to thinking that "eat" is only Russian. One of my best friends is a speech therapist, and she has too many cases of children who can't let go of speaking "Spanglish" (Spanish and English together, without their brain seeing a difference between the language when it comes to certain words).
ReplyDeleteYes Magaly, I know it is not right. I shall take care of when I speak Russian with him, no other languages involved. Thanks for a wise piece of advice!
Delete♥
DeleteIt's good to see that you are making effort to teach Russian. I think kids learn fast when they are younger. Even if they forget later it's there in their mind. Take my example, due to my father's banking job we were there in couple of states in India. So I kept on travelling when I was growing up. In the process I know Gujarati, Telgu and Marathi. I could speak few sentences and understand well. Now I don't know to speak but I still can understand. That's because I never made an attempt to develop my language skills and I never needed to. You are going in right direction I think by not stressing too much. All the best. Hope your A is fluent in his mother tongue someday.
ReplyDeleteGood that you are speaking in Russian. I speak to my daughter exclusively in my mother tongue Malayalam and my husband speaks to her in Hindi. We stay in Karnataka so she speaks and understand Kannada ! And from next year she will be learning french!! Hehe yes that is quite a lot of languages!!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI was blog hopping today and found yours! This post in particular touched my heart. And when I saw those Russian books, I was reminded of one book that I read in my childhood that was translated from Russian, but had such beautiful illustrations. That copy of the book was lost, I barely remember the author Medvedev (?), but the stories are unforgettable. One about three kittens who play in soot, flour and ashes, a baby chicken who tried to copy everything the duckling did, a rooster that had to be painted in the colors of the rainbow, etc. Do you know the title of the book and if an English translation is available anywhere?