Eh?

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June 19, 2006· Filed Under Italy, Language, My son 

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My son's grasp of the Italian language is coming on, eh. He speaks rather well in fact, eh. Asks a lot of questions which consist of only 'why?', eh.

I don't know if other foreigners resident in the Living Museum have noticed, but many Italians, especially women, seem to end statements with a noticeable 'eh'. Well, now my 3 year old son is doing the same.

As for his English, well, it's a bit embarrassing, seeing as I teach the language. He understands lots and will use 'yes' and even 'why' in English. He imitates some of the things I say, but does not generally respond in English. I don't suppose this is a great surprise really since his only real exposure to the language consists of many DVD's and little old me, but not my little old other half. The poor little lamb has to put up with comments from his mum in Italian, followed by comments from me in English. His responses are inevitably in Italian and he's not stupid, he knows full well that I understand Italian.

Whether I shall achieve my goal of raising a bi-lingual sprog is not all that certain at present, but I suppose it's early days yet and he should have more opportunities than most other Italian children in that he has two English cousins with whom to pass the odd summer hol or two when he is old enough.

There is at least one of the day nursery staff who speaks reasonable English, although I'm not sure just how often she speaks to Marty in the language. It would be nice to send him to a bi-lingual school at some point, but my wonderfully erratic teachers income will possibly not permit this; more's the pity.

It would be sad if he were not able to learn my language as it may be of great use to him in future. I'm a bit reluctant to discover exactly how bi-lingual kids should be brought up seeing as I'm pretty sure we're doing it wrong. Other half is not being overly helpful either and has little enthusiasm for trips to the UK in view of it's rather dodgy climate. Can't say I really blame her, as that's one of the reasons why I left. We'll have to see. There's a bit of a culture clash taking place as I'm not that sure that other half really cares whether he learns English or not. My parents at least tried to make me learn another language, they failed partially in that I learnt nothing at school, however they did generate a spark of curiosity in me and wanting to see if I really could get to grips with another language is another reason for my leaving the UK.

I shall try to be as patient as possible and monitor the situation.

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2 Responses to “Eh?”

  1. David said on June 20th, 2006 4:03 pm

    My eldest daughter was two when we went to Italy definitively, she had just begun speaking english. We spoke only Italian in the house yet she learned english as her first language. Upon arrival in Italy she stopped speaking altogether for 12 months then began in Italian.

    Kids learn the language that other kids speak. Do not fret, when your son chooses to he will speak perfect english, perhpas with an accent at first but quickly it will be perfect.

  2. J said on June 20th, 2006 8:07 pm

    It really depends … I have friends whose parents speak the mother-tongue at home, but the friends end up only understanding the language by ear, but can’t speak/read it at all except for the odd Yes and No.

    I think sending kids to language lessons (english in your case) helps a lot, but without both parents committing to it, it’s hard for the child to retain anything that is learnt. Perhaps you should try to speak more English in front of him, demand him to reply to you in same language, or take him out with you to meet your English-speaking friends/family more. Watching movies help too.

    Otherwise, hmm … bilingualism is hard to maintain without constant exposure to both languages. And once a kid is past a certain age, it is really diffcult for him/her to pick up the less used language …

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