Bilingual Babies
07.8.2010 Emmy's words that she can say consistently...drumroll...
Mama.
Moo. Don't be distracted by her Justin Bieber hair. She says moo without really opening her mouth. Pretty fancy.
Go.
And di. Which means "Go" or "Let's go" in Vietnamese.
The Good Doctor tells me bilingual babies are slower to speak than monolingual babies. Not sure if that's a word but in the spirit of my husband who KILLS at word games and can't spell better than an immigrant, let's just go with it.
Also, there may be zero truth to the bilingual-babies-learn-to-speak-slower-than-babies-that-only-speak-one-language theory, but The Good Doctor has repeated this to me so many times, along with other phrases such as, "Stop that" and "Why are you doing that?" and "That's not right" that it has just become Truth in Vickyland.
Anyway, to my point.
While she doesn't speak more than 4 words, she understands everything. She can point out animals and body parts when we ask her in both languages. It's so cute she and I can already communicate without Daddy knowing what we are saying!
But apparently not only do animals have different names in different languages, they also make different sounds.
We learned this when we walked by and heard Asian Grandma say to Emmy, "Con ga, con ga. Aww ahh Aww ahhh."
So an English speaking chicken says, "Cluck cluck," but a Vietnamese chicken says "Aww ahh Aww ahhh.""
An English speaking cat says, "Meow." A Vietnamese cat says, "Meo Meo Meo."
English pig: "Oink oink oink." Vietnamese pig: "Ong ong ong."
English dog: "Woof woof." Viet dog: "Wowow wowow."
No wonder my little Marvin calls her Dada "Mama." She's using the Vietnamese pronunciation of Dada.
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Reader Comments (7)
Growing up in a bilingual home [Spanish & English], I remember learning that animals made different sounds in different languages... But it wasn't until I married a Swede that I realized how dramatically different those sounds apparently are.
In Sweden, pigs don't "oink." Instead they release this sound: "å nöff nöff nöff, å nöff nöff nöff!"
And, don't get me started on frogs... No "ribbits" in Sweden, it's more of a "kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack!"
There's even a children's song---called "Små grodorna"---that's like Sweden's answer to our Old MacDonald." Here's a link to a disco? version of the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CCJ4Zaz5D0
Well well. Look who's busting out his Latino Swedish connections. And fonts! Love ya, Miu Miu.
speaking of j. bieber... have you seen this accurate site?!?!
http://lesbianswholooklikejustinbieber.tumblr.com/
My wife is Chinese and I’m Vietnamese.
Our pediatrician wanted my daughter to quit her bottle at 1 y/o, only solid food and no more than 16 oz of milk per day, limit 2 hours of TV, and some other ridiculous suggestions.
Well, my daughter did not quit her bottle until almost 3, never had less than 16 oz per day, and “unlimited” hours of Curious George, Dora, etc.
Now, she is 5.
When we first put her in daycare, after her 3th birthday, she wasn’t able to speak short (4-or-5- word) sentences as much as other kids at her age. But now she’s multi-lingual (Chinese, Vietnamese and English) and non-stop. She knows the alphabet, colors, shapes. According to her teacher, her vocabulary is better than a 6 y/o and she also knows addition and subtraction. Physically, she is 4' 5" (yes, 53 inches at 5 y/o). My wife is 5' 4" and I’m 5' 8", so my daughter probably gets the “tall” factor from milk (?). She still has a whole set of front teeth and no cavity at all.
My wife works at Kaiser Permanente (no, it’s not a German company). Her co-workers whose children quit their bottles at 1 y/o are so tiny.
So, the bilingual-babies-slower-to-speak theory or the bottle-front-teeth-cavity theory, are just theories.
Let’s children be children.
Viet pig: “Ot, ot, ot.”
Viet dog: “Gau, gau, gau.”
Hi Michael,
I really appreciate your note. Thanks for sharing your insight and experience! We hope Emmy will also grow up to be bilingual. And tall :)
Speaking of the GD and his freakish ability in word games... he is SPANKING Antony right now in Words with Friends. Latest word - Quarte. Antony usually spanks others and is not accustomed to laying over
someone elses lap. He says he has been dealt bad letters though I have a feeling he is going to be suggesting they play best out of three. Real fast.
Well I figure by now A should at least be used to laying over YOUR lap. As for the GD, it's a total anomaly. The man can't spell better than an immigrant 5th grader and yet here he is, champion of the letter game world. The funny thing is that he plays under my user name so everyone out there thinks Vicky838 is setting people on fire with her mad skills.