As I have often experienced how comforting and encouraging it can be
to learn that others are facing similar problems and can cope
with them, I want to write a (more or less) detailed bilingual family
biography. I would appreciate any comments and discussions.
We (Karola and I) have two children: a boy, Philip, born in March 1991,
and a girl, Sophie, born December 1993.
What were my (our) intentions in raising our
children
bilingually?
In the first place, there was the example of friends: both a
mixed-American-German family and an English family. I thought that it
must be a great thing to acquire English nearly unconsciously. My
friends encouraged me to try it, they thought that my English would be
sufficient to do it. Another thing which influenced my decision was
the fact that English is the dominant language in our world. I knew
and I had realized very often how important it is to be able to speak
it. I was also aware of how much is involved in learning a foreign
language at school or even later and how comparatively easy it is to
acquire it as a pre-school child. Another important aspect is that if
you are bilingual you are more of a world citizen and not a
nationalist.
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How did we proceed?
I started from scratch speaking solely English to my children, while
my wife spoke German to them. There are no other English native
speakers in our neighbourhood, neither adults nor children, which is a
pity. That is the reason why it is very important to me to use other
sources of English as well:
lots of video films, audio cassettes and books in English, of
course. A friend of mine in London supported me quite a lot in sending
me lots of books, cassettes and video tapes, and besides that I owe
her thanks for sending me English films on video at a time when there
was no satellite or cable TV.
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Obstacles I had to face:
First of all, I faced obstacles deep within myself: Deeply felt
embarrassment, a constant feeling that I am doing something abnormal,
something against nature, especially if other people are around and
above all native speakers.
Then I am ashamed of all the mistakes I make or might make. But there
have also been friends and relatives who interfered. They kept and
some still keep on warning me that I might harm the development of my
children. Some even quoted pseudo scientific sources in which it is
proven how dangerous it were to raise children bilingually. But they
could never show me such books or articles.
Another hindrance, which I find more and more threatening, lies in the
fact,
that I can't spend as much time as I would like to with my children
during
a regular working week. I am constantly experiencing that it is not
symmetrical, if it is the mother or the father who is teaching the
second
language. If the language is taught by the one who is working-in our
case
myself-the exposure to the second language is just a short period of
time per
day and hardly enough to keep them on the level of their mothertongue.
I realized that it is increasingly more difficult to keep the children
on
their level of English.
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Help I have Encountered:
- Above all, the moral support of my wife. Without her consent I
wouldn't have started or I might have stopped a long time ago.
- All the help I have already mentioned above.
- I am also thankful to George Saunders for his marvellous book
about his own experiences in raising his three children bilingually
in Australia(English/German). He did it without being a native German
speaker.
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Situation by the end of March 1997
My children like it and Philip the oldest, is even a little bit proud
of speaking English by now. This is maybe due to the fact that English
is held in high esteem in Germany.
My son, Philip, tries to avoid German when he is talking to me, his
father, under all circumstances.Sophie, on the other hand,
understands what I am saying but she nearly always answers in German.
However, recently, she told me that she wants to learn to speak
English now.
This is probably because we are planning a trip to the States or
England in the near future.
The children always speak German to each other. Philip is even
translating Sophie's utterances to English for me. I never speak
German to them, and I have never read a German book to them.
Now and then, Philip will make mistakes, such as: "Where go we?" "I
like it not!",etc..
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Situation by the end of August 1997
Our three weeks stay in England and Wales in May had been a success to
the
language
development of our children. Philip, and to a minor degree Sophie too,
realized
how useful it is to understand and be able to speak English. Philip was
capable of following the instructions and explanations in museums and
other
tourist sites, at least according to his age. He was capable of
communicating
with other people.
Sophie who always answered in German when addressed in English until
that
holiday is still doing it, but she is inserting more and more English
words to
her answers. She can follow children films and books with ease, and she
is
capable of repeating even long English sentences. But as soon as I ask
the
same question once more, I will get the answer in German (mixed with
some
English words) again.
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