Kids growing up in a bilingual environment

I’ve always wanted to be fluent in another language.

And I’ve always wanted to speak 2 languages to my kids.

Now that I know how to speak English, it’s perfect then!

And it’s going pretty well.

For some reason, bilingual kids have always impressed me.

When I was living in France, I have never really met any though.

I remember these children once, when I was on holiday, but that’s basically it. The dad was French, the mum Swedish, and their kids were speaking both languages. Plus English. And all I thought was wow… Wow, I was really impressed, how amazing was that??

These kids were so lucky.

I would have loved to grow up in a bilingual environment.

Kids are like sponges, it’s so easy for them.

They learn without even realising it.

Maybe they tend to learn a bit slower than the average, but once they get it, holy moly, they are damn good! They have several native languages that they will never lose (if their environment doesn’t change of course).

Nowadays, so many people speak 2 languages.

So if you’re bilingual from birth, you start your life with an advantage. You then have to learn one more language to start to be a bit special.

It’s so hard to learn a language when you’re an adult.

You really need to be motivated.

And I don’t think you can learn if you don’t travel really. You need to be immersed in the culture and the language to really click I think. I have met a few people who were nearly fluent without having put one foot in the country though, so it’s possible, but I don’t think it’s an easy and possible thing for everybody.

These people impress me, they are probably very gifted.

And highly motivated.

And they work really hard.

So yes, bilingual kids used to impress me a lot.

But now that live in Australia, country where so many people come from somewhere else and have another background, it doesn’t impress me that much anymore.

I kind of think it’s normal now.

It’s still impressive of course, but I have met so many kids who were mastering perfectly 2 languages thanks to my job that to me it’s obviously more common now.

And I can’t imagine having kids of my own who would not be bilingual themselves.

I would see it as a waste. It’s personal of course, but I can’t do that to them, not now that I am myself fluent in both English and French.

I just can’t.

I feel that this is my mission, my task.

I have to.

And I’m actually very happy to have this mission. I don’t see it as an actual obligation. Just a plus.

A bit more fun in our family.

While pregnant with Slo, I couldn’t wait for her to be born so that I could speak English to her.

She would be my little apprentice, my little creation. A brand new creation.

But why did I want to talk to her in English when I was living in an English-speaking country?, a lot of people asked me though.

Well, simply because I wanted to get used to it. In case we would have to go back to France at some point.

It’s not easy to speak another language to your own kids.

I've tried a little bit while pregnant but it seemed weird (talking to your tummy is weird enough...)

I was worried then that I wouldn’t be able to do it in the end.

And considering that we speak only in French with Flo and that he kind of makes fun of me each time he hears me speak in English (because apparently I don’t have the same voice), let’s say that there was a long way to go.

I kept warning him that I would need his support because it would be hard for me to speak to someone who would not answer for a while.

And we had an agreement: he would speak in French 90% of the time, and I would speak English 90% of the time.

But still, I was a bit worried. Really determined and motivated, but not sure how it would end.

But it turned out to work pretty well.

As soon as Slo was born, I actually swapped immediately to English and never had any problem to speak in English to her.

It’s probably due to the fact that I gave birth in Australia, so everyone around us at the hospital was speaking English. It just felt natural.

And I kept going once back home.

Not really in front of people or when Flo was around, because it was a bit embarrassing but definitely when I was on my own with her (which was basically most of the time).

I was then speaking English only when I was alone with her, or among Australian friends and when Flo was there, or French friends or family, we were speaking French.

And we kept this habit.

With time, it started to be less and less weird to speak English in front of Flo, he even started to speak English sometimes too.

And one day, Slo started to say some words.

She was surprisingly not late at all, and pretty impressive.

She improved very quickly in both languages, with a slight tendency to speak a bit less French maybe.

When she was 14 months old, she had already plenty of words, and we started to go to playgroups. So she was even more surrounded by English-speakers.

So at the age of 18 months, as her English seemed to improve a bit quicker than her French, I decided that it was time to speak both languages.

And so, this is when I started to translate everything I was saying.

No matter what I was saying, and no matter what the language was, as soon as I had finished a sentence, I was repeating it in the other language.

And I got used to it pretty quickly. It’s not always an easy exercise, but it soon became a habit.

And I’m still doing it.

With time, Slo has started to do the same.

Very often, she translates what she says, which is pretty cute.

She now does a perfect mix and understands both languages equally.

And she is everything but late in her speaking.

Her sentences are a bit mixed at the moment (she mixes French and English words in the same sentence) but it’s totally normal and soon she will get it. She improves everyday and I have even noticed that she now tends to answer in English when we speak to her in English and French when we speak in French.

Of course, people can't help themselves but talk and you can hear things like “Oh, but is she gonna mix the words all her life?”, “Aren’t you scared that she will never get it?”, “Don’t you think that you should focus on French instead?”, “Is she going to speak French perfectly well?”, “Oh, but she has an accent when she speaks French, aren’t you worried?” blablabla.

To which I just want to answer that no, I don’t worry.

I’m actually incredibly proud and impressed and I find my daughter amazing.

Maybe she is a bit confused at the moment (not sure it’s actual confusion but anyway) but I can promise you that the day she will get it, she will rock and you will all be speechless.

So give us a break people and wait.

You’ll see.

Everybody seems to worry about her French.

As we live in Australia, apparently I should focus on my native language.

Full stop.

Except that I don’t want that.

And I’m not worried.

Not one single bit.

I know that she will speak French perfectly.

I’m more worried about her English to be honest.

Not now that we live here. But if one day we move back to France, then I’ll be worried.

I had a pretty good example during our holidays.

After a couple of days there, when she noticed that nobody understood English, Slo swapped completely to French. And as there was absolutely no time when I was alone with her, I never spoke in English. So she never did either.

Until we came back home and she reverted to normal, starting to mix again.

But I’m so relieved that we live in Australia.

Because despite what people think, she has a perfect mix here.

I speak both languages to her, Flo a bit less but he tends to mix as well now.

We do skype every week in French.

We have lots of French friends here.

And for the rest, she has the English.

Perfect.

If we were in France, it wouldn’t be the case, and I’m not sure what her English would turn out to be like.

That’s why I think it’s a good thing that I have the habit to speak to her in English.

Just in case.

We don’t plan to go back for now but we never know what could happen.

So anyway.

All this to say that so far, I am very happy with my decision, despite what everybody think and I actually don’t understand why I seem to be the only one to do that. I’m probably not, but I‘ve never met anyone else who translates everything they say. Because I promise, it works awesomely well. Maybe I’m making a big mistake after all, who knows.

Only time will tell.

So far, so good.

Now let’s wait and see…

YES, LIFE WITH KIDS IS FUN

#languages #bilingual