Monday, September 10, 2007

It's the annual bilingual child update

Actually, it's the first ever, so we'll see if it ends up being annual or trimestrial or whateveral.

Honestly, I shouldn't really complain.

Their French, of course, if fine. Boy2's French is not as far along as his English, which I like.

Their English is also fine. Really. Boy1 is very articulate in his pronunciation but he still has some problems with [th]. (I won't bore you with phonetic symbols, even though I'd like to.) He's sometimes lazy with vocabulary, using a French word now and then instead of asking me for the English equivalent. Boy2 uses complex sentence structures and irregular past participles with ease and his English vocabulary is much richer than his French. School will take care of that.

And, bonus, they're still speaking English to each other, even when I'm not around.

So here's the drill at our house. Husband and I speak French together. Because he's too lazy to speak to me in English. No, seriously. When we were in the States he told me he had no problems understanding the television. Now that we're back, he gets all huffy if the subtitles aren't working.

Husband speaks French to the boys (mostly, although he does read some books in English to Boy2 - which makes Boy2 laugh) and they speak French back to him. And the boys and I speak English together. And I don't ever make an exception. No matter where we are or who is around.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you ever get confused and speak in English to others besides your boys. . .and then they probably look at you like???? I don't even know what an "irregular past participle" is - boys2 English is probably better than mine!

Amy Plum said...

good for you! I change to French when the beau-parents are around so they won't feel excluded. Think I'll follow your example and make no exceptions!

Sarah @ Baby Bilingual said...

Thanks for the update! Remind how old each boy is?

Nicole said...

Beth - No, never.

Amy H - You're a much bettter daughter-in-law than I am!

Sarah - Boy1 will be 7 in October and Boy2 will be 4 at the end of this month.

Lorraine said...

I am still astonished by the ease with which you switch from English to French and back to English. I can't even do that with Pig Latin.

Anonymous said...

I can't access my email today so i am putting this in your blog - I am mailing you something that I think you will get a very good laugh out of!

Nicole said...

Lorraine - Pig latin is much harder than French. It's just a question of habit.

Beth - I can't wait!