Thanks for the advice. I also find that reading topical picture books (where available) is helpful, as they tend to use the common vocabulary used in a given context. Update on my situation: we have a second son now - he’s 4 weeks old today. My oldest son is about 3.5 years old (birthday in August), and has a very good passive understanding of German. He has recently become interested in trying to say some German words or singing some simple German songs; he was very resistant for a long time. Last year, he had access to a native speaker once a week for about an hour, who spoke 80% German with him. I was thrilled to find that my son could understand something like 90% of what the native speaker said! That really encouraged me to continue. I have committed to speaking exclusively German with him until he turns 4, and then I’ll review the situation. My biggest challenge seems to be that, because I’m not speaking my native language, not everything comes so spontaneously as it does in English. So, when I would usually make lots of mundane comments, I often just say nothing - e.g., on a road trip. This is something I want to get better at: just doing some small talk.
Joel, its good to hear from you and congratulations on your new son! You are right...picture books go hand in hand with looking things up because they will reveal the right sort of vocabulary to you. Great tip! You're setting up a great foundation for your older son and it's so wonderful that you had the joy of seeing him interact with a native speaker effectively. I love your approach--setting up a checkpoint to reassess whether this lifestyle is working out for you. I think everyone should take that approach. So many people don't ever start because they are afraid they can't sustain it for the child's entire childhood. I'd definitely encourage you to push through those difficult moments of small talk to say something, even if its not exactly what you would have said in English. If it's to difficult at first, I'd encourage you to even say those things in English so there is exposure to some language, even if it's not German. You know already how with experience, these situations will come to you more and more easily :). Thanks for reaching out!
Surprised you hadn't already read Jernigan's book! I've read it several times, and given it as a gift to four or five people. I find it's encouraging for people who are not sure, but not a great resource for people who are already committed to the process.
@@CarlsLingoKingdom It's not really my favorite, actually, but what it is good at is making it feel easy, like anyone could do it. Other books I recommend more for strategies or activities, but all of them (perhaps rightfully so) make raising a child in a minority language sound difficult in a way that Jernigan doesn't.
Thank you for sharing these tips and your journey. It’s very encouraging and reassuring because this process of parenting in a non-native language can be very discouraging at times. 😅😊
Thank you for watching and commenting. I completely agree. It always helps to know someone else is out there going through similar experiences. Keep it up!
Hi Stephanie, thank you so much for this video!! I am French (by the way your French is great and I am very impressed by how well your sons speak French!!). I have been speaking exclusively in English with my now 5 year old daugther since she was born. The first 2 years were great, she would sometimes reply in English to me and said her first words mostly in English. But then, when she was 3, she started school. I live in France, school is in French and no one but me speaks English with her. I feel like she has lost interest in English and doesn't feel the need to speak it. Even though she understands English, she can't speak it at all and that bothers me a lot. My question is, is there a way to get my daugther to reply in English to me (it might be late now that she is 5)?
Vanessa, thank you for your very nice comments. That means a lot! It's pretty cool to hear from someone with a child the same age who is doing the reverse of us. That's really tough! With school beginning so early, it's even more difficult I'll bet to push off the majority language influence. My youngest is beginning to do the same so I don't know if my advice to you will work yet, but here's what I do. If he says something to me in English (our majority language), I say "What? Did you mean [say the whole sentence in French]"? (he usually says yes) I say, "Oh, ok, say, '[I try to get him to say some short version of this...something...anything].'" My goal is to never let him get a free response for an English request. He will have to hear the entire French version first. Language acquisition is input, practice, and feedback. If my son refuses to practice, I'm at least going to make sure he has plenty of input and feedback. Keep going, even when she doesn't respond. From what I've read, even kids who don't use the language but understand it often have very little trouble "switching" to minority language mode when the need arises and they quickly make progress. Try to remember that even when she is not responding, a lot of acquisition is happening in that little amazing brain and do your best to support it, even when the fruits of your labor can't be observed in her speech. I hope this helps!
