I have been having the HARDEST time getting Hana to say certain things in English. She has her things she always says in English like, "hello" "mine" "eat" etc. She knows her ABC's and 1,2,3's in English only, and some other things. But most of the rest of the time (it seems to me) she speaks a lot of Japanese. It is driving me NUTS! I have been doing my best to make her say things in English before I will respond appropriately. My biggest project right now is to get her to say "I want to ___." instead of saying the thing she wants and following it with the Japanese "shitai" which means I want. So EVERY DAY a MILLION times a day for example, she says... "Teetee shitai" and I say, "SAY - I want to teetee", and she says "want to teetee" and then we go.
FINALLY today, a couple of times she has said "I want to ____." on her own OR at just a stern look from me, she says it OR if I say "how do you say that?" she'll say it in English. And at dinner tonight she was asking for more toast with butter and she said, "more butter shitai" and I just looked at her and she goes...
"I one two three... I one two butter!"
Rocky and I both died laughing! No wonder she won't say "I want to..." she thinks I am asking her to count or something! It was soooooooooo hilarious!
Rocky was like, "she must think we are always asking her to count and say ABC's, just think about it, we make her say 'I want to see ____' when she asks for a video. She must be thinking we are making her say 'I one two C _____'!"
What a riot!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hello! One of my daughters-in-law sent me the link to your blog to read about your language adventures with Hana. We have a son with a wonderful Japanese wife. They live in the States and their daughter, Kotomi, is learning English and Japanese as well. She is three and is finally catching on that she has to speak English to us and Japanese to the other grandparents. When she first started to talk, I said she was tri-lingual because she was mixing the two with baby babel. Your family sounds lovely. God has truly blessed. I have three biological children and two adopted. Genetics does not play a part in how you love them. Every child is unique and you love them differently but just as much. May God continue to enrich your life with his love.
Post a Comment