Welcome back and thanks for reading!

Today’s word is possibly my favorite word in Spanish:

cacahuate

(kah-kah-WAH-tay)

(how fun is that to say?!) which in English means, peanut!
{another way to say peanut is maní}

Bilingual Chiquita Update

In just a couple of weeks, Chiquita is already reacting and responding to my Spanish. Thanks to her sign language, she understands that gracias = thank you, más = more, terminada = all done, comer = to eat, and ¿dónde está? = where is…?.She doesn’t usually try to say these words, but if I say them she’ll sign them or indicate understanding.

She also understands and attempts to say hola, mono (monkey), leche (milk), carro (car), and pelota (ball), off the top of my head.

Thoughts on Language Learning

When monolingual speakers hear about raising a child bilingually, there are some immediate doubts which rise. I recently found an article citing recent research which busts a few commons myths, such as

• Learning two languages in childhood is difficult and can result in delays in language development.
• Bilingual children have less exposure to each of their languages than monolingual children. As a result, they never master either language fully and, compared to monolingual children, they never become as proficient.
• Young bilingual children can’t keep their languages separate; they use both at the same time; they are obviously confused.
• Using both languages in the same sentence or conversation is bad. Parents can discourage and even prevent their children from doing this by making sure that each of them uses one and only one language with their child at all times. The same goes for other adults who interact with the child.

I’ve studied many of these issues in the past and was really excited to find recent research continuing to prove that these are, in fact, myths, and are not true. If you’d like the read the article by researcher & professor Fred Genessee, click HERE.

Tagged as: bilingual chiquita, learning, multilingualism, myths, spanish, translation tuesday