My strange problem
By johnpillai
@johnpillai (2082)
Germany
October 9, 2010 10:59am CST
I have a strange problem. I am living in a forigen country. I had a big task to learn a new language. Now I am able to cope with the new language(German). That was not an easy task. I used a trik to get fluency in German language. I started to speak in German with my children. That helped me a lot. Now my children speak to me in german. I am not so good in German. And my children are very bad in my mother toung. Now they have grown up. They speaks a lot with me in German language. Sometimes I don't understand what they are speaking. Now I am scared whether it is going to be a big problem. Your views and experiences please.
11 responses
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
9 Oct 10
Hi Johnpillai
First, let me congratulate you on your willingness to learning German. You are a mom and mom are supposed to be the teachers of language (the main language) to their kids. This is why your learning of German has greater value. Now the kids as they are born and brought up in Germany they are more pro-German and distant from your mother tongue. This always happen with parents and children who stay in different countries.
It wont be a big problem after all because what I think is that in due course of time you too would learn more and better German to make your kids understand that language better. I believe it would also strengthen the bondings between you and your kids.
I wonder what my kids would learn as their mother tongue? We already have a lot of confusions on this - I speak more English and Hindi, My wife speaks more of Bengali and Hindi and the place where I stay and most probably the kids would be brought up speaks Oriya.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
10 Oct 10
I believe that women are epitomes of love and affection for all. And when it comes to their kids, they can go to any extremes. I remember my Granny at 62 she started learning Oriya so that she could take my lessons in that subject as I had to study that language upto class 6th. And she did not want me to go to tutions.Her efforts helped me clear out my exams in that subject all throughout.
Going by this, I can realize that it is just your belief and soon you would be learning German to train your kids the better way. Of course, Tamil, your mother tongue, would take some more efforts from your kids to learn because they would speak German most of the time - at school, in friends circle and other places.
I would tell this to my wife and I believe that this would happen when we have kids, they would learn bengali better and more because mothers are the best trainers in the starting days which act as the fundamental blocks for the kids.
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
9 Oct 10
Now I am in my forties. Learning a new language in mother tougng rate is impossible to me. I learnt German whatever i can. i can't no more. but my children are small. They can learn the tamil language. i want them to speak a through Tamil. i am going to work hard for it. but it is so difficult. I have so many things to share with my angel. do you know one joke. My children are very goodin german language. Their language skill is better than German children. They speak very good german than german children. they always get the higerst marks.
now i am coming to your case. Your child is very very lucky child. because she is giong to deal with many language. Ask her mother to speak her in her mother tougng to the child. this is not just my own openion. I studied about this in my child care deploma. dealing with many language is good for children.
@stylewaves (1060)
• India
10 Oct 10
May be aftre some days they`ll understand your problem and they`ll speak in the way that you will understand
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
10 Oct 10
Thanks stylewave. Realy i want this. At the moment they don't understand the value of it. but I can't be idle. I must also work hard to achive this. Thanks again.
@kodukodu84 (1569)
• Malaysia
10 Oct 10
Hi Johnpillai,
It's not a problem from the way I see it. Even if you don't understand all of what they are saying, but you will eventually understand as you will keep hearing the same word everyday, at least few times. You should not worry at all. Maybe at the same time, instead of worrying about it why don't you take sometimes to sharpen you German Language? Don't stop practising and learning because soon you will need it for a greater communication with you children, if especially they can't speak another language that you speak.
Good luck and have a nice day
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
10 Oct 10
That is not another language. That is my mother language. now i am in my forties. learning a new language dependes on one's age also. i have done what i could. I am a child care giver. I care for Germal children. I speak to them in German. I speak to the parents of the children, to my officers all in german. But i feel that is not enough to be a mother. I expect my children to learn my language. They are small. They can. but they show less intrest. That is why i am worring.
@sweetloveforeve (13120)
• Portugal
9 Oct 10
sorry for it :( you wanted to teach them german to be easier for you to practice and also for them bcs they were growing up there. but you didnt teach them much of your language thats the bad thing :( anyway is not your fault^^ you were stressed bcs a new country and you did your best^^ well you speak english and im sure they also learnt english in school^^ so if they say something and you dont understand say it in english^^ dont worry so much^^ if both speak english well is not a big problem that you dont know much in german and that they dont speak your language. english will solve your problem^^
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
9 Oct 10
For day to day life our language lifwe is okey. but there are moments which need much languages. my daguhter is now ten. I like to speak to her a lot. Ja. it is difficult. When i speak to her she doesn't understand them well. Realy i am worried. As you told she learning english also. but nothing can replace one's mother tougng. I like to speak a lot with my 10 year old angel. Do you understand me. Thankyou for your kind reply.
@sweetwriter7 (19)
• Philippines
9 Oct 10
I don't see a big trouble here. your children will understand your German language difficulty and will even help you a lot if you will explain it to them very well. Labguage acquisition is achieved through time and with the help of sincere people around. be positive. I know you will love the German language soon :)
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
9 Oct 10
I am okey with german language. i care for German children. But there are times which threatens me.
@jypsyjulia (912)
• United States
9 Oct 10
When my cousin moved to France, she did the same thing. Children pick up languages like a sponge so it's not surprising. What I would recommend is to start using your native language around them more often. That's what she did with English. Now they are pretty good on the English/French scale. I hope this helps!
@johnpillai (2082)
• Germany
9 Oct 10
What you write perfectly correct. i thing it is a bit late. My children used to speak to me in german language. i am a child care giver. i used to to attend seminar for my job. In one of the seminar we werld that a mother should speak to her children in her own language. After hearing this I am so worried. Now a days we do it as a game. but in serious situations it seems to be a problem. Anyhow i try my level best to speak in my own language.
@elmiko (6630)
• United States
9 Oct 10
its much easier for kids to learn then it is adults. the world is much newer to kids and they just got so much more to absorb. really learning things as a kid makes what they learned more natural. i would say that could be one of the reasons for your difficulties. i'm sure if you keep working at it little by little you will learn more over time as long as you don't give up. i would ask your kids more for help on learning german. i'm sure they would help you after all you are their mother.
@shia88 (4571)
• Malaysia
10 Oct 10
HI,
Learning a new language is good. and I believe you can do it.
It is just a matter of time.As time pastby, you can slowly
catch up with these new language.
It same goes to me when I went overseas for my study. I can only speak
English(not that good) and I don't speak Mandarin at all.
But due to the environment, I slowly pick up some Mandarin words and
try to speak out,...Oh...I can do it too.
I watched local TV drama and learn my Mandarin from them, I also mingle
around with my local friends and learn Mandarin from them. That is a good
way to learn new language.Now I can speak simple Mandarin and to my amazing,
even my parents feel proud of me...that I can speak better Mandarin now.
@sweetwriter7 (19)
• Philippines
9 Oct 10
I don't see a big trouble here. your children will understand your German language difficulty and will even help you a lot if you will explain it to them very well. Language acquisition is achieved through time and with the help of sincere people around. be positive. I know you will love the German language soon :)
@jamescorn (2)
• Germany
10 Oct 10
I speak german very well because i was born there hehe
Its a good training to speak alot. Why do you want to speak german?
