bilingual brood

I heard my daughter talking to her dad this morning – she was whining about something that he’d done wrong, or was supposed to have done.

Nothing new there.

But what was different was how she was speaking.  Her Czech was amazing (and I’m not just talking about use of vocab).  She sounded like a Czech kid - with a Prague accent to boot. 

A Czech kid, moaning at her dad.

When we lived in London my kids spoken Czech was passable, some people voiced their concerns, ‘why go?', 'how will they cope?’, ‘what will they do?’.  I never really worried about how they would communicate, I knew it could only get better, and after only two months I see it already has.  By leaps and bounds.

Last week I read a really interesting article about being bilingual.  There was an old preconception that being bilingual meant speaking two languages equally.  Nowadays experts say that’s not possible because ‘the two languages will modify each other...and that being bilingual means being able to function in each languages given the need’.

And that sounds right to me, language is a fluid live thing that’s constantly changing, and I see with my kids being bilingual means moving in and out of use of two languages - not always well, and certainly not always equally.

But speaking the language is only one element of being bilingual.  My kids have a secret key that opens up a door into another world, they can connect with a different group of people, fit into a new culture, learn about another history, and gain new perspective on life.

It’s a gift being bilingual, and even though it’s a struggle sometimes, it’s so worth it.

Now when it comes to me.  Therein lies a different story.

My kids cower in shame when I open my mouth.  They tell me time and time again, ‘mummy please don’t ask, I’ll do it for you’.
It’s ‘so embarrassing’ when I speak : (
No matter how much I try to improve, I’m always just touching the tip of the iceberg.

Oh to have a young, bilingual brain… sigh.