Language as a Barrier
The other day I met a mother who is from South America and hence speaks Spanish as her first language. She is married to someone from an Eastern bloc country (not sure where)and they have an eighteen month old son. She asked me not to converse with the child in English as she wants him to speak only Spanish. She also told me that her husband is unable to communicate with the child as he is not a Spanish speaker.I was startled by this. It must be very isolating for the child in an English speaking country to be excluded from activities with others, let alone his father. I am still unsure as to why she felt the need to take this stance. I know many friends whose parents are from different countries who can speak both languages very well. I have tried on other occasions to communicate with this child - not realising he didn't have a clue what I was saying.
Perhaps somewhere like the United States where Spanish is more widely spoken, the child would have better opportunities for interaction with other children his age. It seems a very cruel decision for a mother to make.
posted by Fiona McNally @ 2/20/2005 07:47:00 am
3 Comments:
True. If we were living in South America for instance, I would want JJ to learn Spanish.
I feel particularly sorry for this boy because none of the other kids can commuicate with him apart from through non verbal forms of commuication.
In fact, I think it will hamper his potential. As I understand it, if a child learns multiple languages before the age of 3, he or she can then more easily pick up other languages. Moroever, the child ends up speaking the initial languages with a native speaker's accent, unlike those of us who stumble to wrap the tongue around unfamiliar sounds.
Too true, Adam. I have friends who can speak two or more languages and they learned them from infancy. If this child is going to reside in an English speaking nation then he needs to be able to master the local language as well as any others spoken at home.
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