Kids not wanting to speak English and Spanish accents

[SKing]

Shaleeena, the word immersion comes to mind. I had the reverse problem with my youngest. Coming to the U.S. she spoke little English and it was a very difficult first 4-6 months. I had patience and we were lucky she had great teachers at school or it would have been a disaster. She was immersed at school and had no choice but to learn. Luckily we have a great ESOL program here and that is an enormous help. Now she speaks better English than I do but now she is a reluctant Spanish speaker even thought it's her native language. When she spends a few weeks or more with Grandma she is back on the bike so to speak.
You have to be able to strike a balance and I would suggest he have a 2-3 month visit to an Aunt or Grandma in the U.S. if possible. It is not easy for the child and mine had a tough time but in the end it's worth it. The accent is the least of your worries.

Well, of course they have an opportunity to come to the States during the summer. Last summer they did not want to. They spend most of their time in the campo during the summer and trying to convince 3 kids that going to Grandma's house and being stuck watching TV until she takes them somewhere rather than running around in the campo with 50 other kids eating Mangoes from the tree and Pica Pollo from El Chino is very hard and I understand. They study all year so that is why I don't force them to the States during the summer unless they want to (which they don't).

Bertania (my nanny/housekeeper) is like Grandma to them (they call her mam? and me they call mami) and her family is like my family with scores of tios, tias, primos, primas, etc. In my actual mother's house its just her and her husband, my brothers are in a different state. So for 3 kids to spend their summer locked up, occasionally going to Wal-Mart or McDonald's has no comparison to being in the Campo with a family of 25.

But I will let go of the accent worries....if he has it, he has it. My biggest goal is for him to reach 18 speaking, reading, and writing English as well as his Spanish.

SHALENA

 

[malko]

Just my 2 bit experience ( mine cos I dont have any kids......)

I was brought up in france and my parents are british........
My mother taught me english ( spelling/reading....) at home in the afternoons, kindergarten french school in the morning ( special arrangement with french school system ).
My younger brother was taught english less " formally", mainly conversation between parents and me...... he attended normal french kimdergarten.

I always have spoken english with an " anglo saxon" accent and french with a french accent.
My brother has always had a slight french accent in english...... ( to be fair, when he was a kid, today he sounds as if he works in a fish and chip shop...).

So I would conclud that even if it was time consuming and difficult ( my mother's words....), it is better to sit young kids down and study the language in question.

Also today every french/swiss speaks english..... some much better than me!!!! ( studied in french never in english when mom's lessons stopped when I was 7 years old and attended school loke every french kid ), but u can tell they are not bilingual........


P.S., in the 80's my situation wasnt that current, teachers used to ask me what my language of "predilaction" was......
I always answered, both. They than asked if my dreams were in english or french...... I always answered, both........

 

[SKing]

Just my 2 bit experience ( mine cos I dont have any kids......)

I was brought up in france and my parents are british........
My mother taught me english ( spelling/reading....) at home in the afternoons, kindergarten french school in the morning ( special arrangement with french school system ).
My younger brother was taught english less " formally", mainly conversation between parents and me...... he attended normal french kimdergarten.

I always have spoken english with an " anglo saxon" accent and french with a french accent.
My brother has always had a slight french accent in english...... ( to be fair, when he was a kid, today he sounds as if he works in a fish and chip shop...).

So I would conclud that even if it was time consuming and difficult ( my mother's words....), it is better to sit young kids down and study the language in question.

Also today every french/swiss speaks english..... some much better than me!!!! ( studied in french never in english when mom's lessons stopped when I was 7 years old and attended school loke every french kid ), but u can tell they are not bilingual........


P.S., in the 80's my situation wasnt that current, teachers used to ask me what my language of "predilaction" was......
I always answered, both. They than asked if my dreams were in english or french...... I always answered, both........

Thank you. I will start with some fun, but more formal study also. I'm willing to do what is necessary so that he will be ok when he gets to college.

SHALENA

 

[rubio_higuey]

They than asked if my dreams were in english or french...... I always answered, both........

LOL
I have been having dreams both in English and Spanish for a loong time... dreams in my native language... I cannot remember the last time.

 

[malko]

I've scared myself by dreaming in spanish sometimes........... even if I hardly speak it..... ( I only pretend too....:laugh: )

 

[AlterEgo]

I've scared myself by dreaming in spanish sometimes........... even if I hardly speak it..... ( I only pretend too....:laugh: )

LOL, me too.....and it's amazing how fluent I am in my dreams!

 

[dv8]

my friend at the uni said once to me that the scariest dream she had ever was a holy mary, mother of god, speak to her in german

anyway, shalena, by school i mean "primary school" rather than nursery or pre-school. it is good, i think, to keep kids in pack because they are competitive, in their unique way and they emulate others. this is how they learn as well. it's good that victor is with other children. i am not a mother nor will i ever be one but i worked with children as a teacher. i know the key to teach them is to grab their attention and hold it. and i know you can help him out. he is very small still, his accent and attitude will change. kids are work in progress after all

 

[jrhartley]

would an English accent be a problem rather than an american one ;-)

 

[mountainannie]

My mother spent a year in France before I was born. When I was a child, she always had records of Edith Piaf and Yves Montand playing in the house. And at the school where I went they started teaching French at 5, just a little but enough. I went on to really study it and was about bilingual at 15.

It is amazing how quickly I learned the proper accent by singing along. So i am wondering if Sesame Street DVDs or Raffi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ5_60uARI4 or just a boxed set of all time favorites of Americana.. You are going to have to "americanize" the entire tribe a bit.. perhaps.. tough competition when you are away and there are cousins and aunts and uncles and bachata and mereguene on the radio.

But maybe you can ask MAMA to play some of the music during the day for the kids? It is the quickest way for anyone to pick up a proper accent. They can sing the words without even knowing the meaning of them. And kids are known for having a favorite and wanting to hear it again and again and again and again and again...

Another trick is to get a small netbook and if you have wifi, you can hook it up to external speakers and put on Radio 360 and listen to your favorite music when you are around.. like who knows .. this one? (ok.. one of MY favorites ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0 and Dance with them.. and they will IMPRINT

as in "songs my mother used to play"

So you can make CDs of your favorites and they can learn English a bit that way.

And have you around when you are not there.

 

[nomadamericana]

Hey Shalena,

I have the opposite going with my 3.5 year old. She does not want to speak in Spanish... only English. When we speak in Spanish or other Dominicans or Spanish speakers are speaking, she says 'What did he say?'. I know she understands because my husband exclusively speaks to her in Spanish.

When reading or talking about different things: we introduce Spanish words.... Like when talking about animals... we ask her how do you say... "dog" in Spanish?.... and wait to see if she knows. If she doesn't know (or pretends she doesn't)... I tell her or give her an either/or ?.... is it a 'gato o un perro'? We make a game out of it.

Also, kids like to share their knowledge with others.... maybe he could "teach" your live-in how to say a few words in English... Or have him tell you two things he did, ate, etc. each day.

Don't worry... once he gets to school age, 'English' is often the 'cool' language to speak. My step-son cried when he heard English 2 years ago... now he rarely speaks Spanish by choice with his friends.

We will be in Santiago for the next 5+ months, I am sure my daughter will have to step up to the plate and speak Spanish since the relatives their don't speak English.

Don't worry too much it will work out and he will be fully bilingual in both languages.

 

[RV429]

Shaleena, This may be the toughest part. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. 5 years into this and my hija does not read or write Spanish. She had to struggle hard enough just to learn to read, write and rithmatick in English so I haven't even tried. Lord willing my thought was for her to take High School Spanish to get that down. Others may have ideas on that but I feel this is the tough part.
RV

But I will let go of the accent worries....if he has it, he has it. My biggest goal is for him to reach 18 speaking, reading, and writing English as well as his Spanish.

SHALENA[/QUOTE]

 

[suarezn]

It sounds like Victor is going to be Cibaeno through and through...Does he love Anthony Santos already?:laugh:

Just keep speaking to him in English. Make it a rule to never speak Spanish in the house. He'll learn and understand, although he may respond back in Spanish. I think the best idea is to send him to spend time with his American family, if possible, for an extended period. As soon as he doesn't have the crutch of someone who can translate for him, he'll start speaking it. You'll be surprised how much they pick up in a matter of months.

My niece was brought to The US at the age of 10 without speaking a lick of English. At my sister's house they don't speak English, yet by watching TV and being involved in School in a matter of 6 months she was fully Bilingual without an accent in either language.

Just keep at it. Look at the bright side, if Victor ends up with a bit of an accent the ladies are going to be swooning over him. We all have an accent anyway, be it from Jersey, The South, England, or in my case Cotui...and yes the ladies love it...:laugh:

 

[pelaut]

Whatever, get it done before puberty. Too much scientific evidence exists that show the brain's language functions and the branches of the trigenimal nerve are completed by puberty.

Unless you had the luck to be born to parents that speak pure vocal languages, like Swedish and Swahili, you cannot physically speak a language learned after puberty without accent ? nor will you ever be able to learn a "mother's language", since all new language learning will be associative rather than aphasic.

Don't believe what you read in spy novels by Clancy and Follet. 99.99% of Adults cannot learn a new language flawlessly.

NB: "puberty" is elastic.

 

[pelaut]

......
It's cute to everyone else when he says "A leedle beet" ( a little bit) but I don't know.....I can't explain.
SHALENA

It's not cute. When he's 30 and in competition for a partnership at the law firm or whatever, an accent in any language can be favorable or unfavorable, depending.

You can always fake an accent if needed. You can't hide one. Having said that, however, you'd best leave him alone. Don't give him complexes on the issue. At four years old he has lots of time to develop it naturally.

PS: I raised three boys in four languages/cultures, and I had studied the issue in the 60s.

 

[Africaida]

It's not cute. When he's 30 and in competition for a partnership at the law firm or whatever, an accent in any language can be favorable or unfavorable, depending.

You can always fake an accent if needed. You can't hide one. Having said that, however, you'd best leave him alone. Don't give him complexes on the issue. At four years old he has lots of time to develop it naturally.

PS: I raised three boys in four languages/cultures, and I had studied the issue in the 60s.

Very true !

I never learned to speak my parents language properly because my relatives used to think it was the funniest thing ever that I had a white person's accent when speaking. Result: I shut down, never really spoke it and I am not capable to hold a decent conversation even though I understand it.

That is why I don't stress my children about it too. I don't want them to be self conscious about it and encourage the contact with other children their age.
The funny thing is that being frequent visitor to LT, they made friends there who also speak French, so we always come back from DR with them speaking French more comfortably :laugh: I even take them to a 1/2 day-camp there where most of the kids are children of French expats.

Now, I need to find a way to pick up Spanish (they starting to though).

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

When I was in college in New Mexico, I met a guy who was born in Guatemala and raised there speaking Spanish by his American missionary parents until he was six. Then he came to the US and lived in Colorado where his grandparents only spoke English until he left for college. At NMSU there are a lot of Spanish speakers, and within two weeks, he was communicating in Spanish just fine. Most people find that their language skills can be dormant for decades and return when needed.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

You can always fake an accent if needed. You can't hide one.

What is the difference? A lot of actors and actresses are extremely good at speaking in a variety of accents in the same language" Omar Epps, the British guy who plays the lead in House, Meryl Streep, Russell Crowe, and on and on. You cannot LOSE your accent so easily, perhaps, but I would not call that "hiding" it.

 

[jrhartley]

Im amazed at all these people that speak without accents -im sure everyone has one of one sort or another

 

[AlterEgo]

You can always fake an accent if needed. You can't hide one.

What is the difference? A lot of actors and actresses are extremely good at speaking in a variety of accents in the same language" Omar Epps, the British guy who plays the lead in House, Meryl Streep, Russell Crowe, and on and on. You cannot LOSE your accent so easily, perhaps, but I would not call that "hiding" it.

We're not talking about accents within the same language, i.e. assorted American accents, British, Australian, etc.

Mr. AE will never speak English without an accent. I will never speak Spanish without an accent. My 4 grandparents, who all came to the USA in 1913, could never speak English without an accent - one grandmother immigrated at age 16 and died at age 92, plenty of time, no?? No. None of them could hide their accent.

I speak with a New York accent, but if I tried I could sound like I was from Boston, Chicago, or North Carolina. But all English, not the same.

I understand where Shalena is coming from, being concerned with her child speaking English with a Spanish accent. It's cute when you're 3, not so much when you're 30 and looking for upscale employment.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

Everyone has an accent.

Standard American English is called American Standard English, as spoken in the Midwest: Omaha, for example.
In the UK, the standard is called British Broadcast English. I am not sure of the exact location, but it is English as spoken by the upper middle class south of London.