Talking to my bilingual 1 year old

January 21, 2014 , In: Figuring it Out, Motherhood , With: One Comment
0

bastienMy son is amazingly cute, as I imagine every parent thinks of their child.  He has started talking and we just love it!

bastien 2 He is a big babbler and has been for a pretty long time now but is starting to form more and more words.

bastien 3It’s pretty funny because he’s growing up in a bilingual household and is going to a bilingual daycare so sometimes he chooses English and sometimes French although it’s clear he understands both.  You can ask him animal sounds in both languages or to do different tasks and he’ll follow it.  For someone who grew up only with English, his capacity for both languages astounds me everyday.  He’s a little bit slower than his friends who are mostly exposed to one language but I’m not worried and it’s normal.

Our favourites:

encore – I think this is the first word for many kids speaking French!  It means ‘again’ and is most often used when we are doing something fun (spinning around) or reading books.  He pronounces it more like ‘core’.

no & ne pas – both sort of mean no, but the ‘ne pas’ is a bit curious and is how you negate a verb in French

all done – he does this together with the sign language for ‘all done’ which is too cute.  It comes out more like awww daaaaaw.

Gigi – the name of his great aunt – pronounced zshizshi

Wow! – said every time something amazing is done and is said which such enthusiasm!

ps Pictures are of us out at Murray Hill enjoying the snow!

Any other bilingual households out there?

ps I met a lady from Japan who now lives in NDG and her 2 year old daughter is exposed to English, French, Japanese and… Finnish!  Wild, hey!

  1. Reply

    My 3-year old daughter is quadri-lingual (and has been for a while now): English, French, Arabic, Spanish 🙂

Leave a Comment

Michelle Little

Writer & Photographer

Originally from the prairies and now in Montreal, I love exploring new places, eating great food and modern design. I'm mom of two wild things and paper and cake make me happy. Photographing your cutie family would make me very happy.

Instagram Photos