拍派媽vs皮小孩

之前提過我很煩惱bb的說話, 雖有很好的環境可以說兩種語言, 然這對嬰孩而言, 起步

比說單語的要困難許多。現他已2歲了卻怎麼樣就那幾個字, 可能是我太容易緊張, 看

了幾篇文提到這方面, 大概理出幾個心得:


1. 先決定主要語言-

    我決定用國語, 但生活上不免會有英語, 尤其是電視上, 我選擇日常對話先用國語, 等

    bb 習慣某個字時, 等下次有機會再加英語, 但有些不重要的字, 如風箏, 我只說kite。

2. 要由不同對象來詮釋不同語言-

     因為房子只我和bb, 看來我只能白天中文, 若他有興趣學我再加幾個簡單的英文單字,

     晚上慢慢加簡單的英文句子讓他習慣, 等他拔來時再叫他拔全用英文, 因為他拔沒耐性,

     我只能用這種最沒效率的方法來試, 先由我開頭引導, 所以, 另一半的配合很重要, 如果

     另一半沒有做到, 那我得考慮早點送bb上安親班或教會了, 但聽說最好等小孩3歲再送

     出去, 因那時他們已學會不包尿布, 自己吃東西, 生理的協調力, 心理的理解力, 及腦部

     的成長已有大人的80%了, 然3歲對我而言太久了些。

3. 可用中文或英文, 唱歌, 唸韻詩(字), 說故事

     我發現唱歌bb較有興趣, 說故事似乎對沒耐性的他有點困難

4. 一般雙語小孩剛開始會明顯落後其他人, 在五歲左右就可以雙語並用

5. 小孩在十歲以後再學其他語言會有改不過來的腔調
    
     (是否意謂十歲前要學更多呢?) 在這裡, 我認為家長要多鼓勵小孩說中英文, 即使小孩已

     上學, 英文已成為他的主要語言, 在家一樣要堅持要中文溝通, 叫他也講中文, 要把握十歲

     前的黃金時段。

 





參考文章1:

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Q: We are Indian, and we speak both our language and English at home. My baby boy is 18 months old but only says "mama," "dada," "tata," "papa." Is he becoming confused due to hearing two languages? Should we only speak our native language to him?

A: Research data show that if one person speaks in one language to the baby and the other parent or grandparent speaks another language, the child is most likely not to get confused and to learn the meanings of many words even by one year. Try to use one language and have the other parent use the other language.

Receptive language development is what you need to focus on. How well can your little one follow a request to go get something, like a sweater on a chair in another room? Expressive language — talking — may be delayed sometimes when infants and toddlers are brought up bilingually, but this is not very important. Receptive language development is what you should pay attention to right now. If you ask him (in either language) to point to a doggie or a shoe in a picture book and he does so, then good for you! You are helping your child learn two languages. Keep on teaching two languages, but make sure you check on his understanding by asking him to point to objects or asking him to go fetch something. Ask him "Where is...?" and have him point to the object or toy or picture in a book. His receptive language skills should reassure you that you are doing just fine in helping him become bilingual.

About the Author

Alice Sterling Honig, Ph.D., is a professor emerita of child development at Syracuse University . She is the author of Secure Relationships: Nurturing Infant-Toddler Attachments in Early Care Settings.

The Bilingual Toddler

Is it okay for a toddler 2 – 4 years of  age to be exposed to two different languages - to be bilingual? Is learning to speak two languages at once okay for his brain and language development?

Young children's brains are very open to the sounds and patterns of language. Toddlers are indeed capable of learning two languages simultaneously as long as they are in a consistent relationship with a nurturing care provider who speaks each language. This does not mean that an individual provider necessarily needs to be bilingual. It means, for example, that the care provider may speak English to the toddler when engaged in her care - and Mom and Dad have agreed that this is what they want. Likewise, Mom and Dad will speak in Hebrew when they interact with their toddler, or Mom may speak English and Dad may speak Hebrew. Consistency is the key. The toddler needs a reliable language partner when speaking and learning each particular language.

In today's world bilingualism is a skill to be valued and supported when it is the goal of the toddler's family. Infants are quite capable of learning two languages from birth. They begin life with the ability to hear the differences among the sounds of many languages. Any "foreign" sounds a child continues to hear reinforce the brain connections used to process them, so he will retain the ability to perceive and produce them. By 2-3 years, toddlers are very capable of using each language with different people in different contexts - for example, speaking Hebrew with the care provider and English with Mom and Dad, or speaking English with Mom and Hebrew with Grandma.

A key requirement for language learning is that it takes place in the context of a nurturing relationship. Furthermore, while the brain is especially open to the different languages at this age, it is not necessarily easy to learn more than one language, nor does it mean that the learning will take place overnight. Many factors influence how well and quickly a toddler will become bilingual, including the strength of the parents' motivation to make the child bilingual, the amount of time the child spends in the care of each language partner, how secure the toddler feels in having her needs met, and how well the care provider and toddler are able to communicate in the given language.

Remember: a toddler exposed to two languages is dealing with two very different systems of communication. While she is capable of doing this, her progress in each may appear a bit slower than if she were communicating in only one language.

參考文章3:

Bringing up a bilingual baby

Can your cooing bundle become a multilingual master? Sam Pope looks at how you can bring up a bilingual baby.

• From the very beginning …
• Coo blimey!
• Baby babble
• Talking toddlers
• Good Golly, Miss Poly(glot)
• How easy is it for a child to be multilingual?
• Are there any special requirements?
• Raising a bilingual baby
• The pros and cons of bilingualism …

From the very beginning …

Your baby has been exposed to language even before you ever thought about helping her language skills after birth. In the womb, your baby has listened to your voice and learnt to recognise it. After birth, the process becomes even more developed, as he learns how to distinguish different sounds and patterns of speech. Children are eager and more than able to process language. Just think - from crying to constructing grammatical sentences in the space of five years … even before they can tie their shoelaces!

Coo blimey!

You may feel a bit of an idiot as you babble in a high-pitched voice to your baby but it is through your words and language that your baby acquires her own. Obviously at first it's pretty basic - but even crying is a way of communicating and, in time, you will be able to distinguish how different cries mean different things. You are both already well on the way to effective communication.

The next stage is the welcome cooing phase, when softer and quite pleasant sounds occur, such as 'aaaaaah' and 'oooooh'. Cooing itself, however, doesn't reproduce language-specific sounds.

Babbling is the third phase, when your baby is focusing on the sounds she hears around her and which, consequently, sounds increasingly like the language you use. Babbling is characterised by syllabic sounds, e.g. the much-anticipated 'mamama'. This leads later to bizarre mixtures of syllables such as 'giliguk'! You may have noticed too that language milestones tend to occur around times of physical development.

Talking toddlers

At one year of age is typically when first words might be heard, although this varies a great deal. Some children don't start saying definite words until after their second birthday. However, if you are at all worried about your child's development, speak to a health professional. When first words come, they won't sound the same as when you say them! As Lorraine Rice, from Bilingual Babies, explains: 'Some phonemes are universally tricky (r, l, s, sh, zh, th) … [and toddlers] also have difficulty with consonant clusters.' This is why you might hear your clever boy saying 'poon' instead of 'spoon'. Where there's a will …

The first expressions your child makes will be 'holophrastic' - i.e. they'll be one-word phrases. It's quite amazing how a toddler can put one sentence-worth of meaning into one word, with hand gestures, facial expressions and tone adding meaning and emphasis! As your child acquires more vocabulary, she will start saying combinations of words. Typically this will be in the form of an adjective and noun, e.g. 'big cat!' or a noun and a verb 'boy jump!'.

Good Golly, Miss Poly(glot)

If your child is doing so well with one language why would you want to introduce a second to confuse him? Without a doubt, today's world is becoming increasingly global and, while English is the universal language, the ability to speak other languages is not only desirable but also helpful.

You might have other reasons why you want your child to be multilingual. Perhaps the language you speak at home is different to the one spoken in the community. This will provide natural settings to introduce more than one language to your child.

How easy is it for a child to be multilingual?

According to Deborah Ruuskanen, professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vaasa, Finland, and mother to three bilingual children: 'It is entirely possible to teach an infant two, or even three, languages, and four is not unheard of. In Europe , a great many toddlers learn four languages with little or no difficulty.'

Obviously, the earlier your baby hears the different languages you want him to be exposed to, the better and easier it will be for him. For example if a child is exposed to a new language before six years of age, they will acquire it as a native speaker very quickly. For this to happen, they will have to be in an environment where they are exposed to it constantly, e.g. in a school or nursery. As children get older, the likelihood of them attaining a native-speaker command of a language decreases. In adulthood the chances are very slim indeed, as any of you who have tried learning a language later in life will know!

Are there any special requirements?

There must be a motivation for your child to learn the language, either through constant reinforcement at home or in the community. One or both of the parents must also have a good command of a second language. This doesn't mean you have to be a native speaker of another language though. Some parents have acquired a good deal of fluency in another language through living abroad or studying and want to pass that language on to their child. However, some worry that their imperfect accent and grammar will be more detrimental than beneficial to their child. What you decide to do ultimately depends on your preference, but surely it's better for your child to grow up speaking a second language reasonably fluently, with some flaws, than just one language?

Raising a bilingual baby

Parents who want to raise a bilingual baby must face several more decisions than parents of monolingual babies encounter. They include:

- How you'll get all of those languages into your child!

-Who, out of you and your partner, should speak which languages?

- Can any of the languages wait until your child is at school?

- How will your child communicate with other members of their family?

You will also need a 'language plan'. Contrary to popular belief, children don't just pick up a language incidentally. You'll need to agree on a method that suits your family situation and stick to it. A couple of ways introduce two languages more quickly than others. These are:

One parent - one language

This approach probably brings about the quickest results and increases the chances of your child being able to distinguish the two different languages. If each parent sticks to their 'allotted' language, your child has an immediate way of recognising who speaks which language.

Family language vs community language

With this method, you use one language in the home while letting your child acquire the community language outside. This works well because your child gets maximum exposure to the 'minority' (i.e. family) language at home, particularly in her early years, which will provide an excellent foundation for language acquisition. As your child gets older she will gradually be given more exposure to the majority (i.e. community) language, through nursery groups, friends, school, etc.

Whatever approach you choose to adopt, the key is to be consistent.

The pros and cons of bilingualism …

A 1997 study carried out at York University discovered that bilingual children understand written language faster than their monolingual counterparts. It also goes without saying that a language is a skill, and the more you have at your command can only be of benefit in the future.

And the cons? Even though bilingual children understand written language at an earlier age that monolingual children, it should be pointed out that, if you introduce two languages to your child as a baby, their speech may be delayed. This is completely normal - after all, they are trying to recognise and produce the sounds and words of two languages! However, he will soon catch up with his monolingual peers - but will be talking in two instead of one language. How cool is that?!

Your baby might, at some stage, show signs of confusion with the two languages, as they realize they are dealing with two language systems. Sometimes this can take a few months to overcome. At first your baby hears all the sounds around her and assimilates them into one loose language. She may know one word for an object and refuse to accept that another word can also be used! However, when she sees other people using different words for the same thing, she will realize that it's OK to do this and she will become happier with this very quickly.

Even the cons with bilingualism turn out to be beneficial! If you go through any difficult stage remember to remain patient and that this phase will pass, normally quite quickly. Bringing up a bilingual child can be exciting and beneficial - to both the child and the parents - and can give them a great advantage in life, at present and in the future.

We would like to thank Bilingual Babies for their help with this article, find out more at www.bilingualbabies.org

Photo courtesy of Anand Madhvani.

Where to next?

• To see when your baby's milestones typically occur, check out our Developmental Chart
• Want to discuss how your baby compares to others? Talk to other parents in the Development and Behaviour forum
• Check out the babyworld shop for great prices.

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/bilingual_babies.asp