My son's friend is an 11 year old boy whose mother is Vietnamese. She speaks very little English, and she does talk to them in Vietnamese. However, the boy can't really interpret. Sometimes he can tell me what his mom wants to tell me, but sometimes I don't think he can. If I ask him how to say someting really basic like "how are you?" in Vietnamese, he doesn't seem to know. I don't get it. Is this typical for bilingual kids? How do they learn to go from one language to the other? I'm pretty sure he learned English when he started school. HIs six year-old brother did hear English at an earlier age, but he's still not quite fluent in English, and I don't think his Vietnamese is any better.
2007-02-20 16:03:31 · 5 answers · asked by rcpeabody1 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Sometimes there are words and thoughts that do not translate from one language into another. Also, phrases that are "simple" in English may require more knowledge of the situation in another language. For example, you can't just say "hello" in Japanese. You have to know the time of day, because that determines how you greet someone.
Perhaps there are times when this occurs and he thinks that it may be too complicated to explain it to you. He may also simply not want to be his mother's personal translator, in which case, he chooses not to respond.
2007-02-20 16:11:52 · answer #1 · answered by Rabbityama 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It sounds like an isolated case, at least to me. I'm 16 now, growing up in the US, and both my parents would speak Afrikaans at home most of the time, along with English. I learned it along with English, and now am completely fluent in both. It probably has to do with the mother, and presumably the father, not speaking English well enough to teach their children.
I can't even remember when I learned to differentiate between Afrikaans and English. They're relatively close, as far as languages go, and I guess I learned Afrikaans first, and then followed it up with English. My parents would always start by talking to me in Afrikaans, and then almost immediately follow it up with the same thing in English. I also learned a lot of English from television, whereas I don't think I've ever watched anything at home in Afrikaans.
It could also be that the kid's parents aren't pushing learning Vietnamese. I have several friends who can understand their parents in Korean, but cannot say anything at all in it. My parents really wanted me to learn Afrikaans, for whatever reasons were important to them.
I hope this helps you; let me know if you want me to clarify anything.
2007-02-21 00:20:04 · answer #2 · answered by Alex 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
You met unusual bilingual family. Even if the parents cannot adapt with the local language, usually kids pick up very fast from other kids at school. My girfriends and their husbands only speaks their native tongue to their kids, and the kids only reply in English because of the influence of school, but they understand and CAN speak their native language if they want to.
2007-02-21 00:12:32 · answer #3 · answered by Speck Schnuck 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
i think the reason there can sometimes be a problem in interpretation is because different cultures talk to each other very differenty. they probably dont say things like "how are you" in vietnamese, that's why you son's friend cant translate. sometimes you cant translate word for word from one language to another. it wouldn't make sense. i listen to alot of tejano music, and if i tried to translate that s hit word for word in english, i would just scream because it wouldnt sound like complete sentences.
2007-02-21 00:11:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
My parents are both Arab and spoke to me, as a child, in Arabic. My father had a very faint accent while my mother had one that was much more noticeable.
I was born and raised in America, so English was my first language. My parents continued to speak to me in Arabic, but I replied to her in English. I never could speak Arabic, until very much later, after two trips to my parent's home country, both of which were spent trying to speak with my cousins, who knew nothing BUT Arabic.
Before those trips, I could not speak Arabic because I did not practice it. I understood it, mostly, but could not pronounce the words. When people talked to me in Arabic, they ended up having to translate for me.
Learning one language when you barely can speak another is defintiely confusing. They WILL adapt. "Survival of the fittest."
2007-02-21 00:14:39 · answer #5 · answered by mothersmercy 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋