Does your dc's other language do anything "better"?

[Cies]

My ds is being brought up with English (me) and Spanish (dh).

He's only a toddler, so has lots of falls, bumps and bruises. I "kiss it better", but dh has a whole chant/song/magic spell that never fails to calm ds. It goes "Sana, sana, culito de rana, si no sana hoy, sanará mañana", roughly translated as, "get better, bet better, frog´s bottom, if it doesn't get better today, it'll get better tomorrow." Anyway, the meaning isn't the important bit, for ds it's like a spell, complete with hand waving over the bump and a final flourish that promises a prompt cure. Mummy's kisses just aren't as fun.

So I was just wondering if this happens in your families too. Is there anything that you secretly wish you could steal into your language

DCs are being brought up English (DH) and French (me).
When DD1 wants to pick something she uses "Amstramgram pique et pique et Colegram Amstramgram" instead of "Mini mini moo".

Oh yes, picking rhymes. That's something I must remember to teach ds, along with clapping games and skipping rhymes (do boys skip? don't remember my brother ever skipping)

Mmm, good thread idea. The entire family has started saying the German 'Aua' (pronounced ow-a) instead of ow or ouch because it's clearly a superior way of expressing pain. You NEED two syllables instead of one somehow.

And they also use the German rhyme for picking something, like Maternelle's DC. 'Eene meene Muh und raus fliegst du!'

And there's a lovely childish word for being naked called 'nackedei', which sounds better when you're talking about 3-y-o zooming round the place without a stitch on in summer (and the Germans are much more relaxed about nudity than certain other Europeans anyway).

I didn't know amstramgram was French! We said it at school and I thought it was nonsense- phonetic spelling:
amstramgram, pick a pick a colegram,
Bora, bora rat tat tan,
Am, steam, gram, pick!
What does it mean??

Best Americanism that came from mine is 'Move it Bub' (DD1 to me). Not exactly a different language, but American English is pretty pithy and sometimes funny.

You made me smile, I love that chant "sana, sana, culito de rana..." and so does my DS(2.5). It's definitely magic :)
But then again, I'm from South America, and that's what we say in my country too!

Love these!

We have also adopted the Spanish "boomba" whenever ds falls over. It's just much more emphatic than "whoopsie daisy".

Ds has also learnt "pupa", which means bump, boo boo, hurt etc. I have fpound myself saying "do you have a pupa?", when I really should embrace my inner American and say "have you got a boo boo?".

Both of us (me French, mother English) refer to my daughter's "private parts" as her "foufoune" and, to get her to bare her teeth to brush them, we both encourage her to say "ouistiti" instead of "cheese".

We both say aie! instead of ouch. I'm not sure why I picked it up years ago but I can't brig myself to say ouch any more

Our children spent the first yrs of their lives in the UK and their English was excellent when we moved back to Italy. 3 yrs have passed and they still use some English words (like pets, for instance), my favourite being: Hai FLUSHato l'acqua? (Have you flushed the toilet?).

When we lived in the UK and dd was a tiny toddler, she used to clean her dolls' faces saying "Flannel, flannel", like they did at her nursery. Awwwwwwww (nostalgic)

Ah, we used to say whoopsie daisy a lot, dd loved it!

That's funny Cies, we use those ones too!

I think Spanish is so much more emphatic in a lot of those onomatopoeia type words..

I was going to add the danish for whoops a daisy - seems to be a common theme!

Bummelum!

Another vote for nakedei here. And aua.

We also like basteln and have anglicised it I.e. we aren't making things out of odds and ends, we are basteling!

"BASTA !"

Mine DS is half Italian half English, we live in Italy. I only speak English to him, but borrow "basta" (enough) when I want him to cut something out, probably cos it sounds more emphatic.

I take care not to use it when visiting the UK anymore since a woman in M&S went goggle eyed with horror, small issue of thinking I was calling my son a bastard.

My DH borrows "bedtime" in English cos no such word exists in Italian, "tempo per letto" doesn't really carry the same sense of it all being non negotiable.

oh yes, we also have borrowed words for private parts, urine and faeces.
and naked is nungha, or childishly nungha pungha

the English words are obvioulsly not good enough

I noticed dd went for the french Aie instead of ow when she broke her wrist recently. I like bobo for a non-serious injury. We also use pi-pi instead of wee. And bricolage seems a really good, all encompassing word for craft-type activities.

Another household with plenty of German baby/child words including 'Aua' and 'Nackedei'. Also popular is 'Heia' for sleep, which sounds suitably soothing and is combined with 'bear' to make Heia-bear, the cuddly sleep teddy. And dd's own choice of word for her private bits is simply 'Maedchen' which I just love.

We all use 'Nackedei' and 'Aua' - and a very popular word is 'Nachtisch' (dessert).

We go for a 'pipi', not a wee wee.
Choosing rhymes we use Ene meme Mistem, es rappelt in der Kiste ...

I love the Spanish 'Sana, sana' what's the tune? I may try and find it on YouTube.

gabid the tune dh uses is a bit like a lullaby. A quick glance at the first youtube findings give me other,more bouncy, tunes.

ooh i like this thread!

I also say Aiiii! for ow. I didn´t even realise i did it til i read this

Also pupa, in fact i was stumped for a long time even thinking what we say in english for this. and come to think of it i still don´t know...

and BASTA! hahah that one definitely gets the feeling across better. also
VENGA! instead of come on! in the same way. not consciously, it just often slips out.

I've been pretty strict in speaking only English to my French girls and so they find it alarming if I ever let any French slip (even though they are fine with my talking in French to everyone else, including my husband). But I noticed that my oldest preferred to count in tens in English rather than in French because in French it is harder. Other than that, I do let the occasional 'aille' and 'ouille' out when they get hurt. And I guess I've adopted "bo-bo" because when I hear "boo-boo", it sounds strange.