The 'weak' language

[Pitchounette]

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In my opinion (for what it's worth!) it's not a good idea to ask him to repeat sentences - I imagine a 4yo would think it his right to use any language he fancies and I think that right has to be respected... Just repeat it yourself. Ds1 (3.5yo) speaks both Mandarin and Chinese, and more often would reply to me in English (sometimes but not often mixed). I try to repeat it in mandarin back to him before replying (also in mandarin). Also I try to keep introducing more interesting words and phrases and I think he does tend to use them instead of English if they tickle his fancy. And get lots and lots of interesting French books to read to him! Make him laugh and he'll like it! That's my hope, anyway!

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tricky

my children are the opposite, they are at school in germany but native tongue english. They often put german words in their english sentences, but never english ones in their german sentences.

they hardly ever speak french by choice, though as I am not a native speaker, thats not surprising.

I think you need to get him into a french speaking environment with no english a bit more, tbh. french requires more discipline to speak, whereas english is v accessible.

ds mixes German (majority language) and English in sentences. He is 2.3.

This is actually a perfectly 'acceptable' stage of language learning in bilingualism and I'd be tempted to assume it will sort itself out, as long as the minority language is consistently applied and encouraged. Wouldn't repeat sentences though.

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OK - my DS1 has barbaric English, but there again you should hear his Spanish-Galician-English combos!

I repeat his diabolical (at times) English sentences, giving a correct form before I answer him - I think it's called modelling. I try not to make a big issue out of it. I'm hoping with enough exposure to all three, everything will sort itself out.

I do worry about the fact some of his translations - he speaks English but with Spanish grammar - no longer sound odd . But, heh, the bilingual brain is supposedly superior .

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I would hazard a guess that he won't do it where he thinks/knows he won't be understood. ds is perfectly happy speaking German to me, as he hears mespeaking it with dh (I do wish he (ds)'d stick with English with me, though, tbh), but he wouldn't speak English with dh as he never experiences him speaking it.

So I suppose what I'm saying is that in situations where he only experiences the one or the other language (e.g. school) he won't do it, certainly not in the long term, and at some point he shoudl lose the habit with you. But that's just my guess.

ISWYM about making him think speaking French is a pain. The repeating could be counteractive in this way.
DS gets annoyed enough with me making him repeat stuff when language is not an issue eg 'it's bath time in 10 minutes'...
'did you hear me'...
'DS, I need to know you heard me. What did I say?
DS struggles to spit out the words 'it's bath time in 10 minutes' he is so pained.

But difficult to know how to stop him speaking 'franglais' in this way. DS only does it when he hasn't experienced the situation in the other language.

He does however insist that 'stationner une voiture' is 'parkiner une voiture'

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Any chance of getting him regularly (and often) into an entirely french-speaking environment, where there is at least a realistic chance of him not being understood with English (even if you have to pretend it)? French groups/activities? Any French relatives/friends with children his age you could set up regular webcam chats to? (I'm assuming you are French and live in the UK).

Ah, my DS1 frequently loses listeners - his name translates but we use the English version and it usually draws a total blank. Mind you, this no longer daunts him. At 5, he is prepared to talk to the world and his wife, the dog, the au pair and any passing pedestrian; you get the idea.

All his languages are still muddled and I, occasionally, think life would be so much easier with just one. But it wouldn't be as rich. Both my dss have had problems adapting to three languages. Slowly, I'm coming round to the idea that there isn't a right way, for us, to do this. At the moment, I'm going with being positive and finding good things to do in all three.

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Are there any other French speaking parents where you are? Could you set up a group?
I wasn't that bothered about meeting English people when I moved to France but now am making an effort so that the DCs don't feel too unusual or special.
This because I have a friend whose child was embarassed to speak his mother tongue in public aged 3 because it made him different from his friends. He is now 6 and does not speak it but understands.

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Or maybe it's the way people speak. My boss speaks fluent English but always makes me pick up the phone when the caller is calling from certain areas of the UK because he doesn't always understand!

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LOL. Are things easier now you understand everything he's saying?

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Hi Pitchounette,
I am spanish living in England, married to a scottsman, and we have 2 DD, DD1 is 6 and DD2 is 2. My mothtertongue is catalan, and I have been speaking to my DDs catalan since the day they were born, and last week, was the first time my DD1 spoke to me in catalan. They are spending the school holidays in Spain with my family, and DD1 goes to a summer camp in the mornings and DD2 goes to a nursery.
For me, even though is very hard for me to leave my DD2 for the summer, I know is the best for them to learn the language, as they have to speak catalan if they want to communicate. Your son knows, as do my daughters, that you understand english, so he doesn't need to speak french. I am not saying that you should stop talking in french to him, you should keep on using french, but if you force him to repeat the correct french sentence, he might just refuse to speak it all together.
My DD1, when she is tired, she always asks me to speak to her in english, but my answer is always, "no, you know I speak to you in catalan" withouht un upset voice, and then I repeat whatever I was saying, but I don't force her to speak to me in catalan. An now, she is even "teaching2 herself spanish!!!, yesterday, she was telling me the numbers in spanish, up to 30!!. When we go this friday back to Spain, I will give her a treat. ( she doesn't know about the treat)

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