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learning a language without trying. toddler watching cartoons

4 replies

bubblecloud · 25/09/2009 17:43

I just accidentally found some Peppa pigs in Italian and it got me thinking how good it would be if she could learn a language by watching her favourite cartoons each day or week. I don't mean like Dora, but if it was the usual cartoon but in another language, then surely that would be similar to being around someone that just spoke the language to her non stop for a few minutes a day. She just seems so good at learning at the moment that it would be great if she could learn it effortlessly.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Bubble

OP posts:
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cory · 25/09/2009 20:13

Research has been done on this and the conclusion seems to be that children don't actually learn a language just by passively hearing it. She would need to have somebody there to interact with in the language to actually learn.

I spent a lot of my childhood next door where Finnish was spoken all the time but noone spoke Finnish to me or expected me to speak Finnish or showed me what Finnish words meant. I do not know any Finnish.

both my dc s are bilingual by the way and yes, films have been good for supporting that, but would never have done it on their own; dcs are bilingual because they have been spoken to in two languages by real human beings and expected to speak back

bubblecloud · 26/09/2009 09:21

That's a shame. I would so love to speak a language fluently and so thought if she could learn one without even thinking about it she'd be so lucky.
Thanks

OP posts:
cory · 26/09/2009 23:48

But that doesn't mean you can't get her to learn another language: it just won't come totally without an effort- any more than learning to speak her first language, or walk, or crawl has come without an effort.

But you would need to find someone who can actually interact with her in that language. Either try to learn it yourself and use it with her, or find somebody else who could do it.

My Mum taught me English (not her first language) when I was little and though it certainly didn't come without an effort, it is something I have had a lot of pleasure from since.

ilovegarlic · 29/09/2009 11:45

www.lajolieronde.co.uk do french and spanish programmes for little ones - ive got the Jeux de Doigts for my ds who loves the finger ryhmes!

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