Although Lydie started talking earlier than Euna (around 1yr & 2mos, she could say more than 10 words including: good night, daddy, mommy, grandma), she has never been interested in English until this month.
Before, when I tried to tell her a story in English, she protested in Chinese:"Please speak". In other words, she thinks saying things in English is not speaking words but something else?!
From my observation, most second child in a Chinese-English bilingual household will develop her English skill much earlier than the first child since she or he hears the older sibling's conversation in English more and earlier at home. I have been waiting for the same thing to happen in my house. But thanks to our decision to homeschool, with Euna's daily help, we cultivated an almost full day Mandarin-speaking environment for Lydie. Lydie speaks Mandarin fluently at home with us. In Mandarin, she is already using complete sentences begin with:"because"(因為）, "I feel"（我覺得）, and "but"（可是）.
This month something is changing though. She is using more English, mostly in commands, such as, "it's mine.", "stop!", "OK, OK", "I can share.", all with vivid and IMPATIENT voice. I think it's because she is able to verbalize much more and is spending more time playing with Euna and Euna's homeschool friends on park days and our poetry days.
The funniest incident so far happened two mornings ago when she saw a toothpaste tube laying on the kitchen counter, she pointed to it and told me in Chinese: That is..then switch to English:"brut--your--teese".
1 comment:
wow, looking at your record on Lydia speaking at 10 words at 14 months. I wonder if my daughter is delay. She is 15 months old now and speak in sounds not words yet.
btw, wish you an early Happy birhtday!
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