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Many languages enrich life
By Manisha Sobha |
May 30, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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SSIS Senior School science teacher
Multilingualism has always been the way of life for me, my husband Kailash and my three-year-old daughter Samiha. I was raised among a myriad of Indian languages in Mumbai and speak four different ones fluently. English was always used and in high school some French too. I realized the value of French when I moved to Mauritius where French is spoken more than English.
Kailash's Hindi lessons turned valuable for him too when he experienced India! We moved to Japan and slowly picked up Japanese. When Samiha arrived, she spoke loads of Japanese. We learned new words and phrases from her. She is now picking up Mandarin at a faster pace than us and although she has forgotten a few Japanese words, she is learning more French and Hindi. People often ask me whether Samiha gets confused between languages? Neither Kailash nor I ever confused languages, nor does Samiha. Research suggests he brain can naturally differentiate, classify and prevent interference of one language with another. They may be mixed up in a sentence but only because Samiha feels "cho-cho" sounds cuter than "butterfly!"
Multilingualism is a beautiful part of our lives and will be for parents with third-culture kids (TCKs). Let's help our children enjoy it and guide them to use what's appropriate at school or at home. Let's embrace it!
Multilingualism has always been the way of life for me, my husband Kailash and my three-year-old daughter Samiha. I was raised among a myriad of Indian languages in Mumbai and speak four different ones fluently. English was always used and in high school some French too. I realized the value of French when I moved to Mauritius where French is spoken more than English.
Kailash's Hindi lessons turned valuable for him too when he experienced India! We moved to Japan and slowly picked up Japanese. When Samiha arrived, she spoke loads of Japanese. We learned new words and phrases from her. She is now picking up Mandarin at a faster pace than us and although she has forgotten a few Japanese words, she is learning more French and Hindi. People often ask me whether Samiha gets confused between languages? Neither Kailash nor I ever confused languages, nor does Samiha. Research suggests he brain can naturally differentiate, classify and prevent interference of one language with another. They may be mixed up in a sentence but only because Samiha feels "cho-cho" sounds cuter than "butterfly!"
Multilingualism is a beautiful part of our lives and will be for parents with third-culture kids (TCKs). Let's help our children enjoy it and guide them to use what's appropriate at school or at home. Let's embrace it!
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