Mama to Punk 1 – German 98%
Mama to Punk 2 – German 98%
Punk 1 to Mama – German 95%, with some mixing
Punk 2 to Mama – German 85%, with a little more mixing, relative to Punk 1
Mama to Papa – English all the way, with the odd German word he knows mixed in
Papa to Punk 1 – English 99.9%
Papa to Punk 2 – English 99.9%
Punk 1 to Papa – English 100%
Punk 2 to Papa – English 97% with some German words thrown in
Papa to Mama – English all the way, with the odd German phrase mixed in when he’s in the mood
Punk 1 to Punk 2 – German 2%
Punk 2 to Punk 1 – German 5%
I am quite pleased with how much German we actually use, but if you factor in that I only really see the kids a couple of hours each day (before and after work/daycare/school) and more on most weekends, it’s not really all that much. But it might explain why I’m so
4 comments:
Dear Smashedpea,
Do you know what? That's pretty damn impressive! Even though your kids know you speak English, and presumably are hearing English outside the house, they still only use German with you. Though actually, on thinking about it, they do that with me ok, but where we fall down is with their papa. He speaks to them in German, but they use a lot of English with him (much less so when I'm not in the room, apparently). Because they know he speaks English too.
Also Hut ab! Gratuliere.
Have I introduced you to my own blog by the way: www.trilingualtrio.blogspot.com
Love to hear if you have any comments.
Jen
Hi Jen,
thanks for stopping by :) I found your's last week, but didn't have time to really look around then. Put it in my reader, though - what with your language combo being like ours and all!
My kids also know I speak English and sometimes question why they are supposed to be speaking German with me - I guess that's entirely normal. And our eldest refused to ever speak any German until around her 4th birthday and the little one just really got into it this past summer during a visit from Oma. I sure don't take them speaking German, let alone as much as these days, for granted.....
Good luck to you, though it sounds things are working out!
Wow SP, I am in awe! Sounds like maintaining the German isn't a problem at all for you. I hope I get there too someday. Btw, I poached the idea of the language assessment out of Barbara Zurer Pearson's book Raising a bilingual child. I love this book!
Hi Genevieve,
I think I should have maybe added that the percentages are as high as they are right now, not neccesarily always. My eldest has her regular moments of not wanting to speak German.....
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