I have noticed for a while now that young Punk 2 seems to be somehow 'better' at speaking German than Punk 1. And maybe better is not the right word – it's more that he seems to be much more comfortable with it and able to use the language in ways she cannot (does not?). It’s hard to put my finger on it since I am not a linguist and don’t have the technical background to identify what I think I am witnessing. The feeling I have is of course based on my observation, but maybe that is tainted by some subjective bias or lack of knowledge, I don’t know.
Anyway, I only notice this when he speaks German, not English. ‘Cause really, Punk 1 has two years on the little guy and it shows. Her language development is way ahead in both English and German. Her vocabulary is bigger, her grasp on grammar is better, she knows more songs and rhymes, and overall she can express herself much better. Just like it should be, given the age difference.
But what I’m hearing when they speak German is that it seems to be somehow easier for him to put his sentences together, and to use new words, or to use words he already knows in different contexts. She has more tools to use, but he seems to be able to express himself with more ease and can play around with the language easier in trying to get his point across. It’s not that his sentences are perfect (they are not) and hers are not, or that he makes more sense than she (he doesn’t) – it’s all about subtle differences in how they use German.
My take on it is that this is because she refused to speak German for the first few years of her life, once she was past the early talking stage anyway, and he didn’t. It’s like her German has missed some sort of developmental language milestone and she now has to compensate as best she can and seemingly work a little harder.
Oma is arriving soon, and I can't wait to see if she notices this as well. But in the meantime, if you have any thoughts on this, please let's hear them!
2 comments:
You've got me pondering too now. Because my second child's mastery of language in general seems to be ahead (relatively) of her older brother's. But neither of them ever went through a language refusal stage, so for us anyway that's not the reason. So far I had put it down to girls developing language skills more quickly than boys (but your kids are the other way round), which apparently has to do with girls generally speaking more, even when they're by themselves, so they get more practice. My oldest also on the whole speaks slower in all three languages, so far I just figured some people speak slower than others and he's one of them. What he says is what you would expect for his age, it just comes out a bit slower.
So maybe it's a second-child-thing? Like they're supposed to do lots of things quicker than the first sibling because they want to catch up with the older one? Mind you, I have my doubts about that theory anyway: my third is just learning to walk, and she's months behind her older siblings!
Hi Jen,
who knows, eh? Our eldest has developped language skills earlier and faster than the younger one (she pretty much was born speaking in complete sentences...) and we even worried for a while that the younger one was having problems as he was so far behind by comparison (meanwhile he was right on track for his age group).
It just appears now that he's somehow more adept at using German than she is (the same is not true in English) - and I just want to know why :)
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