sunnuntai 11. marraskuuta 2012

Bilingual matters

At the very beginning of my pregnancy I was so sure I would teach my kid two languages at home. Specifically, I would teach her English and Keijo Finnish. My only concern was support due to the environment. I wouldn't be (most likely) speaking the language (E) to anyone but my daughter. BTW I'm still just assuming it's a she. :D So I bacame wondering whether she would get confused by me using both F and E. I would use F with Keijo, obviously.

And would I be forcing her to be bilingual causing her to be confused between two languages and not learning either one of them properly, for her early years at least. Would my E be fluent enough? Although there is not just one "correct" E language and it's impossible to state which way of English lang. is more "right" than the other. For instance, can we say British English is better than Indian English based on let's say the prestige although both are native languages to some? And who is it to determine that?

Would my E be versatile or native-like enough? Or should it?

Is it dangerous to teach the child the language if I'm the only influence she's getting? How responsible would that make me (a monster even?) of her "flaws" when it comes to language and misunderstanding? Would she also adopt the same mistakes that I do? And so on..

These are the questions I was left to answer and consider.. And still no progress here! About two weeks ago, I suddenly realized I haven't given much thought to the language issue for months now and my due date is really soon (9.1.)! Time goes by way too quickly for me to comprehend.

The reasoning behind this urge is to be able to give and to give my child something unique. Something that would make her more capable and aware without the work I had to do. Learning languages hasn't ever taken too much effort from me personally but it certainly has widened my perspective and sort of given me a whole new and completely different way of looking at things and structures - life, even. And of course that is something I would love to be able to give my child instead of money or lectures..

Lately, I've come to the conclusion to wait till' the day she's actually born or even beyond and see if it comes naturally. If it doesn't, then I will abandon the idea. NATURALLY. :D It's funny how I'm not able to stress about anything anymore. I've heard similar stories from other pregnant women but I understand it only now that it's my bread and butter as well.

Note: Quite clearly, I'm not a native English speaker! I am taught by mostly TV, my mom and I'm also a victim of the Finnish school system. ;)

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