Squirrel, Buch/book, Ball, Mama, Papa, Baum, bird, Auto, more/mehr, Kuh, fish, up/hop, and bitte are some of the words Noah has been using on a regular basis. Some of them are clearly German (bitte, Auto), others clearly English (squirrel), quite a few are a mix where the English and German word sound similar and he uses them both (ball, more/mehr, Kuh/cow, and his version of danke/thank you), and then there are words he signs, often accompanied by a sound that goes in the right direction (fish/Fisch (izzz), Buch/book (boo), all done/fertig, Baum/tree (ba), etc.) And he can tell you what cats, dogs, sheep, and cows say.
I was prepared for a delay in Noah’s language development which is common for bilingual children and usually nothing to worry about. That we would raise him bilingual was never a question. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but it would have been such a wasted opportunity if we didn’t even try. So I read a book, asked my friend Google, and received some good advice from a friend who is also raising multilingual children: do what you can, but don’t stress out about it. The rules are pretty basic: I speak only German with Noah, Tony only English. I do worry sometimes because Noah still hears me speak a lot of English, for example at the dinner table, and learns English at daycare, but now that he is listening to what I’m saying and responding, it’s a lot easier than I first thought to switch back and forth between the languages. I’m sure that conscious decision to raise him bilingual and the fact that language is important in our home has had an impact, but Noah and his personality make it easy for us as he is constantly communicating, often just pointing at things, saying “da?”, asking what its name is. So yes, I'm excited that he's already such a little talker.
I enjoy so much his cute little words, his curiosity, and willingness to communicate. Some of his words are just the most adorable. Take squirrel for example (if you think that’s a difficult word, try Eichhörnchen) – every morning when Tony and Noah have breakfast together, squirrels are running up and down trees and along the fence carrying nuts. Noah loves watching them so much that we even put up a squirrel feeder in the backyard (now we get squirrels and blue jays). Watching and talking about squirrels became part of their morning routine and Noah started repeating the word. I always thought it was so weird how parents understand what their children are saying when to me it was just gibberish. This is a perfect example. If you didn’t know it, you would have no clue that Noah is talking about squirrels, but to us it makes complete sense. Ha!
And then there are funny moments that demonstrate that he doesn’t always understand the meaning behind a word. We were walking around the backyard when our neighbor started to mow the lawn a few weeks ago. Noah turns around towards the sound. I say: "Was hoerst du da? Ist das der Rasenmäher?" Noah signs the sign for "more". Nein, nicht "mehr", sondern RasenMÄHER!
Buch/book is another one of my favorites. Noah just loves books and can keep himself entertained if he just has enough to read. He had been picking up more and more signs at daycare from songs they sing (it was so cute when he was standing in the bathtub after I had just bought a new bath mat with fish on it and he signed "fish". We didn’t even know he knew it!). So I looked up the sign for book online and started using it every time I said book. No pressure, just using it. It was as if he had been looking for a word for book all along and was so happy when I finally taught him. Now he uses it all the time, not just when I say the word book, but as a means to communicate. When he’s done playing in the bathtub he signs "book" to let me know he’s ready to get out and read his bedtime story. When we put pajamas on, he gets impatient and lets me know (a bit more serious now) that it’s time to read. When I put him in the car seat on the way home from daycare, he immediately asks for his book to read in the car. It just goes to show how important language is and how much the ability to ask for something can really make a difference in the way we interact even on this level.
Noah is also a great listener. He is at the stage where he has fun helping us out and following simple commands (we’ll see how long that lasts), such as putting pots and lids back into the cupboards after he is done playing with them, getting his toys from across the room when it’s time to put them away, or putting books back on the shelf at daycare when we’re ready to leave. Great way for us to turn cleaning up into a game! It amazes me sometimes when he knows exactly what I’m talking about, for example when I ask him to find his bunny and he starts walking around searching for it until he has found it.
So while all of this is playful and we’re by no means trying to turn him into a super child that speaks four languages fluently by the time he starts Kindergarten, language is important to us and we are conscious of the things we do to foster his language development. I believe it makes for happier parents and children and stronger relationships when children have the tools to communicate their needs and emotions and I see it as my job to teach him those tools. Plus, it's a lot of fun.
Here are some of the things we do on a daily basis:
1. I speak only German to Noah, Tony only English.
2. We read books every evening as part of our bed time routine.
3. We sing lullabies, sometimes just making up words.
4. We speak to him in full basic sentences that are grammatically correct (he points and says "Auto", I say: "Yes, that’s a red car". He signs "book", I say, "You would like to read a book please?", to which he typically responds with "bitte, bitte, bitte!" So cute!).
5. When he first started to babble his own funny words, we did repeat those because it was fun and encouraged him to "talk". That type of baby language was totally fine by me as long as it wasn’t the only way we spoke to him.
6. We rarely ever have the TV on when he is in the room (football is really the only thing he’s allowed to watch, and he doesn’t usually care for it anyway unless the Seahawks score a touchdown and his parents start jumping up and down on the couch).
7. We listen to music and sing along when we drive in the car or when we have family dance parties in the kitchen.
8. We use some baby sign language, mostly based on what he has already picked up at daycare.
9. We count his toes and fingers as a game when going to sleep.
10. We talk about his body parts when he gets dressed or takes a bath and talk about what we're doing while we're doing it.
11. Daycare plays an important role and we're very happy with them. Noah’s new teacher at daycare loves languages and speaks a bit German and I do what I can to encourage her to speak even more with Noah. A few weeks ago another half-Kraut joined their class and the teachers are open to including German songs and books into their daily activities (in addition to Spanish and Marathi which other kids speak at their home). I’m not sure how much of an impact that will have on learning German, but I’ll take any backup I can get. Plus they do a great job with sign language, just today Noah came home with a new word: bird (both in English and in sign language; took us a while to figure out why he was making that funny gesture with his fingers)
One more note on baby sign language: I had read a lot about it before Noah was born and wanted to give it a try without taking it too seriously. I know it can seem like something an overachieving super parent would do to show off their kids on the playground and that can already sign 10 words before their first birthday with the ultimate goal of getting them into Harvard at 12 years old. I too had my doubts but would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely! It’s so much fun watching Noah learn and imitate our gestures. It created some really special moments, where he finally had it figured out and seemed so happy and proud. And while I questioned that in the beginning, when he used signs either to imitate or to show the correct sign for a word we spoke without quite understanding the meaning behind it, in the past few weeks, he’s been using his signs more and more as a tool to communicate which makes it completely worth it. Plus, it’s so easy! You’re already saying the word, just use your hands at the same time to make the corresponding gesture. That's it. You also don't need to start it at 9 months and be consistent for them to pick it up 3 months later. I found it difficult in the beginning when he wouldn’t 'respond' and so I’ve been using it in phases here and there. But now that he is good at it and having fun learning and using signs, we’ve been doing it more and more. It’s not an all-or-nothing deal. As with everything else, just take the bits and pieces that work for you and can easily be incorporated into your day. If it works, great! If not, no big deal.
1. I speak only German to Noah, Tony only English.
2. We read books every evening as part of our bed time routine.
3. We sing lullabies, sometimes just making up words.
4. We speak to him in full basic sentences that are grammatically correct (he points and says "Auto", I say: "Yes, that’s a red car". He signs "book", I say, "You would like to read a book please?", to which he typically responds with "bitte, bitte, bitte!" So cute!).
5. When he first started to babble his own funny words, we did repeat those because it was fun and encouraged him to "talk". That type of baby language was totally fine by me as long as it wasn’t the only way we spoke to him.
6. We rarely ever have the TV on when he is in the room (football is really the only thing he’s allowed to watch, and he doesn’t usually care for it anyway unless the Seahawks score a touchdown and his parents start jumping up and down on the couch).
7. We listen to music and sing along when we drive in the car or when we have family dance parties in the kitchen.
8. We use some baby sign language, mostly based on what he has already picked up at daycare.
9. We count his toes and fingers as a game when going to sleep.
10. We talk about his body parts when he gets dressed or takes a bath and talk about what we're doing while we're doing it.
11. Daycare plays an important role and we're very happy with them. Noah’s new teacher at daycare loves languages and speaks a bit German and I do what I can to encourage her to speak even more with Noah. A few weeks ago another half-Kraut joined their class and the teachers are open to including German songs and books into their daily activities (in addition to Spanish and Marathi which other kids speak at their home). I’m not sure how much of an impact that will have on learning German, but I’ll take any backup I can get. Plus they do a great job with sign language, just today Noah came home with a new word: bird (both in English and in sign language; took us a while to figure out why he was making that funny gesture with his fingers)
One more note on baby sign language: I had read a lot about it before Noah was born and wanted to give it a try without taking it too seriously. I know it can seem like something an overachieving super parent would do to show off their kids on the playground and that can already sign 10 words before their first birthday with the ultimate goal of getting them into Harvard at 12 years old. I too had my doubts but would I recommend it? Yes, absolutely! It’s so much fun watching Noah learn and imitate our gestures. It created some really special moments, where he finally had it figured out and seemed so happy and proud. And while I questioned that in the beginning, when he used signs either to imitate or to show the correct sign for a word we spoke without quite understanding the meaning behind it, in the past few weeks, he’s been using his signs more and more as a tool to communicate which makes it completely worth it. Plus, it’s so easy! You’re already saying the word, just use your hands at the same time to make the corresponding gesture. That's it. You also don't need to start it at 9 months and be consistent for them to pick it up 3 months later. I found it difficult in the beginning when he wouldn’t 'respond' and so I’ve been using it in phases here and there. But now that he is good at it and having fun learning and using signs, we’ve been doing it more and more. It’s not an all-or-nothing deal. As with everything else, just take the bits and pieces that work for you and can easily be incorporated into your day. If it works, great! If not, no big deal.
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