How to have a bilingual child / Jak vychovat dvojjazycne dite

As I said before I am a Czech married to an American husband therefore our child is growing up in a bilingual home. So far these are my Top 10 recommendations that help me to keep talking in Czech with my 1-year old daughter:

1. talk to him/her in Czech whenever you can; it sounds like a no-brainer but when you keep switching from English to Czech it is sometimes easier to stay in the English “groove”.
2. When your spouse is around and you speak English so that he/she can understand what is going on, repeat some sentences in Czech to your child. I say “some” as I have tried to translate all of them at times and I felt like a parrot that had lost it.
3. Listen to the Czech music and fairy tales on tape (or rather CDs….or IPod or what ever it is nowadays..)
4. Keep the Czech riddles going! Some easy ones that I do over and over are: “Varila mysicka kasicku”, “Berany, berany, duc” (my daughter’s favorite), “Paci, paci, pacicky”, “Spadla lzicka do kaficka” and “Takhle Jedou Pani”
5. Talk to them in Czech when you are driving (and we all know that’s like ALL THE TIME here in America)
6. This is a good one: EDIT the ENGLISH CHILDREN BOOKS! I used to get really upset because I had all these great kid books in English but I didn’t want to read them to my daughter because I wanted to stay on track with my “program”. Then I came up with a simple idea – to write in the Czech translation with the permanent marker! I know, at first it sounds like you are doing something wrong (like destroying the books), but you are not. You are actually enhancing their value!! Especially when you write neat 😉
7. Speak to them in a written Czech (instead of the spoken Czech) as much as you can! They won’t learn it at school so it is up to you to ingrain it into them. When I talked this point over with my Czech girlfriend she happened to disagree with this one; she said that they will grow up talking like “exoti” ( =”weirdos”). Bottom line, this one is your choice. I will let you know in about 15 years how my “experiment” turned out and if my kids indeed, sound like Exoti 🙂
8. If you can, stay home with them as long as possible – that way they won’t get “spoiled” at the English speaking pre-schools and such.
9. Decorate their room with some Czech touches. I don’t mean something dramatic like hanging a huge Czech flag on the wall. For instance, I drew some cute animal pictures and labeled them with the Czech as well as the English names.
10. VERY IMPORTANT: try really hard to find other Czech moms in your neighborhood and have play days as often as possible!

Now, what do you do when your American spouse (or spouse of another nationality) is around? My husband and I made a deal when it’s the three of us together, we speak English. That way we feel as a family unit and my husband doesn’t feel like an outsider. I sometimes translate some sentences into Czech when I remember but that’s about it. When my husband is at work – which is about 8 hours a day (!!) – I get to talk to Hahna in Czech; so guess what, that’s most of the day! Therefore I do not fear that she will not learn the language because I am not talking to her in Czech ALL THE TIME, as other sources have warned me in the past. But the truth is that it’s all a one big experiment and at the end if she doesn’t speak perfect Czech when she grows up but is a happy girl with a good character I am happy too. So bottom line, try it, but don’t sweat it 😉

PS: I will keep you posted on my ongoing experiment!

CZ:Jak uz vetsina ctenaru vi, jsem Ceska vdana za Americana a nase ditko tedy vyrusta v dvojjazycne domacnosti. Sepsala jsem “Top Ten” typy, ktere me osobne pomahaji, abych se s nasi rocni dcerkou bavila cesky:

1. bavte se se svymi detmi cesky jak casto to jen jde; ja vim, ze to zni samozrejmne, ale nekdy je opravdu lehci “zaseknout” se v tom anglickem rytmu, a uz se odtamtud nikdy nevykopat.
2. Jestlize je doma take vas manzel/ka a bavite se tedy anglicky, aby reci vsichni rozumneli, prelozte vasemu ditku par vet take do cestiny; rikam “par vet” protoze jsem v minulosti zkusila prelozit vsechny vety a opravdu jsem se citila, ze mi z toho prekladani praskne hlava
3. Poslouchejte ceske pisnicky a pohadky na CDkach (nebo dneska jsou to spise Ipody, ze jo?)
4. Neustale ditku zpivejte/odrikavejte klasicke ceske rikanky jako je “Spadla lzicka do kaficka” (kdyz jste ve vode), “Paci paci pacicky”, “Varila mysicka kasicku”, “Berany berany duc” (Haniccino nejoblibenejsi), “Takhle jedou pani”…
5. Mluvte s nimi cesky pri rizeni ( a my vsichni tady v Americe vime, ze ridime skoro 24 hodin denne)
6. Zeditujte detske knizky psane v anglictine! Jak? Ja vim, ze to zni trosku anarchisticky, ale proste popadnete cernou fixku, a dopiste si tam ten cesky preklad samy. Asi si budete poprve pripadat, jako ze delate neco spatneho, ale nebojte se, pri treti knizce uz vas to bude dokonce i bavit 🙂
7. Bavte se s nimi prevazne spisovnou mluvou nez hovorovou cestinou
8. Zustante s nimi doma co nejdele; ve skole se to nenauci, tak je to (bohuzel) na vas. Nejdriv si prijdete jako “exot”, ale po par dnech se to zlepsi.
9. Zustante s nimi doma jak dlouho jen muzete. Timto zpubsobem se tak “nezkazi” v mistnich jeslickach/skolce.
10. Vyzdobte jejich pokojicek ceskym “dotykem”; nemyslim tim, ze doprostred pokoje vyvesite obrovskou ceskou vlajku. Ja osobne jsem treba nakreslila par zvirecich obrazku (pejsek, kocicka,ryba, beruska) a pak jsem tam vepsala jejich jmena jak v cestine, tak v anglictine.
11. VELMI DULEZITE: najdete si v okoli dalsi ceske kamaradky, pokud mozno maminky a schazejte se s nimi pravidelne v parku!

Pokracovani priste!