As many of you know my daughter is bilingual, she now speaks fluently English and Czech. One of her favorite things to do is to sing and dance (surprise!) and her all-time favorite Czech folk song is ‘Utikej Kaco, utikej!‘, meaning ‘Run, Kaca, run!’. The song is about this girl named Kaca, who was chased by a wild black cat.
This video is a living test case where the OPOL method (One-parent-onec-language) is not necessary. I speak Czech AND English with her (when there are friends/family members who do not speak Czech) and she is still quite the bilingual star.
Enjoy!
CZ: Ma 3-leta bilingvni dcera Hanicka je dukazem toho, ze tzv. OPOL metoda (One parent one language)neni ta JEDINA metoda, kterou muzete ucit sve deti dva jazyky. I kdyz se spolu bavime cesky i anglicky (pred znamymi/rodinou, kteri cesky neumi), ovlada oba jazyky vyborne.
HAHNA SINGS ‘UTIKEJ KACO, UTIKEJ!’ (click her to view the video)
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Sikulka. 🙂
Sikovna! To je jasne, ze metoda neni jedina. Ja myslim, ze to je spis pomoc tam, kde se to tezko vyvazuje. Myslim, ze kolikrat, kdyz by clovek na to nemyslel, tak by mozna s ditetem mluvil vic anglicky nez cesky a pak by se ta cestina vyvijela hur, ale myslim, ze pokud je kombinace vyvazena, tak proc ne. A taky urcite zavisi na tom, ktery rodic s ditetem travi vic casu. U vas asi ty, takze je jasne, ze pokud by jsi mluvila jen cesky a tvuj muz anglicky ale jen chvilku (ma treba mene casu), tak by mozna zase anglicky tak dobre neumela. Ja deti zatim nemam, ale casem to take budu resit 🙂
I think small children have no concept of “languages”….They simply know that these people talk “this” way and the other “that” way….. And if children’s parents are both foreigners and both speak different languages, then of course, in daycare they have to speak another “way”….
After couple of years father gets a lucrative contract they move. Children go to local school, where 3 “three!” languages are used equally. What a mess!!. After moving to USA, they had to learn English.
Can’t people get along and speak only one language?
Taky souhlasím, že je to jedna z metod, ale taky bych tak rychle neříkala hop a neodsuzovala tuto metodu. Záleží na mnoha faktorech. Je super, že vaše dcera zvládá oba jazyky výborně. Může to však také být tím, že je to děvče a že má talent na jazyky. Možná by to bylo jiné, kdyby jste měla chlapce.
My například učíme našeho syna Kubíka češtinu a turečtinu a v pozadí slyší angličtinu. Praktikujeme OPOL metodu, můj manžel na něho mluví jen turecky, já česky a mezi sebou mluvíme anglicky. Kubíkovi je už 2,5 roku a teď teprve začíná říkat věty, takže nám to jde pomaleji a proto ho ani nechceme ještě přihlásit do preschool, protože máme strach, že by pak převládala jen angličtina. Myslím si, že u nás metoda OPOL začíná přinášet ovoce, s angličtinou není třeba spěchat, protože to se naučí hravě později.
Myslíte si, že byste na dceru mluvila oběma jazyky, kdyby měla problémy s češtinou a nebo kdyby nemluvila do tří let?
That was why Esperanto was started. My grandmother went to esperanto classes when she was a teenager, in the 1930’s. She is almost 92 and can still sing a song in Esperanto.
I found a link to a number articles which discuss raising bilingual children. They were very interesting! I think it is wonderful that you are raising her to speak two languages. I wish I were fluent in more than just English. In the U.S. we are reared to speak one language. The exposure we receive to other languages is very minimal. I think this is unfortunate. Fortunately, your daughter can learn to be proficient in reading and writing as well, especially with all the resources we have in this technological age. If people learn more than one language, they can be more open to other cultures and more accepting of people. It is difficult to learn additional languages in the U.S. and really become proficient, because the culture does not support it, unlike countries in Europe where it is common to speak a minimum of three languages. Here is the link:
http://www.raising-bilingual-children.com/blog/
I think OPOL is definitely more efficient method which will work for most people but I personally just don’t like it. I think it disconnects the family unit and the overall family togetherness since one parent/relative/friend is left out not knowing what the heck is going on. Now that’s just my opinion. In your case, Sarka, it seems to be working and no one complains so congratulations to you as well.
I also think that you are mentioning some good points. Girls do usually learn to talk faster, however they are slower in learning how to climb around the playground for example (at least Hahna is). Also, I think she does have a talent for languages and that is a big help as well.
She is with me most of the time and does not attend any pre-school yet. But it is a struggle, since she talks to herself in English and she is starting to talk to her sister in English as well.
Jana, I can’t believe your grandma went to esperanto classes and now she only remembers a song. That’s like me having 4 years of Latin and now I only remember few phrases that I use to impress my friends ;)…but that’s why they call it the dead language.
I looked it up and I guess there is still close to 2 million people who speak/write esperanto fluently. But I guess the whole idea of having everyone speaking one language kind of did not work out….
Tanja,
just do the best you can to keep her Czech going. Once in school Hanicka will speak English only. Kids learn languages fast because they just repeat what they hear. They have no concept of grammar or sentence structure that’s why it is much easier for them to learn than it is for adults. Generally speaking, girls do learn languages better then boys. They have better set-up for it in their brains:) I think you have a very smart little girl though:)
Vonya, you are so right! There is an old saying…. “You are as many times a person as many languages you speak”.. At least good (not necessary fluent) knowledge of languages gives you completely another picture of a particulre nation. The same regarding children: if they are exposed to several languages, they are automatically becoming part of the culture that is using that language . They want to explore more and want to get more familiar with these cultures … I think, we don’t need any special methods to learn languages …. Small children are very easy to mold … Simply throw them into the swimming pool and they will resurface and start swimming… The same as valid for languages….
Tanja, your children will talk to each other in English… It is becoming their first language… English is what they thing is THE language, and they know that mom is talking some other weird secret language and they simply find it exciting to speak that secret language , but only when they must and , preferably, when nobody is watching ….
Marika, it is very strange that girls are really much better in learning foreing languages… Maybye they simply don’t analyze things as much as boys do? 🙂 Boys always want to know “why”, girls simply accept much more easily whatever they are being said 😉
I just hope that when it’s the three of us the girls will talk Czech in between themselves….that is my goal anyways.
Vlastimil, I guess the girls are more sensitive to the emotional content of the speech while the boys are already activity at work. 🙂
Zajímavé. Děvče bere češtinu jako cizí jazyk, ne jako mateřský, hned sklouzla do angličtiny, se sestrou mluví anglicky, ale tady její matka je nadšená….takže až půjde do školy, čekala bych, že bude mluvit jenom anglicky a čeština se zapomene, bude to pasívní. OPOL není výmysl, netrhá rodinu, má svoji podstatu. Děti poznají, který jazyk je dominantní a dříve nebo později se na ten cizí vykašlou, když není udržován. Takže dejte vědět za pár let, jak ten experiment funguje. P.S. Proč se nejmenují Hannah a Eva? Proč to podivné hláskování Hahna? A jméno Eva se vyskytuje i v angličtině. Ale jinak Good Luck.
Jahno, devce ‘sklouzlo’ do anglictiny protoze ji natacel tatinek – american. Kdybych tam byla jenom ja, mluvila by cesky. Na zbytek tveho komentu ani nebudu reagovat. Urcite se tu ale za par let zase zastav (ne ale proboha drive!) a uvidis, ze experiment fungovat bude. A jak se rika po americku, ‘lighten up a bit!’ 🙂
Trapné, paní Táňo. Husy jsme spolu nepásly, vidím, že vás doma moc dobře nevychovali nebo jste na dobrou výchovu zapoměla, stejně jako na češtinu. Mám zkušenosti s bilingvními dětmi a váš experiment nevidím růžově, ač ho růžově oblékáte. Je vidět, jak jste malicherná, váš koment mluví za vše. Nic, já se stavím za pět let, pak si popovídáme. Zdravíčko.
Jana, I take it you don’t live in USA…I guess UK??? Right? I don’t agree with Tanja always what she says either , but she puts great effort in maintaining this blog and she is simply a “human”….Jana, where do you get so much hate from ? Try to be positive…If you think negative, the negative things will happen….. to you…
I don’t really get it. Why somebody is upset over somebody’s name spelling? I actually think it would be cool to be Wlaftihmiel , who cares???? It is MY name….
Pockejte chvili…myslela jsem, ze cilem teto diskuze je vymenit si zkusenosti s ruznymi metodami uceni cestiny, jakou je napriklad OPOL a ne se tady navzajem urazet.
Pani Jano, radi si precteme o vasich bohatych zkusenostech, jestli se s nami o ne podelite, ale prestante se, prosim, do pani Tani navazet. Osobne ji moc fandim a moc se mi libi jeji blog, do ktereho stiha pravidelne prispivat, i presto, ze se stara o dve male deti. Klobouk dolu.
Pani Tano, preji vam, aby obe holcicky zvladaly cestinu, tak jak si prejete, o to tady preci jde.
Vonya, thanks for the website. I found some useful information there, which are hopefully gonna help us to teach Kubi Czech, so he can talk to his grandparents and listen to their stories.
Dekuju za podporu! Ja jenom vzdycky ziram, odkud se tyhle jizlivy lidi berou! Pripominaji mi Americkeho Grinche 🙂
Jana, what gives you the right to criticize Tanja in this fashion? Do you know her personally so you know who she really is? I do not think so. Have you ever created a succesful blog like Tanja? I don’t think so. Tanja simply shares her experiences as a parent. Did you not read this blog because of the title that has been created by Tanja? By the way, you have misspelled Tanja’s name – protectore ceskeho jazyka.
Ano, Vlastimile, asi ta zenstina Jana neni Americanka, nesla v Tanja’s moccasins 100 miles. Tanja mozna dala dcerce jmeno po mamince/babicce sveho manzela a tim je uctila… co Jana vi, zeptala se? Ne, hned ji napadla. Ja myslim ze pet let je kratka doba… to si jeste budeme jeji vitriol pamatovat.
Ja sice tento blog nectu ale manzelku Janiny poznamky trochu popudily a dala mi je precist. Pral bych si abychom my meli Tanja’s determination a naucili nase deti trosku vic ty cestine. Je to obdivuhodne co dela, considering manzel neni cech. A ano, pletu cestinu a anglictinu a vubec mi to nevadi jako to asi nevadi ctenarske obci tohoto blogu. Samozrejme ocekavam ze to od Jany pekne schytam… Karel
Mariko, ze se tvuj manzel Karel nestydi takhle michat cestinu a anglictinu :)))
Karle, ja tenhle blog ctu a jak uz jsem nekde napsal, ne vzdy souhlasim s Tanjou, ale je mi sympaticka tim, ze dela tenhle blog, a ja si mam kde vylevat dusi :)) To, ze s nekym nesouhlasim, neznamena, ze budu nekoho urazet …. Chapu, ze Tanja je svymi detmi nadsena a mysli si, ze jeji deti jsou nejlepsi…V tom prave s ni nesouhlasim, protoze nejlepsi deti jsou ty moje 🙂
Pratele, myslim ze pani Jana uz se nam neozve…nebo si mozna sprada plany a prijde s odvetou za tech 5 let??
The test of how well she’s learned either language will come as her literacy develops. The notion is that bilingual children have better language sense and more developed language skills than monolingual children. Actually, some of them do have that advantage, and some of them are crippled in school by their bilingualism. It depends on how they’re taught at home.
If they are taught to be separately literate in the two languages, and can distinguish between them, then they tend to do fine. However, in remedial writing classes there are many bilingual students whose two languages form one mixed-up process in their heads. I had one girl in a class who’d always had problems in writing and was diagnosed as having a learning disability when she didn’t. The problem was that English and Serbian formed one grammatical system in her head, and she didn’t distinguish between the sequence of verb tenses in one language or the other. This and other sources of confusion between the two languages held her back and caused her problems all through school. Being the first one to figure out what the problem was, I pushed her to actually start learning Serbian instead of just chit-chatting in it, so that she could start seeing the distinctions between her two languages. Her Serbian was as big a mess as her English, by the way, and for the same reasons.
Tanja thanks for the update. I cannot believe how big the girls are. And great job with the languages. I am sorry you always find that one person or two who will come here and trash your life for sharing your opinions. My first thought after originally reading your post back in February? I cannot believe she is going there again. :):) Just kidding. If it works for your family, it simply works. Good luck and keep us posted.
Jamie, what would be your advice so that this does not happen? Should I not teach her Czech grammar/ reading so that she does not suffer with the same problem? Maybe have her start learning those things later, until she is comfortable enough with the English grammar?
However you do it, you have to make sure she’s aware that Czech and English are two separate languages with separate grammatical systems. You may think OPOL is a bunch of hooey, but it’s intended to prevent exactly the kind of problem I’m talking about.
The kids who are raised mixing the languages every which way are the ones who often have the problem I’m talking about. Because the languages are all mixed up in the house, and they’re not made literate in one of them, they don’t wind up with two languages, but with a chaotic mixture of two systems. The girl I mentioned would use a Serbian sequence of tenses in English, or an English sequence of tenses in Serbian, and it was almost just chance when she got it right in either language. I had a Polish girl in class who had the same problem of a mish-mash at home creating a mish-mash in her head, and she failed even remedial English.
So, in my opinion, the answer is to make sure at home that she is literate in Czech, is aware of Czech grammar rules and doesn’t mix them with English rules and vice versa. The way to do this is to explicitly teach her Czech reading and grammar, and make sure she goes to a school where she is explicitly taught English grammar. If her school isn’t teaching her English grammar, you’re going to have to do it at home, but she has to be fluently literate in both languages and be able to make the separation between them.
I think Tanja should speak only Czech to her daughters and the father should speak only English.
When the daughters will say something in English to Tanja, she should pretend not to understand.
That way, the kids will easily learn to separate the both languages. Anyway, English will become their first language and that will be the language they will feel most comfortable with .
My all-time favourite folk song is To ta Helpa, pěkně odsípá, zrychluje se a člověk cítí ten rytmus.
Tanjo, diky za clanek, mas moc roztomilou holku :-).
Mame dve decka – 3 (Daniel) a 8 let (Katka). Na zaklade dosavadnich zkusenosti jsem jednoznacne pro OPOL.
S Katkou se snazim delat ceskou skolu formou domaci vyuky, za mesic letime do Brna na zaverecne zkousky z druhe tridy. Pokud jste tim nekdo prosel budu rad kdyz napisete zkusenosti. Zatim je to dost narocne :-).
Ahoj Ludku a dik. To jses teda pasak, ze to Katkou takhle zvladate – domaci vyuka druhe tridy!!!! Opravdu ti blahopreju. Urcite dej vedet, jak u zkousek dopadla.
A tvoje zena je americanka?
Kdyz jsem detem vypravel, jak se ke me chovali v Cesku v roce 1989 (par dnu po “REVOLUCI”), kdyz jsem se chtel vratit , tak ztratili zajem o cesky jazyk…Je mi to lito, a snazim se jim vysvetlit, ze kdyby zili v obdobi pred Bilou Horou, byli by bezmezne hrdi na to, ze jsou Cesi…..Ale jinak se musim priznat, ze milujou Spejbla a Hurvinka, zvlaste tu historku, kdyz se Hurvinek ptal Spejbla, : “Tato, videl jsem fotku, jak heilujes a hrde zvedas ruku!” ….. a Spejbl jako by nic rika: “Ale Hurvinku, to neber vazne, jak vis, vsechno se da vytrhnout z kontextu…. Ja jsem se hrdinne postavil do prvni rady , zvednul ruku a kricel…’Tak lidi , to by mohlo stacit!!!!'””
Vlastimile, budu v blizke budoucnosti psat o tve specialitce – o bitve na Bile Hore!!!! Tak se priprav 🙂
Tanja, po Bile Hore ti nejlepsi predstavitele ceskeho naroda byli popraveni a zustali jsme jen my 😀
Vlastimile, o tom prave budu psat :))
Tanjo, jestli to zvladame nevim, to se uvidi az u tech zkousek :-). Hodne veci vynechavam, a hodne veci ktere pro ni nejsou prirozene zase delam dopredu – treba sklonovani, koncovky sloves a tak. Holka se do Ceska na jednu stranu boji, ze bude skola tezka, a na druhou stranu se tesi na babicky, nakladane okurky a vylety do lesa. Dam pak vedet jak to vsechno dopadlo.
Zena je Americanka, ale umi trosku cesky. Kdyz povidam s deckama tak vetsinou pochopi o co jde.