Non-native Bilingualism: First German Word!!

Saturday, January 30, 2010

First German Word!!

Yay! We made it! Kaya's first official German word came today: Mehr (more), coupled with the baby sign of tapping her hands together in front of her! A few days ago, she'd been saying more of a "mo" sound when implying that she wanted more food, leading me to think that she'd learn to say that word first in English. But alas--it goes down in the books as her first German word (other than Mama, that is, which is really both), and there is much rejoicing!!

Bier anyone? =)

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Welcome to Non-native Bilingualism, my blog dedicated to processing my thoughts and discoveries in raising our daughter bilingually. We are a family of three, living in the Pacific Northwest raising our daughter in both English and German. Both my husband, Geoff, and I were raised speaking English in the United States. Geoff speaks English with Kaya while I speak German with her. With each other, we speak English.

After studying German and Spanish, spending a few years in Germany, and multiple years teaching both languages, I was passionate about the idea of speaking only German with Kaya as a way of teaching her another language. That's what I have done since moment one, and despite the challenges and moments of doubt, have no regrets thus far. I've certainly had my fair share of doubts about being a non-native speaker of German, which is part of my motivation to start this blog. I know how much I benefit from writing about my process, particularly of my doubts. I also benefit immensely from reading and learning about others in my same non-native shoes, and thought I could provide another resource for those interested.

In addition to my personal thoughts on raising our daughter bilingually, I have made this a place where you can find a variety of links on bi and multilingualism, as well as resource recommendations for both general and more specific bilingual endeavors.

If for no other reason, I write this blog for my daughter, Kaya, so that I will have continued motivation to give her the gift of multilingualism.

I'm glad you found us here, and I hope that you will feel comfortable in sharing and adding your input to anything that may inspire you here or elsewhere!

German Equivalents to English Nursery Rhymes

It can be really challenging, as a non-native speaker, to learn a whole new set of nursery rhymes and songs to sing to your child. As another blogger reminded me, it's super helpful to find those rhyme and song equivalents with tunes already programmed in our brains. Thus, I've created a Google Document with a growing list of nursery rhyme and song equivalents between German and English. I've set it up so that ANYONE can edit it, so please add a song or two or three if you know any crossover songs that we can share as a community! Thanks!

Non-native Bilingualism

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

First German Word!!

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At One

At Two

One and a Half

Nearly Three!