I'm Sit Down Cannot, Daddy.

[lost_in_space]

My 3 year old seems to be speaking Tinglish. I think she picks it up from her mom.

She starts school next month in an international school so I hope she'll get over it. In the meantime, it's kinda cute when she talks like that.

At least she got the 2 part verb right

[kat]

I've heard other couples make a deal that the native English speaker will be the one to speak English to the child, and the native speaker of Thai speaks only in Thai. That seems to be a good deal because the child gains two languages as a native speaker.

[sonicdragon]

Fully agree with Kat. In our house I speak only english in front of the kids, my wife and the maids speak only thai, and our nanny speaks only mandarin (which which my wife and I can understand). It does lead to some frustrating misunderstandings at times, but helps our language skills a lot, as well as being beneficial for the children.

Edited December 24, 2007 by sonicdragon

[Daffy D]

We don’t have the complication of maids and such so at home we speak English except when our 3 year old is very naughty and wifie lashes into her in Thai. (Metaphorically speaking)

I’m still amazed that daughter knows which of us understands what and uses that language only and does not speak Tinglish.

Even more amazing, though perhaps not to others, is that she can turn on the TV and connect the right plugs Red-White-Yellow insert a DVD and push the correct buttons to watch her favorite movie which at the moment is “Shark Tail” last week it was “Happy Feet”

Sorry just being a first time daddy

Daddy Daffy.

[Halydys]

We don’t have the complication of maids and such so at home we speak English except when our 3 year old is very naughty and wifie lashes into her in Thai. (Metaphorically speaking)

I’m still amazed that daughter knows which of us understands what and uses that language only and does not speak Tinglish.

Even more amazing, though perhaps not to others, is that she can turn on the TV and connect the right plugs Red-White-Yellow insert a DVD and push the correct buttons to watch her favorite movie which at the moment is “Shark Tail” last week it was “Happy Feet”

Sorry just being a first time daddy

Daddy Daffy.

No apologies necessary as we all have our little geniuses. We sometimes just don't give enough credit to these little people do we? Don't forget though that at 3, 4, 5 etc. when they can't find the proper tape/dvd a toy figure (or pieces) of the 'hero' pushed through the tape/dvd slot (piece by piece) sometimes amounts to the same thing as loading the movie (heroes) in their minds... LOL They are still little ones after all.

Read to my little guys every day & they'd both memorized all the stories (ever tried skipping/shortening a page?). My youngest wasn't doing very well in picking up reading but loved to sit on my lap while I read him some of the daily comics but when it came down to me saying I would read one frame & he would have to read the next it was big tantrum time. Next day, he slowly read every 2nd frame. 3rd day he'd read the whole comic page before I even got to the paper!! Of course I always made sure he was sitting on my lap while he read the comics page to me after that for a few years after.... He's in University now.

Enjoy, Daffy D (think you really mean Daffy Daddy, no shame in that! )

[Halydys]

We don’t have the complication of maids and such so at home we speak English except when our 3 year old is very naughty and wifie lashes into her in Thai. (Metaphorically speaking)

I’m still amazed that daughter knows which of us understands what and uses that language only and does not speak Tinglish.

Even more amazing, though perhaps not to others, is that she can turn on the TV and connect the right plugs Red-White-Yellow insert a DVD and push the correct buttons to watch her favorite movie which at the moment is “Shark Tail” last week it was “Happy Feet”

Sorry just being a first time daddy

Daddy Daffy.

No apologies necessary as we all have our little geniuses. We sometimes just don't give enough credit to these little people do we? Don't forget though that at 3, 4, 5 etc. when they can't find the proper tape/dvd a toy figure (or pieces) of the 'hero' pushed through the tape/dvd slot (piece by piece) sometimes amounts to the same thing as loading the movie (heroes) in their minds... LOL They are still little ones after all.

Read to my little guys every day & they'd both memorized all the stories (ever tried skipping/shortening a page?). My youngest wasn't doing very well in picking up reading but loved to sit on my lap while I read him some of the daily comics but when it came down to me saying I would read one frame & he would have to read the next it was big tantrum time. Next day, he slowly read every 2nd frame. 3rd day he'd read the whole comic page before I even got to the paper!! Of course I always made sure he was sitting on my lap while he read the comics page to me after that for a few years after.... He's in University now.

Enjoy, Daffy D (think you really mean Daffy Daddy, no shame in that! )

Sorry, OT, not Thailand related

[lost_in_space]

I've heard other couples make a deal that the native English speaker will be the one to speak English to the child, and the native speaker of Thai speaks only in Thai. That seems to be a good deal because the child gains two languages as a native speaker.

I think I won't be able to stop my wife speaking Tinglish to her.

What I've read is that children's language, and a lot of their personality, is based on what they pick up from their peers, rather than their parents (Judith Harris, The Nurture Assumption). That's why immigrant children don't have their parents' accents.

I just need to make sure she hangs out with decent kids.

[sonicdragon]

I've heard other couples make a deal that the native English speaker will be the one to speak English to the child, and the native speaker of Thai speaks only in Thai. That seems to be a good deal because the child gains two languages as a native speaker.

I think I won't be able to stop my wife speaking Tinglish to her.

What I've read is that children's language, and a lot of their personality, is based on what they pick up from their peers, rather than their parents (Judith Harris, The Nurture Assumption). That's why immigrant children don't have their parents' accents.

I just need to make sure she hangs out with decent kids.

While I'm sure it's true that peers have a very big effect on a child's language acquisition, I think the comparison with immigrants is a little off - at least in my first-hand experience. For me, my parents and family spoke to me in their mother tongue (cantonese) from an early age - only native english speakers spoke to me in english, and. My second-hand experience is the same - friends from immigrant families in the UK (chinese and indian mainly) have UK accents but I have always realised that they don't speak english with their parents). Also, many friends from indian and pakistani families in Hong Kong speak english with a very pronounced indian accent (like the rest of their families), but their peers from school speak with a mixture of many different accents (native english, chinese, indian, australian to name a few). Perhaps the fact that the schools had a mixture of accents causes the home-accent to be more pronounced ? I don't know.

But, there's a big difference between acquiring a language with the correct grammar but a particular accent, and acquiring a language with the wrong grammar and/or limited vocabulary. At an early age I'm pretty sure that the right gramatical structure is important, and each parent speaking their native language as much as possible seems to be the best way to accomplish that. I have attached an article written (in english) by a linguistics academic concerning the experience of his own child acquiring 3 native languages concurrently.Linguistic_Miracle.pdf

[torrenova]

I have a friend who does not communicate with his son much in his native german and somewhat in his mediocre thai and passable english. The monther speaks thai to the child but the child has now begun speaking lao / isaan dialect rather than thai or german. I urge him to develop the child's linguistic skills but I fear for the worst further down the line.

Myself, my wife speaks thai and I speak english and will introduce german in a couple of years.

[Amyji]

My two and a half year old son Aidan is quickly learning to talk and it's amazing watching him acquire language.

My husband speaks to him in Thai with a smattering of English if he wants me to understand what he's saying to Aidan. (Usually during a scolding) It's rare that my husband says anything in English to Aidan anyway because I can understand about 85% and don't need translation. With all the repitition of Thai that hubby says to son, I'm learning a LOT more vocabulary. So both son and mommy are learning the Thai language...

At this age Aidan speaks to me in Thai and in English. If he asks for his rot si kao, I give him is white toy car. Sometimes he mixes it up: Papa walk a noon! (Papa walk over there!) I count with him in Thai and in English and say little words in Thai that I know for sure I'm saying correctly (right tone and vowel length).

[seonai]

It all works out. My son is 12 and a half and he speaks both Thai and English fluently... and Laos, and Tdai and a smattering of Spanish.

He has been exposed I'd say equally to Thai and English at all times

[Thaiboxer]

Our little devil boy is just over two years old. Delayed speech seems to be common among mixed kids here, and I keep running into other Thai/Farang couples in the same situation. Many Thai/Thai couples are experiencing the same thing as well.

Being that our son spends more time with his mommy, he is spoken to more in Thai than in English, as my wife is usually at her mom's place when I'm working. Until recently, my wife and I spoke English to him at home (it's just us three here) with a few Thai words thrown in here and there. Now, my wife speaks only Thai and I speak only English...a speech specialist recommended this as a good approach. In the future, his English will catch up to and equal his Thai.

[bggg]

My daughters were 1 and 3 when we moved to Thailand. In hind sight I wish I had insisted on having the maid speak Thai only to them. 8 years later the youngest, (now 9) still has a bit of tinglish in her (brang instead of brought) and the odd r sound turning into an L sound.

[Valjean]

My wife and try to stick to our roles (me English, her Thai) but it mixes up some as we talk with each other and especially when other Thai's around; maid, other children, family, etc. I have been accused of fostering some bad Thai accent on my son but hey - that's the only accent I have. But it has reached a crisis now where our parrot Gao who was taught to say "mah jah" apparently says this with my bad accent now. I’m not sure we need to get him into an International school or if I should only speak English to him or what. Maybe this should be posted in the pets forum…

Meanwhile at a little under 3 and still in his terrible twos the boy does like to argue with me. He might see a boat and say “rua” and I’ll say “boat” and he says “mai chai, rua”. This goes back and forth until I tire and find something else to do.

[kat]

But it has reached a crisis now where our parrot Gao who was taught to say "mah jah" apparently says this with my bad accent now. I’m not sure we need to get him into an International school or if I should only speak English to him or what. Maybe this should be posted in the pets forum…

Find him some other culturally mixed parrots.

[mikethevigoman]

My 3 year old seems to be speaking Tinglish. I think she picks it up from her mom.

She starts school next month in an international school so I hope she'll get over it. In the meantime, it's kinda cute when she talks like that.

At least she got the 2 part verb right

We came over from England a year ago and our daughter now 5 could only speak english,after 6 months at best school she now speaks both thai and English, it will level it self out however the kids do pick up the teachers accents ,thats normal, how many thai stewardesses have you encountered with an american accent ? and il bet they never went to school in the USA,. , but our daughter amazes me how quickly she has adapted and learnt the language, and here am i speaking only a few words ! ps. my daughter also now is my translator, most embarrasing ! Edited January 7, 2008 by mikethevigoman

[Brigante7]

I've heard other couples make a deal that the native English speaker will be the one to speak English to the child, and the native speaker of Thai speaks only in Thai. That seems to be a good deal because the child gains two languages as a native speaker.

Hi all, my wife who is Thai speaks to our son in Thai about 95% of the time and I speak english to him so even though he is only 5 months old, he will be fluent in both languages.

[thailandfaq]

I've heard other couples make a deal that the native English speaker will be the one to speak English to the child, and the native speaker of Thai speaks only in Thai. That seems to be a good deal because the child gains two languages as a native speaker.

I speak thai english and spanish to my kid - i dont bother speaking german to him though.

Not sure if its going to work though as hes still only 5 months old.. My wife speaks chinese and english with him.