Languages and Relationship/Family

[deleted18515921]

As a child I grew up bilingual (East Gothic and Swedish) which in turn hindered me from interecting with my peers in the same way that the fully speaking swedes could simply because of my lack of understanding of the swedish language.
While I was living in Japan a thought came to mind. "If I were to settle down here and have a family, what language would I speak to my wife, what language would I speak to my child". Should I speak only Japanese and have my child grow up in a more homogenous Japanese enviroment, or should I speak multiple languages which might slow their growth in Japanese but allow them a wider view of the world.

What is your opinion on topics of languages in Relationships?
Seemed like a unique topic to start for any linguistical nerds out there. ( ͡°з ͡°)

 

[batnballs67]

I would encourage anyone who was able to speak as many languages as possible to young children. Having grown up in the US and having 2 years education in Latin and 2 in French, I envy Europeans (mostly) who speak multiple languages. Any visit to Europe relies on others' ability to speak English. I wish I could engage others in their language.

I think speaking more than one language may cause some people to arrive at mastery more slowly, but has long term benefits for language skills.

I didn't grow up the way and can't imagine your feelings about it, but the chance to learn multiple languages when your brain is developing language has a time limit.

 

[art]

I know many people who are fully bi- and multi-lingual. I think that's the optimum. I want to be able to communicate fully with as many people in as many languages as possible. I think it best to start that process with a young child, when picking up languages is a natural process and not a chore.

 

[deleted18515921]

I think anything you do not have an interest in feels like a chore, there's an added benefit to learning new languages as an adult in that you already know what a grammar structure is, you already know how the order of adjectives nouns verbs and aux verbs work instinctivly which leads to you picking up new languages faster.

I think there's also the problem of the prevelance of a language within an area, you won't find a lot of english speaking people in japan so it might be detrimental to your studies into the main language, especially when it comes to japanese that requires a lot of time in order to master. (Try memorizing over 3000 pictograms, not difficult, but time consuming )

 

[deleted18515921]

Also I think putting focus on mastering one language will later on be beneficial for learning your neighbouring languages.
Because I understand Swedish and Japanese quite well, you can put the wool over my eyes but it doesn't matter, I can pick 9/10 words that Norwegians, Danes, Icelandic and Koreans say, and 7/10 for Chinese.
That is something that happens if you're only able to give 50% on a certain language.

 

[halcyondays]

As a boomer who grew up in suburban provincial US where foreign languages were not spoken and not even taught until high school I can say that one of the best ways to learn a foreign language is to have a girlfriend/boyfriend/SO who does!

 

[Taecfan]

As a child I grew up bilingual (East Gothic and Swedish) which in turn hindered me from interecting with my peers in the same way that the fully speaking swedes could simply because of my lack of understanding of the swedish language.
While I was living in Japan a thought came to mind. "If I were to settle down here and have a family, what language would I speak to my wife, what language would I speak to my child". Should I speak only Japanese and have my child grow up in a more homogenous Japanese enviroment, or should I speak multiple languages which might slow their growth in Japanese but allow them a wider view of the world.

What is your opinion on topics of languages in Relationships?
Seemed like a unique topic to start for any linguistical nerds out there. ( ͡°з ͡°)

Speak whatever language you want them to pick up. Children pick up language relatively quickly, so your child will definitely pick up Japanese in school if you never end up speaking it around them while they grow up. I'm not exactly sure what contributed to your lack of Swedish ability, but as a child of immigrants in the US, my English definitely improved the most through school.

 

[deleted18515921]

I think children pick up "a" language very quickly, but that language doesn't necessarily have to be an already establishes language but it could be an entirely new one made up of other languages.
English is a very good example since english is a hybrid language made up of largely Britonic Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Germanic and a bit of Norman French but largely the two former, which also added to the respect class structure of certain words in english. Since Anglo-Saxons were of higher class than the native Britons it also lead to the Germanic words becoming more respectful once English was establish, for example how the Germanic words "Mother and Father" are more respectful than the Celtic words "Mom and Dad".
But that came as a result of Anglo-Saxon men taking on Britonic wives which lead to the birth of English, so you can always find other people who share in this hybridinization process of the same languages that you speak but, if you are a parent that wishes your child to have as many friends as possible at an early age it might be more beneficial to have them be as related to those in your community as possible?

P.S Sorry if my posts are too long, I'm essentially pondering these things in written from

 

[halcyondays]

Noam on language. For your consideration.

 

[Taecfan]

I think children pick up "a" language very quickly, but that language doesn't necessarily have to be an already establishes language but it could be an entirely new one made up of other languages.
English is a very good example since english is a hybrid language made up of largely Britonic Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Germanic and a bit of Norman French but largely the two former, which also added to the respect class structure of certain words in english. Since Anglo-Saxons were of higher class than the native Britons it also lead to the Germanic words becoming more respectful once English was establish, for example how the Germanic words "Mother and Father" are more respectful than the Celtic words "Mom and Dad".
But that came as a result of Anglo-Saxon men taking on Britonic wives which lead to the birth of English, so you can always find other people who share in this hybridinization process of the same languages that you speak but, if you are a parent that wishes your child to have as many friends as possible at an early age it might be more beneficial to have them be as related to those in your community as possible?

P.S Sorry if my posts are too long, I'm essentially pondering these things in written from

I wouldn't call English a "hybrid" language honestly. Just about all languages have examples of borrowings from other languages, even including grammatical structures (and not just vocabulary).
And to your last point, technically yes, but they'll be fine either way. If they attend school in the country, they'll learn the local language regardless. And children at a young age will become friends with really anyone, so you don't have too much to worry about. Just make sure they're social

 

[deleted18515921]

I wouldn't call English a "hybrid" language honestly. Just about all languages have examples of borrowings from other languages, even including grammatical structures (and not just vocabulary).
And to your last point, technically yes, but they'll be fine either way. If they attend school in the country, they'll learn the local language regardless. And children at a young age will become friends with really anyone, so you don't have too much to worry about. Just make sure they're social

Some languages do, and there are other hybrid languages aswell. Hybrid just means that it's grammatical structure is taken from multiple different languages families in various different circumstances as opposed to Swedish that is homogenous and doesn't take on grammar structures from any other language. Japanese and Korean is similar to English in this regard because when spoken Japanese and Korean uses exclusevly native Japanese and Korean sentence structures, but when it's written they usually takes on a more Sino-grammatical structure.

Also thanks all for contributing to this thread, it's a fun topic for me and I'm glad you all wanted to participate

 

[halcyondays]

English is a bastard tongue. But so are all tongues.

No language evolves in isolation.

 

[deleted18515921]

English is a bastard tongue. But so are all tongues.

No language evolves in isolation.

Oh I don't know, I've gone on 4chan and those 40 year old neckbeards that live isolated in their basement surely have produced their own language.

 

[deleted18388141]

Strangely u will find yourself speaking normally (with your mixture of languages) to the kid
i grew up in a multi language house and with my partner we learnt another language together and we do make a salade of those recently hihi