Vocabulary Sponge

After watching watching the New Year's firework, Kevin came up with his unique translation of 'vuurwerk' or 'firework'. It's 'boom, boom, boom'. And I agree with him. It's an altogether more appropriate term.

Overall, his language acquisition is going really well. He is soaking up new words every day like a sponge. He loves repeating new words. Just this morning, I served him some fruit for breakfast and told him 'dat is lekkere mango' (in English: 'that is yummy mango') and he parrotted 'mango', 'mango'. Then this evening, I was loggin into the company's network with the security token and I told him: 'dat is de code' (that the token/code) and he again repeated 'code', 'code'.

I am careful only to speak Dutch to him, and my husband only speaks English. It's not always easy for me. I have to switch back and forth between speaking English to my husband (who doesn't speak Dutch) and Dutch to Kevin. But the consistency to Kevin is paying off. It keeps him from being confused. He knows I speak one type of language and daddy speaks another and he understands us both. Even before he started using words, he was able to respond to my questions in Dutch such as 'waar is het schilderij?'(where is the painting) and 'toon es je neus' (point to your nose).

And now that he's using single words and the odd two-word sentence, he does so both in Dutch and English. I'd say he uses slightly more English words than Dutch right now, probably a 60/40 split, which I think is not bad, considering he hears much more English at the school and from other people. It's funny, teaching Kevin Dutch has actually taught my husband much more Dutch than he used to know. He now repeatedly uses Dutch words and mixes them in his sentences, like he'll say to Kevin: "did vava go bye bye in the airplane, in het vliegtuig?'.

I'm not sure yet if Kevin's Dutch language development will keep up with the English one. I hope so. So far, it does not seem like it's lagging that far behind. I just think that I have to keep at it by reading a lot to him and exposing him to a lot of new Dutch words. A lot of studies have shown that if kids hear a large vocabulary as this age, that that makes a huge difference in how their brain pathways develop and that it gives them an advantage, so I believe we are doing the right thing. I hear from so many people here that they wish that they had learned another language when they were younger, so I think it's giving Kevin an advantage. Plus I somehow couldn't imagine not being able to speak to my son in my own mothertongue. It would also break my father's heart. He's crazy about his 2 grandkids and couldn't imagine not being able to talk to one of them.

I believe consistency is key. If the kids can easily make out who speaks what, then there's no confusion. It's when languages are mixed that you run into problems. I see this with a friend of ours. She's Dutch, married to a Britt and she speaks both English and Dutch to her 2 kids (one's 5 and one's 2). Surprise, surprise, they favor English. They can speak some Dutch, but not well and they mix the languages. So far, Kevin's not done that. When he's reading a book with me, he stays in Dutch mode and says e.g. 'zon', 'maan', 'appel', 'ja', 'bo(ven), 'vliegtuig', 'tas', etc. There are some terms he persists in English, such as 'bankie (for blankie), but there aren't many and he does understand the Dutch word for it too. In these cases, I think it's because the Dutch word is a lot harder ('dekentje') and he isn't able to pronounce it yet.

Only time will tell, but I think we're on the right track.