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Unread Dec 11th, 2006, 09:17 am
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Join Date: Oct 30th, 2006
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Default Re: Bringing up kids abroad

I met a woman who worked at a translation company as a director. She was French and her husband was English. They live in the UK now, but anyways here the experience she had:

1. Her children, both boys, were spoken French by the mother and English by the father. So far so good. This is really what develops both biligualism.

2. When her children reach about four or five. They spoke only French to women and English to men, no matter their nationality. It just seems logical to them.

3. After about 10 years old the boys seemed to be biligual in the academic sense and able to converse in both langauges at ease. They usually ended up shouting in French and speaking in English.

Personally, my family are going through similar difficulties to you Clive. My son is bilingual and is 2 years and 10 months old. He is able to speak some English words but he is spending time at a Korean nursery and is starting to speak unknown Korean words to me. It helps my language development. Anyhow, he has no trouble counting in English or Korean and tends to mix both languages at the moment. It just needs time. So don't worry about your son, he is in such a lucky position and provide a lot of opportunities for him and his languages. Congratulations on being a parent, although it may be slightly belated.
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