Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Language confusion

Someone asked us when we were considering immersing Tori in Chinese school if we were concerned about her forgetting some English or having language confusion. Since we will never speak only Chinese in our house, she still hears English a lot. But I did wonder if she would be confused and speak the wrong language to a person. However, while she has picked up some unique ways of saying things (as she translates something in her mind) she is often a stickler for speaking the right language to people. She gets grumpy if I speak too much Chinese to her. And if another English speaker talks to her in Chinese, she will look at them and sometimes demand they speak English. Though we like to try and catch her off guard and then she just answers in Chinese. But it is amazing to watch. . . we will be with Chinese friends and she goes back and forth between Chinese and English with no problem. But what we should have been concerned about was ME. I speak the wrong language to the wrong person ALL the time (sigh). I bump into a person on the bus and say "sorry" (in English). I answered an English-speaker in Chinese the other day. And one day just because my brain is crazy (or maybe Tori had watched one too many Dora's), but I said something in Spanish and I don't even speak Spanish. Gracious, my brain gets confused.

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