UpdateDaily French studyI’m struggling often to do some decent lengthy study periods due restrictions on time. However, more often than not I’m doing quite well at getting a good amount daily French done despite restrictions. There are more restrictions to come later this month.
Super ChallengeSince the start of the SC, I’ve been definitely doing more reading and watching than usual. My reading speed is increasing. And my listening skills are improving. Yet, both of these improvememts are very very gradual, and still they are very far from excellent/advanced/near-native/completely at ease. Moreover, the improvement doesn’t stem from this SC, but years of daily French. Disappointingly for example, I tried a little of the audio book
The Da Vinci Code a few days back of which I didn’t do too well at all. At C1/C2 this should be easy straight off the bat, but it definitely wasn’t....
Series and BooksThe second series of
Les Témoins (Witnesses), was enthralling and really drew me in, and better than the first series which was pretty good. The English subtitles didn’t bother me (couldn’t switch them off), and guided my listening this time round, which went rather well, as opposed to distracting me.
I just finished
Les Messages Cachés de l’Eau by Masaru Emoto, a French translation from the Japanese or English version. A very good book for me in many ways. Language was straight forward, a good positive antidote to all the rather negative conspiracy content I’ve been involved in in recent years, scientific somewhat (although purists would perhaps disagree), but also spiritual (I used to read many a spiritual book until I decided much of it could be lies, not all). In short, a good dose of hope and positivity for humanity, which reveals there still remains much wonderous mystery in the world.
A few series and books to watch and read. I’ve just commenced
Guyane (Ouro: Amazon Gold) on SBS Australia (thus ‘forced’ English subtitles). It appears promising. An area of the world I’m curious about, a change from the common settings of French language series. One episode in, we’ll see...
Globalia has arrived (tnx iguanamon for the recommendation a while back), which is in the same vein as Orwell’s
1984. Also a detailed book on homeschooling, which I
must read over the coming months, as my educational interactions with the children and time management at home could do with many new ideas and motivation if we are to make a success of homeschooling. Saudi still remains a distinct possibility...
Future Prospects...On Saudi, we may know much more in a couple of days, post an interview. What will be will be, and if we head that way, despite not being overly keen on Arabic, we’d be silly and rude not to take advantage of the local environment, should we move there.
Still, I have many a reservation about introducing more languages. Some days I feel I could pass a C1 or C2 French exam, others I have strong doubts. If I pass in November, I’ll feel much better about introducing more languages. Yet it will also teach me that C1/C2 are far from perfect or even native. Pass or fail, November will bring many insights.
Learning Multiple Languagesrdearman’s, garyb’s and even systematiker’s musings reinforce my hesitations regarding studying multiple languages.... rdearman’s struggles with advancing in French and Italian, garyb’s statements on still not feeling completely at ease with languages he’s been studying/involved with for years, systematiker’s thoughts and finding time to manage multiple languages (maintenance, focused improvement, rust)... all it indicates to me, be VERY CAREFUL about how much you take on, there’s only time for so much, how much time do you have or want to grant to languages? If you juggle multiple languages, are you clear what this means for your advancement? Don’t be greedy, be wary of wanderlust, be realistic.... I need a result, any result in November to know exactly where I stand. I am still continually astounded at how much time I have out into ONE language and even if I can pass a C-level exam, to be completely at ease in a language, I feel, that some serious immersion would help incredibly. There’s sooooo much I still don’t know! If you’re reading this and you are a beginning language learner wanting to introduce more languages, my advice is don’t, not until you have first attained the desired level in your first L2.
Unless, like Expugnator, you know exactly what you’re doing and are entirely conscious of the fact it will take many many years before you
potentially reach advanced levels in multiple languages. That takes an incredible amount of self discipline and insight. Don’t be naïve, if you’ve not reached an advanced level in any foreign language yet, it is highly probable you do NOT understand what is ahead of you.
Raising Multilingual ChildrenI’ve been reading a lot about multilingual children, and found a very good digital magazine on the topic from ~ten years ago, no longer published, which presents theories, experiences, advice etc of bilinguals, multilinguals and so on. Interesting stories about children rejecting the minority language, children learning three or four languages at once, mixing languages, raising children in a language that’s not your native language and so on. Very interesting:
Multilingual Living MagazineMy Multilingual Children - How Many Languages is Realistic and Fair?Why? Well, it’s giving me some tips really on what I’m doing with French with regards to the children (no drastic or even small changes required, it seems I’m getting it right for the most part), and providing some answers to my wonderings on introducing more languages to the children and whether its advisable or even fair (is it selfish and would I be creating science experiments out of my children). I want to proceed carefully, informed and allow my children to be children.
My current conclusions are: Children learn languages best from their surroundings, from the natural environment. As an example, teaching a child Icelandic grammar is likely to fail and more likely to be a negative experience compared to living in Iceland, where the child has a natural need for the language, or having an Icelandic grandparent speak to the child in their native language only, which would also be a part of their natural interactions and a
need. Responding in another language would diminish the likelihood of success by decreasing the need for the language (in this example Icelandic). The child will take the path of least resistance and respond in his/her most proficient language if the grandparent in this case were to respond to that language (English for example).
Reading to the child in Icelandic and presenting them with other sources of entertainment in the language such as television without much speaking interaction won’t produce native like little Icelandic speakers, but certainly provide passive knowledge- to what extent will depend a lot on the amount of time exposed to the language. Too little time could lead to frustration and a possible train wreck. Again without the need to speak, the child’s likelihood for being able to soeak Icelandic would be very slim, but passive understanding is still a decent accomplishment.
Where the younger age of exposure to foreign languages matters is of particular importance, is in the domain of pronunciation. The younger, the better for distinguishing between the varied phonemes of foreign languages and being able to mimick them if speech is attempted. So....
Outlines if Raising my Children with Familiarity of Various Languages•I
want to introduce more foreign languages to my children sooner rather than later, but not before I am comfortable that my own French level will not be threatened with deterioration or advancement that is far too slow for my liking.
•I want to introduce them to these languages via stories/reading and perhaps a little TV.
•My pronunciation must be native-like while using these languages with the children. Grammar won’t matter, since reading books will contain correct grammar constructs.
•I can’t expect the children to match their levels of English nor French in newer languages or even come remotely close without language Y or Z being considerably present in the ‘environment’ for extended periods of time and a crucial need for that/those language(s) being present as well.
•The passive understanding of languages I might be able to provide the children with could in theory be brought to more active use, if we move location to where that/those language(s) are spoken or seriously alter the environmental conditions and need for the language(s) otherwise (eg a bilingual school).
•French interaction mustn’t decrease or at least not significantly from current levels, which are around the lower end of the scale for succes in raising children bilingually, otherwise introducing more languages will potentially serious damage French progress.
•To introduce more languages to the children, I need more time with them. Therefore, remaining in Australia I am likely not going to be able to do this, and will need to seriously analyse available time, natural play time and other things to even know if even one more language is possible.
•Moving to Saudi is likely to mean I become a stay at home dad. This will mean it’s more plausible.
•Still, I don’t won’t my children to be essentially experiencing a military-like regiment of languages around the clock. It needs to be enjoyable for them, and for the most part a seemless experience of learning through stories in various languages- languages which may become more relevant and thus active depending on future movements.
•It will benefit me too. Languages dormant, decaying or that never really got up and running could in theory ever so gradually improve through reading while the children’s abilities would improve similtaneously.
•If in a foreign location the relevant local language should take more of an active role in the family’s attempt to use it actively.