Why parents should talk to children in native-language

[faoileag]

WE know it all already, but here it is again - worth spreading around:

http://www.multilingualliving.com/2013/ ... -language/

.................I’ve said this before, but I reiterate that children must be able to function/communicate effectively in their homes before they can function/communicate out in the community, so the native language cannot be stripped away, even for children with language delays.

So if you are a bilingual parent reading this, or a professional or educator guiding bilingual parents, here are some tips for bilingual parents of school-age children:

You can still help with homework, projects, or assignments that are in the community language. You can read the assignment’s text or the given passages in the community language. Just be sure that all of the verbal interaction around that homework or reading activity remains in the native language.

In other words, give the instructions in the native language. Give explanations or clarify questions in the native language. Discuss passages and their meaning in the native language. Code switching, or the alternating between two languages, is a normal part of communication in bilingual individuals, and it does not promote or show signs of confusion. It’s perfectly acceptable and appropriate for bilinguals.

And in everyday conversation and family routines, during family outings and celebrations, speak your native language!!! Children need to hear quantity and quality language input in order to have strong language skills, and parents are the primary individuals who can provide the language input needed in the native language.

[Seonaidh]

This applies also when the native language is English. It is a mistake to attempt to raise children in a non-native (to the parents) language e.g. in pursuit of some ideal, whether that be to do with a desire to support the non-native language, potential improved prospects for the child job-wise, fitting in with the others or whatever. I did once witness an English-speaking family from Wales, two daughters brought up with English, then the parents got into Welsh and attempted to raise their [younger] son through Welsh. When I met them the lad was 7 and didn't speak. The girls (teenage) were what one might term normal. The main problem was the lack of non-native language skills with the parents.

There is no real escape from learning English - to some level - if you're in touch with the rest of the world. Thus, there is no point in parents whose native language is not English trying to raise children with English - proficiency in English will come regardless. However, proficiency in the non-English native language will be lost unless the parents raise children with it or it is otherwise needed in the local situation.

Having said that, I'm not at all sure that those parents whose Gaelic is, at best, rudimentary do their children any favours by sending them to GME. Such a step should only be undertaken once the parents are reasonably confident in Gaelic (and, of course, if the children want to do it).

[Níall Beag]

This applies also when the native language is English. It is a mistake to attempt to raise children in a non-native (to the parents) language e.g. in pursuit of some ideal, whether that be to do with a desire to support the non-native language, potential improved prospects for the child job-wise, fitting in with the others or whatever.

This is soooooooooo true, but it's hard to convince them of this....

Having said that, I'm not at all sure that those parents whose Gaelic is, at best, rudimentary do their children any favours by sending them to GME. Such a step should only be undertaken once the parents are reasonably confident in Gaelic (and, of course, if the children want to do it).

Agreed. I've always lamented the fact that GME isn't genuine bilingual education, instead trying to immerse the kids when the immersive environment is almost entirely non-native.

[Lughaidh]

This applies also when the native language is English. It is a mistake to attempt to raise children in a non-native (to the parents) language e.g. in pursuit of some ideal, whether that be to do with a desire to support the non-native language,

even when the parent is fluent in the (non-native) language?

[Níall Beag]

even when the parent is fluent in the (non-native) language?

Define "fluent". Even if someone can pass themself off as a native speaker in a pub conversation, there will still be gaps and errors in their model of the language.

[faoileag]

I would rather have children learn the language under these circumstances than let the language die out.
Obviously a native-speaker is ideal, but not always available, and in many smaller languages almost or totally extinct. A fluent but not native speaker as intergenerational transmission agent is already a luxury compared to resurrecting and teaching languages from scraps and recordings.

I've never believed in cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The difference (native/fluent learner) just has to be understood, and in the various families I know of (not just Gaelic but other languages) very clearly IS understood and communicated later to the child, so they know the limits of what they have been given. The children also, if regularly exposed to native-speaker Gaelic at school or on visits to the Isles etc, also pretty quickly figure out what's what and may well end up correcting the parents, as I have seen happen.

It's also a sad fact that in many threatened languages, Gaelic included, the actual native-speakers are the last to appreciate what they have and to grasp why not passing it on is such a crying shame. Time and time again it's the hard work and dedication, skill and talent of interested non-natives that has helped the status and recording and teaching and provision of resources for these threatened languages most (American native, Aboriginal, etc etc). In Gaelic we can think of a recent list running from Dwelly to Akerbeltz via Colin Mark.

[Níall Beag]

I'm not a purist, and I'm not against language change, but everything has a natural pace. When you throw too many non-natives into a room together, you get the situation where natives end up taking their kids out of the school because they're picking up errors from their classmates.

There is a sustainable pace in language revitalisation, and if you go too quickly, you materially alter the language. For a language with 3 remaining native speakers, you cannot revitalise it at a sustainable pace -- it's too late. But there are people of all generations with unbroken native Gaelic in the family, and we have to be <i>very</i> careful not to crowd them out, but we're really not good at it.

As evidence, I'd point you to LearnGaelic.net. Click on interviews. At first glance, I identified 8 of the 25 listed interviewees as learners. This is material for learners. The last thing learners need is being flooded with mispronounced CHs and GHs -- we get enough of that in class.

The difference between a learner and a native may be understood by some families, and good on them, but the establishment is blind to it, and they're killing Gaelic. Once upon a time it was people who were against learning it that were to blame, but now it's us "friends of Gaelic" who're doing it.