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This is not the typical chronological blog. Each blog entry is the beginning of a discussion of a problem that parents of adopted children may face. For these issues, I do not have all the answers but I do have questions. I invite you to comment on the blog under the specific topics and hopefully together we can help each other work out the problems we face. Please feel free to vent about your hard times and/or share advice on what may work for others. If you would like to suggest new topics please email me at hinkson@pcu.net. Check back often to see if any new comments can be of help. Also all the comments have to be OK'd before they post and so don't panic if they don't immediately show on the site. They will be posted soon.


Thursday, September 2, 2010

Keeping the native language

OK, if you adopt someone from a foreign country and hear them jabbering 90 miles an hour with their friends in their native tongue, it is hard to imagine that they could EVER lose their original language and completely replace it with yours, but it really happens. Some parents are happy to see the native tongue gone and some feel bad that they haven't done whatever it takes to keep their children bi-lingual. What can be done to keep the language? Any advice?
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4 comments:

  1. Just Another Day In ParadiseSeptember 2, 2010 at 4:52 PM

    SKYPE! We hope to skype weekly with a russian speaker

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  2. Just Another Day In ParadiseSeptember 2, 2010 at 4:53 PM

    Oh, and there is Ukrainian school about an hour away with weekend heritage classes, and ukrainian church services. It will be worth the drive, no doubt!

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  3. AndreasSeptember 3, 2010 at 7:46 AM

    eBay is a goldmine of Russian books, DVD's, computer games, posters, etc. Sit down with your child and let him pick out some of his favorites. (You may need to use Google Translate to prevent buying something that does not belong in your home.) Once these items arrives, designate a place to keep them what they have access to and let them know that this is something for them that they can watch\read\play with. Not only will this help them retain their native language, your child soon discovers that it provides comfort to them during hard times. When your child is having a rough day, you will find that he will begin using this 'media library' as comfort and a way to relax, similar to you curling up in front of your favorite show after a long day.

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  4. Christy HinksonSeptember 9, 2010 at 8:15 AM

    I heard that if they keep reading in Russian that it helps. Our son who learned Russian as an adult says that the hardest part is learning how to make the new sounds with your mouth and so if the children spoke the language as a child, they learned the sounds and even if they forget some of the vocabulary, the language will quickly return once they have the need to speak it again. They will always have a headstart with the skills they developed as they learned to speak.

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