I am
impressed by Haruka's vocabulary development. She already has quite a sizeable listening and speaking vocabulary for both Japanese and English language for a baby under 2 years old. Of course, girls pick up languages quicker, yet daddy is still gleaming with pride of his princess. I am glad we started her bilingual even under 6 months old by speaking in 2 la
nguages. I am also glad we started reading to her early. Now, as I read to Haruka, I can test her vocabulary for both languages. If she says correctly "sakana" when seeing fish in the book, I read out fish. I know her listening vocabulary already registers it, but she just forgot to say it. Yet, during this raining season, she could say "kasa umbrella" quickly when I point to the picture of the umbrella.
Th
ere is no need to worry whether the baby speaks with improper language and grammar when mixing 2 languages. In fact, it helps to build the baby's memory when the baby could associate 2 words together. A mother was worried that her child was still using some baby language together with an English word. For instance, baby says,"mum mum, eat". I would instead encourage such habit and even introduce a third foreign word with eat. Soon, the baby will give up using the baby language since it is less used in daily conversation with others. Though, the concept of having more than 1 word to describe an action or noun is best learn soonest possible. Even if the baby mixes between languages, the most important is that the baby is able to express himself/herself with as many words he/she can think of immediately.
Intere
stingly, a Japanese research found that Japanese babies used less nouns than babies from English-speaking countries. In Japan, babies used five times more nouns than verbs, while its 12:1 in English-speaking countries. The researcher explains that English-speaking parents emphasizes teaching on the words and names of things, while in Asia, parents tend to stress emotions and feelings.
So do you emphasize more nouns than verbs or the other way around? Have you started your baby on a second language?
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(Photos show more fun at Hong Kong Ocean Park and tasty, unhealthy, yummy Hong Kong food).
