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More than trilingual?

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
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BiaHuda
Triglot
Groupie
Vietnam
Joined 5364 days ago
97 posts - 127 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Vietnamese
Studies: Cantonese

 
 Message 57 of 80
21 October 2010 at 12:37am | IP Logged 
NotKeepingTrack wrote:
I'm curious how many people weighing in on this debate actually have children.

It is much easier for a child to pick up languages than it is to pick them up as an adult. And I don't think anyone here would argue that knowing more than one language is extremely beneficial, especially if you can achieve near-native fluency.


How is this child going to achieve near native fluency when the teacher doesn't speak the language?
1 person has voted this message useful



eroopable
Newbie
United States
Joined 5171 days ago
12 posts - 15 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: French

 
 Message 58 of 80
21 October 2010 at 1:00am | IP Logged 
Well, I had a French teacher in high school, who spoke French, English and Spanish. Her mother was from Spain, her father was from America and they lived in France. So she got her Spanish from her mother, her English from her father and her French from her classmates and other French people.

Her accent was really weird.
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fireflies
Senior Member
Joined 5182 days ago
172 posts - 234 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 59 of 80
21 October 2010 at 1:26am | IP Logged 
I think the German actor Daniel Brühl is a great example of a trilingual who uses it to his advantage. His mom is Spanish and his dad is German and he can act in all 3 languages. His German sounds so good...it's like an advert for the language.

There is a bit of luck behind having the opportunity to learn 2 from native parents as a child while also getting instruction in English from an early age. Luck and talent.



Edited by fireflies on 21 October 2010 at 1:31am
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Old Chemist
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5174 days ago
227 posts - 285 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German

 
 Message 60 of 80
21 October 2010 at 9:18am | IP Logged 
eroopable wrote:
Well, I had a French teacher in high school, who spoke French, English and Spanish. Her mother was from Spain, her father was from America and they lived in France. So she got her Spanish from her mother, her English from her father and her French from her classmates and other French people.

Her accent was really weird.

Me too, I knew someone like that! I thought she was really strange and most people - probably unfairly - avoided her, although she was reputedly a "man-eater" Anyway, it seemed to me that her brain was subtlely different, that she was an excellent mimic for the languages she knew, but it had somehow got all mixed up, so that she would speak English with a authentic French accent that would dip into German and then become perfect BE English.
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John Smith
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6043 days ago
396 posts - 542 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 61 of 80
21 October 2010 at 10:37am | IP Logged 

Many actors can ACT in lots of languages. Notice the word act. They have dialect/language coaches to help them master their lines.

Wish I had one of those at home for each of the languages I'm learning.

fireflies wrote:
I think the German actor Daniel Brühl is a great example of a trilingual who uses it to his advantage. His mom is Spanish and his dad is German and he can act in all 3 languages. His German sounds so good...it's like an advert for the language.

There is a bit of luck behind having the opportunity to learn 2 from native parents as a child while also getting instruction in English from an early age. Luck and talent.


1 person has voted this message useful



John Smith
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Australia
Joined 6043 days ago
396 posts - 542 votes 
Speaks: English*, Czech*, Spanish
Studies: German

 
 Message 62 of 80
21 October 2010 at 10:48am | IP Logged 
When you grow up speaking two languages (like me) you don't really speak language A and language B.

What you speak is language AB. The two languages feel as though they exist in the same part of your brain and are tangled up. A influences B and B influences A.

One influences the other. They aren't two seperate systems.

As a result native speakers of language A find my use of language A a little strange. Just a little mind you. Native speakers of language B also find my use of language B slightly odd. Just slightly. They can tell that something else is going on in my head than theirs.



A tiger




A lion



A lion/tiger hybrid known as a tigon or a liger. What you are doing to your child.














NotKeepingTrack wrote:
I'm curious how many people weighing in on this debate actually have children.

It is much easier for a child to pick up languages than it is to pick them up as an adult. And I don't think anyone here would argue that knowing more than one language is extremely beneficial, especially if you can achieve near-native fluency. So why is it not okay for a parent to want to give their child the best start possible? What is the difference between requiring math and requiring language?
I can say that I certainly use language much more than I do math. I'm not saying drop math in favor of another language, but it can all easily be fit in.

FWIW, I have a 4 year old (native language English) who has been learning French for almost a year. We have recently started Spanish, and she knows some German.
In middle school and high school she will also study Latin. (I can say this for sure because I home school her, so her education is my decision.)
Granted, we sacrifice and study a little less math and phonics than we normally would to do all the languages, but luckily (for me :) ) she absolutely loves languages.


Your child will NEVER reach native fluency. Only native like fluency. He or she will be very close but not quite close enough.

Edited by John Smith on 21 October 2010 at 10:51am
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fireflies
Senior Member
Joined 5182 days ago
172 posts - 234 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 63 of 80
21 October 2010 at 1:07pm | IP Logged 
Once I saw a dramatiziation of a Marquez novel (Crónica de una muerte anunciada) with Rupert Everett in it. I was surprised beyond belief that he was chosen for that role because he is so very British. I don't remember him saying much (if anything) though so the casting worked out ok.

I would have thought that if the accents were bad enough you couldn't act in a movie. How many English speaking actors are there that could pull off German with a native accent in a movie?



Edited by fireflies on 21 October 2010 at 1:23pm
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jimbo
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Canada
Joined 6295 days ago
469 posts - 642 votes 
Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French
Studies: Japanese, Latin

 
 Message 64 of 80
21 October 2010 at 2:03pm | IP Logged 
John Smith wrote:
Your child will NEVER reach native fluency. Only native like fluency. He or she will be very
close but not quite close enough.


As long as one language is spoken at native fluency, who cares if the rest aren't perfect? Everything else is gravy.


2 persons have voted this message useful



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