Re: Please welcome . . .

On  11 Dec, Mark J. Reed wrote:

>Connor Sebastian Reed
>Born 2002-12-11 08:24 UTC
>8lbs11oz/3.95kg  22in/56cm
va'i ne duhl auag utfis wfozuh!

(May he grow quickly and succeed even faster!)


    Regarding raising kids to be bilingual
(in natlangs, that is):
    Many kids born and raised here in Israel
these days are bilingual with no problems!
(They speak the Hebrew of the culture around them
and the language of their parents, in the event that
it is not Hebrew.)
    For that matter, I once knew a kid who spoke
_four_ langs: English to his father, French to his
mother, Hebrew with his friends, and Hungarian
with his grandparents!
    The one _big_ piece of advice that I have
is: encourage, but do not under any circumstances
_force_! That is to say, expose the kid to
multiple langs (it also helps if the context is
consistent, ie a given lang is to be spoken to a given
parent or in a given situation or in a given place
or with a given activity, etc  --- this helps the kid organize
things in his head.) Expose him to speech and
even written materials as long as he is curious,
but if he show signs of "enough",
don't force the issue! Show him again another day!
With love and patience, it usually works!
    (BTW, my own kids were raised bilingual
in Hebrew and English and had no problems
coping with both langs!)
    Congratulations and best of luck!

Dan Sulani
-------------------------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

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