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English or Mother Tongue
4

English or Mother Tongue

English or Mother Tongue

(OP)
Hello all,
This may be different type of question.

I'm a structural engineer working in Sri Lanka. My mother tongue is Sinhalese. We had our primary education in Sinhalese medium and at the university we had our engineering education in english medium. All our day-to-day works are conducted in english. Most of students in university found some difficulty dealing with english as they had had their primary education in sinhalese medium.

Now we have the oppotunity to educate our children either in sinhalese or english medium from small age. Anyway, Well conversant in english has clear advantages in this region.

My question is if I give my child an english medium education which is not his mother tongue, will that affect his early development of thinking / analytical ability.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Clefcon

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I am no expert on this, but I think learning both languages from an early age would improve your child's thinking and analytical skills.  Children soak up languages much faster than adults.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

According to a friend, who is an educational psychologist, a bi-lingual education, from an early age is fairly widely accepted as having a beneficial effect on other areas of the child's education.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

2
English is a valuable common language and it is often the language of choice even as a second language for both speakers where their first languages are different. But it does not have to be an either/or choice.

Children are said to have an innate ability to learn languages; several at once. Children I know from multi-ethnic families and families living in a new culture have no problem learning two or more languages and keeping them separate.

My wife speaks around eight languages, not all equally well. She is most fluent in the three languages she learned as a child.

Children are also very adept at discovering the social rules that tells them how to behave in different circumstances.  

My sister, a teacher, asked her children why they didn't behave at home the way they behaved at school. Simple, different rules. In other words they have few problems sorting out often complex social surroundings and learning different behaviours to suit.

One of my brothers in laws family had a three language environment for their children to grow up in. Their children learned early on the appropriate rules for when they had company and which languages they could and couldn't use.
When they had English only guests they were only allowed to speak English. One time when we were visiting the little boy  lapsed into his parents native language. His mother promptly spoke to him about it:
"What did I tell you about speaking only in English to our guests?"
"Oh, yes, I must speak to them in English," he replied, " but I was talking to myself."

The main problem would appear to be making sure the child is comfortable among his peer group at having several languages.
A French woman, living in England and teaching French and speaking perfect English, could never get her son to learn French because it is thought he felt it would set him aside from his friends. (She was a single parent and thus, at home, there was no opportunity for him to see French as a natural conversational language in that environment and he couldn't, it seems, understand why she wanted to talk to him in French when they both could speak English. Sad, because it meant that eventually, if he did learn French, it would be in the English school system - which is, apparently, to drop oral exams in foreign languages as it is too stressful- and not from his mother.)

Multi-generational immigrants can often experience the situation that the grandparents speak their native language only, the parents usually speak both languages but the children, even if they learn their family's native language at home can find it uncomfortable to speak it and soon begin to forget it or refuse to speak it. This leaves the parents having to act as interpreters between the children and their grandparents. It appears such children have no problems learning other languages if their peer's at school are also learning them.

For children it isn't a problem with capacity, they can learn several languages with ease if they are young enough. The real problem would be to help set some clear rules and expectations of them in the home environment so that they will be comfortable speaking the languages the family will use in the home environment.
The saddest thing is where the children lose the ability to talk with their elder relatives.
 

JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com

RE: English or Mother Tongue

As a parent of a bilingual child (speaking English and Korean), I do not think there is any downside.  We live in America, my son (5yr) attends a primarily Korean-speaking preschool.  He translates for some of the teachers/students that do not understand Korean well.  At the end of this cycle, he will attend an English-speaking grade school.  At home he speaks Korean with his mother and English with me.  He has no trouble keeping both languages straight in his head.

I think if you are going to immerse your children in an English-only curriculum, it would be safe to use your mother tongue and customs at home.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

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RE: English or Mother Tongue

There are a few schools in Australia that teach in two separate languages so that the children can learn language skills at an early age.

They have found that once a child learns a second language, it is easier for them to learn additional languages.

Definately a good idea to teach them both languages from an early age.

Theat is just my two cents.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I'd say as long as they're going to speak (read/write) enough Sinhalese at home to pick it up then using primarily English as school might be a very good idea.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: English or Mother Tongue

My daughters are 5 & 3. We speak spanish at home (I guess you could call it their mother tongue since it was what they first learned), english in the street and they are in french a immersion school (I have to start learning french). There is some anglicisms that they mix now and then in the spanish conversation and we quickly correct them. They are quite fluent in the three languages and have not had any development problems so far. I'd be surprised if they ever have any.
They can have phone conversations & listen to music in all three (phone and lyrics are the most difficult things to understand in a foreign language).
That is my experience.

RE: English or Mother Tongue


It is a well-documented fact that people who learn two or more languages as young children absorb and learn other languages much easier as adults.  A child's brain is wired to learn language up to about the age of 8, but I've heard it is best to start exposure to a second language by the age of 3 to get maximum benefit.

I spoke French with my grandfather,  Italian with my grandmother and English with my parents.  When I was married to a German, I learned to speak well enough to communicate with his parents in German.  Practice is essential for retention and for that I would suggest only the most gentle corrections on use and pronunciation.  Encourage your children to use both.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I agree with the first two responders.

The Key is  NOT to deprive children of the mother tongue (if other than English) or your own culture, while trying to learn English or any other subject. Encourage them to learn both or more. The brain does not get strained if by learnig more by just being subjected to information in normal life. Knowing more can only be beneficial.

Not knowing his/her own mother tongue and culture is equally detrimental to growth and fitting in the society. I have seen many confused children of foreign decent when they know nothing about theri own cultures.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Just to add to my previous post..I am of indian origin living in the USA for years..it is not the matter of either/Or.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

rbulsara, that's what I meant to imply with what I said about speaking mother tongue at home.  

I know people of Hispanic decent, 3rd or 4th generation in USA in their 30s, that don't speak spanish, I know they regret their parents not teaching them when they were younger.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Thanks, Kenat. I agree. Incidently, I was in a meeting only a few days ago where someone indicated as to how someone of a spanish decent was very disappointed with his parents too because they purposely did not teach him Spanish and he could not converse with a relative that knew only Spanish.

In fact I am glad that my relatives here who have childern born here in the USA, make no attempt to teach them English at home but rather keep speaking our native language. Childern learn english in the USA by default, going to school, playing with friends and watching TV!, etc.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

My 2 cents are this.....

From the age of birth till 5 yrs old the Amish people (google it if you dont understand) teach their kids and speak only to those kids in a "form" of the german language.  At 5 they attend school till they are 14.  they are taught english from that point forward.  All religeous activities are done in thier german dialect.  All business activities involving us english people amongst themselves are delt with in german.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I would like to contradict some opinions above, with some of the every day facts;- I grew up in Europe and I do speak few languages. Initially I picked up a language from friends and neighbours, then further those with appropriate studies, including my uni studies. Spanish, russian, hungarian (extremely difficult), romanian and some english. I can get around with some french and german...
However, this is not uncommon in Europe. However, is that Europe which is also strugling with keeping up some decent economical standard, when compared with the "ignorant" yanks, who are a little dot on the competition horizont, ahead of the rest. They speak (poorly) one language, the american english, but the whole word can't get enough to follow them. Every spanish, hungarian and even french are learning the american english, because they hate the british accent. I accept that I feel better that I know who Alain Delon was, when the yanks cannot spell "english", but that's a different cattle of fish...
cheers guys!

RE: English or Mother Tongue

gr2vessels

Interesting, we have a lot of european interns that come over to us (CA USA).  Most of them learnt British English.

Likewise when I was still in the UK most Europeans I met spoke British English.

The obvious exception was a group of Germans who came from near one of the big US bases, they spoke more American English.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Well, I am coming from the wrong side of the river..but still, the musical instrument and the latin were compulsory subjects. It was snob to speak a british accent and to learn a Texan accent was hard work, but highly appreciated with the young ones...I chose the Russian studies before english...
Privet!
gr2vessels

RE: English or Mother Tongue

(OP)
Thanks folks,
Your comments are invaluable.

Clefcon

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Hi all,

I'm spanish/english speaker, and I like to think of languages as just the thinner, outer communication layers.  Languages are just varying enclosures of thoughts and feelings shared by everyone in all continents.

I usually contact many american and european customers by Skype or email, so I had to learn english at a late age (20+).

Since I started to get into the customer concerns about deadlines or budget, and found that everyone act the same under stress, I realized I was just starting to speak english :)

GonzaloEE

RE: English or Mother Tongue

... so when you talk to yourself (and don't we all?) what language do you use?

(Did I just write that out loud?)

- Steve

RE: English or Mother Tongue

When I'm reading an email or PDF in english, sometimes I got an english CNN newsreader inside.
When reading maths, formulae or equations, sometimes an spanish reader appears, no matter if it's EN/SP written.  Some called it "talking to myself".
With technical requirements from EN-speaking customers, sometimes I hear that 'internal CNN reader', and complex details are translated by the spanish reader inside.

I guess most people tend to hear these 'voices' always in their native language when dealing with complex text, no matter the source language.

PS: This thread has a schyzophrenic taste, hehe.

Regards,
GonzaloEE

RE: English or Mother Tongue

BTW, talking to oneself may be common on TV or movies, though doing it too often means you are working too much and need some holidays :)

Regards,
GEE

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I recently met a couple with a young child, working in Finnish Lapland. He was Spanish and she Austrian. They had met on an Erasmus univeristy exchange programme, so they spoke together in English, but each would speak to their son in their own mother tongue. They were quite confident that the boy would grow up fluent in 4 languages.

But of course being Finnish, he'll say nothing in any of them.

smile

Quite a lot of university studies are available in English in European universities; they do it to facilitate student exchanges (Erasmus exchange). 'Erasmus English' is understandable, but has a fairly limited vocabulary, and nobody bothers much about grammar. Most of the students learnt some English from local teachers in their school-days, so they don't have an identifiably 'British' or 'American' accent.

The most difficult person to understand in an international group here is invariably me. I don't know why; I speak perfect, classic, accentless Australian...

RE: English or Mother Tongue

just to throw this out there...i took italian for 4 years in high school..

i was just on a vacation to mexico....i learned more spanish in 1 week, compared to the amount i remember from the 4 years in italian...

beleive me i wish i was able to go back and relearn italian and spanish...even tho they are so similar....

~~Joe

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Is the Erasmus program for any Uni. program or is it just for Engineering?

I went to a technical Uni. and didn’t think the Erasmus English was that limited, well I guess when people first started the no-native speakers where really bad. But after a couple month most of my friends became pretty fluent with English and even (field specific) technical terms.  I guess the technical stuff may depend on the country you study and the professors.

I have been told differently from freinds and family about ‘Erasmus English’ that it was very clear and to the point. Because all the slang, and many useless words cut out, and a good attempt at appropriate pronunciation, with a hint of a British accent.   I know some locations on the US where the English barely resemble English. I guess its pritty relitive, to people, location, and education.
 

RE: English or Mother Tongue

There's the usual Erasmus undergrad exchange programmes (I think they can be in any subject area), and there's also the Erasmus Mundus Master's degrees in a range of fields. These require students to study in at least 2 different countries. If anyone is interested, they're listed here: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/mundus/projects/index_en.html   They have some quite juicy scholarship grants available for non-Europeans.

I'm not saying that Erasmus English is necessarily 'bad', just that it is simple. As a social lingua franca it's fine, impressively so. On the other hand I've proofread quite a few students' papers and theses over the past few months, and they range from incomprehensible to barely adequate. Grammar is the killer, and it's probably not helped much by studying and socialising with other people that aren't fully cognisant of the rules.

I shouldn't be too critical though; I have to start learning Spanish soon.

Getting back to the OP, a primary education in English is probably the best way to develop an understanding of things like the proper use of articles and prepositions. As several posters have mentioned, kids are smart, they can be comfortably bilingual.

RE: English or Mother Tongue

I  agree with NNCGRAD.  After taking German lessons, I could watch deutsche movies, or talk with a few german friends by Skype fairly well.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t speak too often and forgot a lot of deutsch.
Anyway, German is much like English in grammar (both languages share a common Germanic root), and easier to speak for people with a Spanish background (harsh sounds).  I hope to get on track again with it.

Cheers,
Gonzalo

RE: English or Mother Tongue

Mother tongue or Father tongue?   

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