natalie Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 My ds8 has been pleading with me to teach him Japanese for the past two years. Apparently, his invisible friend "Bob", who has been with us since ds was two, is living and working in Japan these days :). Ds8 has informed me that he needs to speak Japanese to communicate with "Bob" and his new friends. Help! I don't think this is just a passing phase since he has been asking for two years now. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 That's cute :) my son's imaginary friend lived in (much less exciting) Virginia! I think I'd start by letting him watch familiar movies dubbed in Japanese .. or (since he's eight and presumably reading?) maybe watching Japanese kid films with English subtitles. My kids love Totoro, and two of my local libraries even carry it - surprising because we're out in the boondocks. There are so many options ... In the meanwhile, I'll bump you up and hope that someone with a better suggestion can chime in :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 You can reassure him that most people in Japan speak English as well. ;) Can you swing Rosetta Stone? If he is motivated, he is old enough to use it to learn Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionfamily1999 Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 That's cute :) my son's imaginary friend lived in (much less exciting) Virginia! I think I'd start by letting him watch familiar movies dubbed in Japanese .. or (since he's eight and presumably reading?) maybe watching Japanese kid films with English subtitles. My kids love Totoro, and two of my local libraries even carry it - surprising because we're out in the boondocks. There are so many options ... In the meanwhile, I'll bump you up and hope that someone with a better suggestion can chime in :) Hey now... Virginia can be quite an exciting place. We had rain today, yeah, rain. It totally broke up the periods of varying heat and humidity ;) Now, that is excitement! BBC Languages Homepage: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/ Click "other" and the next page has a tab for Japanese... oh and I think it might be freeeeeeeee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychgal Posted July 31, 2009 Share Posted July 31, 2009 If he's wanting to learn it, the younger the better for languages! That's so neat. Great imagination. "Chicken Jane" just speaks ordinary chickenese, but luckily my dd can translate proficiently already. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 You can reassure him that most people in Japan speak English as well. ;) Well, they study it. My parents had a Japanese exchange student live with them for a few months. He was my younger brother's age, about 12th grade, I think. He had studied English for several years in school in Japan, but it was mostly written English, and possibly the theory of speaking it. He didn't actually get oral practice until he came to the US as an exchange student. Then he picked it up quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 My ds8 has been pleading with me to teach him Japanese for the past two years. Apparently, his invisible friend "Bob", who has been with us since ds was two, is living and working in Japan these days :). Ds8 has informed me that he needs to speak Japanese to communicate with "Bob" and his new friends. Help! I don't think this is just a passing phase since he has been asking for two years now. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thanks. My 10 yr old ds has been obsessed with Japan for 6 years! I don't think it's a passing phase for your son. Dh got him Japanese language software, but we haven't used it yet. It's not for kids though; I don't think it's going to work well. I did just see a program recently, but I think it was for preschoolers. We just took ds to the art museum again, so he can see the Japanese section. And we're repeating a vacation at a New York family camp, because they have Japanese culture sharing there! He just had a Japanese birthday party! It was a blast. Enjoy your son and Bob! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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