Conversational foreign language?

[Desert Strawberry]

I want my children to be able to pick up any language and be able to negotiate a basic conversation in any city in the world. Obviously, I can't teach them every language in the world (we are hitting the big ones)  , so we are developing the skills necessary to acquire language quickly.

 

. I have this ability. I am not fluent in any language, besides English, but I can manage many. Native speakers often compliment me on my accent. It seems to be a rare skill.

 

My children are currently working on their third language. I plan to introduce at least 4 more. 

 

Is anyone else taking this approach, as opposed to in-depth study of a single language? 

 

At some point, they will probably do a more traditional study, but at that point, I think all of this exposure will help immensely with language acquisition.

[Elisabet1]

I did not. But my daughter did, by her choice. She wanted to be a linguistics major too, and she got in to the program for college, however, the financial aid was not there.

 

She is fluent in English and French. She also has a fair amount of Japanese, Gaelic, Latin, and sign language.

 

If I were you, I would pick some languages you are ok to go with, and then let the kids pick from there (if they have preferences). Or pick according to availability. In our case, Gaelic is taught at the community center by the Gaelic League here. So check your area (next town over for us) and see what you can find.

 

In college...where she ended up deciding to go, she will be taking Chinese, Japanese, and French. She already tested out of the conversational levels in French so for French, she will be taking French lit and such.  I wish she would just try German. I think that would round out her education by giving her a basis of most of the European languages.

[Desert Strawberry]

Yes, I have chosen up to this point, based on availability and need. Now I let them choose from a list. 

 

They have done Spanish and some Cajun French. They are now doing Japanese. I grew up speaking some Spanish, and lived in Japan, so I have conversational skills there. Cajun French is the local language, but resources are not great. We will come back to it, as well as continental French. 

 

My list includes Mandarin, German, Portuguese, Russian and Arabic at a minimum. But I am flexible depending on circumstances and desires.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I have that same talent of being able to pick up languages fairly easily.  Except Cantonese.  A good friend from high school speaks a dialect of Cantonese, and her entire family would laugh hysterically at me when I tried to speak it.  :lol:

 

My older son has retained quite a bit of the French he's learned, and would probably be more like me with the language acquisition skills.  The younger one- not so much.  He seems to have inherited my husband's "language deafness".

 

We've been casually working on French and Latin, but I don't have plans to introduce other languages unless they want them.

[Hottater]

what are you using to teach conversational foreign language? I am all ears, I speak cantonese, but have no cantonese friends, and no substantial curriculum for it. My kids are mixed and don't know a lick of mandarin or cantonese.

 

 

[LisaD]

Yes- I would be interested in knowing what resources you are using also. :)

[Gil]

Funny, I came here to ask a similar question. I would like my boys to get serious with 3 languages. My boys are young (6 and 7yo in 1st grade). We are mostly monolingual but learning Spanish like crazy right now and making some great progress. They want to do Japanese. I want them to be functional / conversational in every language that they study. I'd rather go miles deep in 2 or 3 languages than get a few inches in a dozen.

Right now, our tentative plan is something like this:

1st - 2nd - Conversational Spanish and learning Kana + Kanji (to read Japanese)

3rd - 4th: - Conversational Japanese, while Spanish via daily media exposure (books, movies, games, internet) and biweekly Spanish group.

5th - 6th: - Study 2 subjects in Spanish while Japanese receives more support. (Possibly go to Japan for 4-6 months at this time).

Quit all English media in the home.

 

I think that another Asian language would be good and marketable since we intend to stay in the States but I'd like to work abroad. I will encourage the boys to learn one like Korea, Hindi, Mandarin or something, but I may let them pick anything that they want to learn. I don't want to plan too detailed or too much, but I think that if they can get a good grip on spoken and written Japanese and Spanish by 7th grade then we can find a way to add more Spanish and Japanese language content to their day and that by 9th grade they should be ready to add a 3rd language that will carry them through high school. This layout will give them 12 years of Spanish, 10 of Japanese and 4 of a third language.

[Miss Tick]

I love the idea, but I don't think I can make it a high enough priority to happen (something always has to give) unless one of my dc expresses interest in their own. We've been working on Spanish and this year added Latin, both choices reflect my perceived ability to teach them. I would like to add a third language in 4 years, but likely it would really replace one of those.

Your idea if getting them conversational in multiple languages sounds so practical! If there is not enough interest for deep study of one language, why not be functional in many?

[YaelAldrich]

Funny, I came here to ask a similar question. I would like my boys to get serious with 3 languages. My boys are young (6 and 7yo in 1st grade). We are mostly monolingual but learning Spanish like crazy right now and making some great progress. They want to do Japanese. I want them to be functional / conversational in every language that they study. I'd rather go miles deep in 2 or 3 languages than get a few inches in a dozen.

Right now, our tentative plan is something like this:

1st - 2nd - Conversational Spanish and learning Kana + Kanji (to read Japanese)

3rd - 4th: - Conversational Japanese, while Spanish via daily media exposure (books, movies, games, internet) and biweekly Spanish group.

5th - 6th: - Study 2 subjects in Spanish while Japanese receives more support. (Possibly go to Japan for 4-6 months at this time).

Quit all English media in the home.

 

I think that another Asian language would be good and marketable since we intend to stay in the States but I'd like to work abroad. I will encourage the boys to learn one like Korea, Hindi, Mandarin or something, but I may let them pick anything that they want to learn. I don't want to plan too detailed or too much, but I think that if they can get a good grip on spoken and written Japanese and Spanish by 7th grade then we can find a way to add more Spanish and Japanese language content to their day and that by 9th grade they should be ready to add a 3rd language that will carry them through high school. This layout will give them 12 years of Spanish, 10 of Japanese and 4 of a third language.

Just to speak to your plans for Japanese.  I'm nowhere near fluent or even really conversational in Japanese (yet), but I have watched my husband (native fluency level according to the State Dept tests) and your kids can certainly learn hiragana, katakana and some basic kanji but to be truly literate in (written) Japanese (to read a newspaper) you need to be able to read 2000 kanji or more.  My husband worked on hiragana and katakana for almost two years in college, then had to memorize many, many kanji by the end of college, through grad school and exchanges to Japan.  He would spend hours every week memorizing.

 

Korean is easier to pick up than Chinese (of any dialect) both grammatically and spoken Korean.

[Arcadia]

 I speak cantonese, but have no cantonese friends, and no substantial curriculum for it. My kids are mixed and don't know a lick of mandarin or cantonese.

 

I learnt all my conversational Cantonese from Hong Kong's TVB family dramas on VHS tapes.  My hubby being Cantonese would laugh at my pronunciation of course but I can understand my in-laws :)

[umsami]

I wish I had the resources, but I don't.  Right now, I'd be happy if my kids could get conversational Egyptian Arabic and French.  

[Desert Strawberry]

We have used a variety of materials of varying quality. Now we are using Mango, free through our public library. It's fantastic. We are only a few days in, and my kids already greet each other in beautiful Japanese.

[EndOfOrdinary]

My son wants to be a polygot and began directly expressing an interest when he was 4.  We did Spanish (exposure mostly) when he was 4-6.  At 6 we began formal study of Spanish, and a year later Latin.   Latin was my request and it has really paired well with the Spanish.  Studying them together has really vaulted not only his Spanish, but his English and his Latin.  They just all connect so well. Next year, by his choice we are adding Ancient Greek.  I have had schooling in the Spanish and Latin (though I am not fluent), but will be learning Ancient Greek with him.

 

We have the rule that he has to work for two solid years in formal study and then he can add another language.  He is not allowed to drop languages, but can move them to reading and conversating as opposed to formal studying.  With two years of study he is generally able to read in the language from books at the library or various works on the Internet.

 

The next one he wants to add in a couple years is Japanese, then Italian and Arabic.  He is rather fascinated with Sanskrit and Hindi, but hasn't really openly desired to learn them just yet.  As far as I am learning, going with Sanskrit to Hindi to Arabic is much like Latin to Spanish to English.  We might begin exposure to those, then study them rather concurrently.

[Desert Strawberry]

I haven't considered setting a time limit on adding new languages. Thus far, we have done one per year. But that is more practical and coincidental than intentional. We are just now moving from exposure to conversation, meaning that at some point we will have to circle back to French and Spanish. 

Something to think about.

[YaelAldrich]

We're learning Biblical (and on a lesser scale Modern) Hebrew, Japanese, and Latin.  It's time consuming -- that's the biggest issue with our homeschool schedule.  They all take time and with our dual curriculum (Jewish studies and Secular Studies) we have LONG days, as long as their friends in Jewish day schools, but I know we are squeezing more in our day.  I would love them to take up Spanish some day, but I think we will all burst if that happens!

[SorrelZG]

I was inclined to do that until I realized the local language wasn't going to be as easy for me and then I dropped all plans for anything else. I will try again when we are at a comfortable level with the one we really need.

[EndOfOrdinary]

When we add Greek next September, I'm dreading the time squeeze.  Something tells me this is just my own worry, but I am very much making a point of trying to transition our Spanish now to more daily use.  Asking to food, giving commands, discussing where we are going.  Making a larger part of our day less studying Spanish into more of a directly usage I think will really lessen the time burden.

[crazyforlatin]

For those interested in Cantonese or Mandarin, there are always Saturday classes if you live in a fairly diverse or populated area. We've been attending various ones since DD was little. No one enjoys them apparently, after an entire week at school, but for DD, she looks forward to class, sitting at a desk with other kids. It's such a popular language now that there is no shortage of these classes.

[Gil]

Just to speak to your plans for Japanese.  I'm nowhere near fluent or even really conversational in Japanese (yet), but I have watched my husband (native fluency level according to the State Dept tests) and your kids can certainly learn hiragana, katakana and some basic kanji but to be truly literate in (written) Japanese (to read a newspaper) you need to be able to read 2000 kanji or more.  My husband worked on hiragana and katakana for almost two years in college, then had to memorize many, many kanji by the end of college, through grad school and exchanges to Japan.  He would spend hours every week memorizing.

 

Korean is easier to pick up than Chinese (of any dialect) both grammatically and spoken Korean.

Yeah, I have been reading up on this which with the boys which is why we've decided to begin learning written Japanese now.

 

If we learn 10 Kanji a week, for 2 years that will give us 1040 Kanji before we shift our foreign language focus to Japanese. We may up the pace when we hit 3rd grade and Japanese becomes a bigger priority, but even if we don't and we continue learning 10 Kanji a week that will be 10 Kanji a week for 208 weeks which will put us at the 2000+ Kanji needed for basic literacy.

There are some games / songs/ books that are meant to teach Kanji to kids and japanese language learners and I'll be picking up some of them gradually for when its time.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Yeah, I have been reading up on this which with the boys which is why we've decided to begin learning written Japanese now.

If we learn 10 Kanji a week, for 2 years that will give us 1040 Kanji before we shift our foreign language focus to Japanese. We may up the pace when we hit 3rd grade and Japanese becomes a bigger priority, but even if we don't and we continue learning 10 Kanji a week that will be 10 Kanji a week for 208 weeks which will put us at the 2000+ Kanji needed for basic literacy.
There are some games / songs/ books that are meant to teach Kanji to kids and japanese language learners and I'll be picking up some of them gradually for when its time.

This is a great idea! I had been wondering about this with my son. Since the language is not "western" I didn't exactly know how to go about teaching it. Unlike the other languages which we have learned, this is much more of a memorization focus. It is less organic - at least that is how it feels! Right now we are about two(ish) years out on Japanese. Perhaps we should begin doing this now so we can hit the ground running.

Do you have any resources for a good place to start with vocabulary?

Would it be a good idea to write out the words in each language? So you take the word "man" and have him write it out in English, Spanish, Greek, Latin, and Japanese. That seems like it would help make connections... Any experience here from others?

[Rosie_0801]

Would it be a good idea to write out the words in each language? So you take the word "man" and have him write it out in English, Spanish, Greek, Latin, and Japanese. That seems like it would help make connections... Any experience here from others?

 

Do you *want* them making those connections? The example my linguistics lecturer gave in class was the word "book." In English that is a thing with pages made of paper. In another language she knew (possibly a pidgin from PNG) it was a thing that was made of banana leaves. I found another such example when I was studying Auslan. The word "orientation" in English will give someone the impression you are about to talk about sexual orientation or perhaps orientation day at a new school. The word "orientation" in Auslan means which way your fingers and palm are pointing.

[Desert Strawberry]

Would it be a good idea to write out the words in each language? So you take the word "man" and have him write it out in English, Spanish, Greek, Latin, and Japanese. That seems like it would help make connections... Any experience here from others?

 

I would definitely not do that. One of the hardest parts of being multilingual is keeping all of the languages separate. It's so easy to slip from one to another. If you are using a language, you have to immerse yourself in that language. Otherwise it all becomes a jumble.

[Arcadia]

This is a great idea! I had been wondering about this with my son. Since the language is not "western" I didn't exactly know how to go about teaching it. Unlike the other languages which we have learned, this is much more of a memorization focus. It is less organic - at least that is how it feels! Right now we are about two(ish) years out on Japanese. Perhaps we should begin doing this now so we can hit the ground running.

Do you have any resources for a good place to start with vocabulary?

Would it be a good idea to write out the words in each language? So you take the word "man" and have him write it out in English, Spanish, Greek, Latin, and Japanese. That seems like it would help make connections... Any experience here from others?

 

Japan foundation Los Angeles E-learning links page

http://www.jflalc.org/jle-elearning.html

Japanese Language Proficiency Test information page on American Association of Teachers of Japanese

http://www.aatj.org/jlpt-resources

JLPT N5 (easiest)vocabulary list

http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt5/vocab/

JLPT N4 vocabulary list

http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/jlpt4/vocab/

 

A word can have more than one meaning.  It is better to translate from one language to another in the context of an entire sentence than to take one word and translate into many different languages.

 

If you have a Kinokuniya book store or a Japanese supermarket near you, try to talk to the cashier in Japanese.  I learn bits and pieces of other languages by buying groceries and food at ethnic places.

 

Let your child translate a sushi menu from Japanese to English, you can download from the internet. Something like page 7 of the below pdf link which has Japanese, German and some English.

http://takano.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/takano-city-menu.pdf