best thing I've read today

[eimarra]

There were some cute April Fool's things (like Squidpunk!), but the best thing is serious, touching, and completely topical for me.

Not Now, Sweetie, Daddy's Worldbuilding by Tim Pratt

And in a somewhat related bit . . . I'm thinking of trying to pick up at least smatterings of another language via podcasts. Clearly, Rowena's just hearing (currently) English and gibberish phonemes. Will it slow her language acquisition much (or at all) to be exposed to such a podcast? Does that depend on how similar the languages are? I mean, is it going to make a difference whether I choose Russian or German or Italian or Japanese or Thai? (iTunes doesn't appear to have Finnish, which would also be very cool.)

Comments

[chipmunk-planet.livejournal.com]

Actually, exposure to other languages before the age of five greatly increases language ability, as well as the ability to pick up a new language. So listen to as many as you like!

[eimarra]

I'd heard previously that it initially slowed their speech, but then offered greater facility later. But if it's not going to be an issue, great!

Thanks for chiming in.

[saetter.livejournal.com]

My son is two and speaks both English and Spanish with almost the same fluency (he speaks at the same level as our nanny's daughter who is his age). He even knows when to switch for the person who only speaks one or the other. Exposing your child to more than one languae won't stunt her language.

And don't pick up Finnish. I spent 9 months in Finland during college, loved it and mets tons of great people, but unless you're a gifted linguist, pick another language. :)

[eimarra]

I'm a glutton for punishment, and I always did well in the language classes I took. But Finnish isn't available on podcast, or at the BBC languages page (though the latter does provide some description:

Although the language makes no distinction as to gender, and has no articles, either definite or indefinite, the number of case forms for nouns is staggering: while German has four cases, Latin five, and Russian six, Finnish has no fewer than fifteen!

Who could resist that?)

Okay, it seems unanimous--go for it. Now I just have to decide which language!

[hoshikaze.livejournal.com]

*Votes for Japanese*. In addition to the podcasts you can also watch anime movies in Japanese for the reinforcement of the language learning (or if you are into other foreign movies it's the same principle really ~_^). I've been watching anime for years and picking up various words and phrases.

The earlier people can start learning different languages the better. I took Spanish lessons in elementary school and I sounded pretty close to a natural Spanish speaker with my pronunciation. When I started German in 7th grade it was harder (not to hard, but it took longer to get the sounds closer to a natural speaker). I'm pretty good with Japanese sounds, but I hear the language quite a bit with watching Anime and listening to Japanese music. :)

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

You might like to take a look at Mark Rosenfelder's excellent article on the subject of languages and learning.

[eimarra]

Oooh, thanks! Much appreciated. *goes off to read*

[eimarra]

Interesting. It leads me to think that perhaps her most likely reaction is going to be either confusion or unhappiness that I'm not speaking English to her. Also, some unlikeliness that she's going to pick up the language herself. Thanks for the reference.

[l-clausewitz.livejournal.com]

And yet, the difficulties that the article mentions should only spur you to find ways to get around them. I'm sure you'll be able to find some if you try hard enough.

[eimarra]

Probably. For example, the six-year-old is interested in Spanish, so if I started speaking it with that kid, the baby would probably want to speak it as she got older so she wasn't being left out. Though that's not high on the list of languages I want to learn, actually.

But yes, generally I can find ways of doing things once I decide I want to.