Masha's rabbit hole

multilingual children issue

I was researching on multilingual kids issues in the internet the other day 'cause I wanted to know more about myself... like how my brain works, etc. I found some intersting discussions on several web sites about this issue. (listed below) However, most of the resource that I found was "how to bring up your children bilingually." I've no intention to have my own children for a while, so that didn't interest me too much, though I learned there are a lot of parents out there who want their children to speak more languages than they do.
Anyway, some points that they argued related to myself. Here I go, I decided to analyze myself.

I used to be both a late speaker and a slow speaker. A late speaker as I was little, my speaking level was a slightly lower than average kids of my age. (There was also this exam at a kindergarten that little ones had to see a random picture that doesn't look like anything but they have to tell what it is. I failed the first one and had to re-take it. As you see, the comprehension wasn't good as well) A slow speaker as it is, my tempo of speaking (Japanese primarily) was kinda slow. As I learned more English, my Japanese tempo has caught up a little though. (the tempo of English and Japanese are different.) I am still kind of a late speaker. I always get claimed by teachers that my essay, *college essay,* is too simple. I suppose the level of my essays are at like average American middle schoolers, although my punctuations are pretty good. There are some reason for this. Mainly, it's to do with multilingualism. In the abridged version of the essay, "Multilingual Japan," by John Maher and Kyoko Yashiro, it is described that in the most cases of cause of multilingualism(from parents to their children) as follows;

(L1=first language)
1) one-person/one-language, each parent using predominantly their L1
2) one-person/two languages, where at least one parent uses both languages
3) both use the societal language
4) both parents use only the minority language. More generally than between spouses, parents tend to use their L1 with their children, for emotional bonding and sometimes in a conscious attempt to impart their L1.

It's confusing so here's the example. Cat has international parents. Her mom is Japanese(1) and her dad is Italian(1). Her parents communicate each other Italian(2)(3) or English(4). Cat's dad talks to Cat in Italian(4), her mom talks to her in Japanese(4). At the same time, she goes to International American school in Switzerland where she is taught in English(3')(4).

In my case, it's a little bit different. I had to leave my Japanese parents at the age of 14 to my Swiss godparents, (they've known me since I was born). I learned English at junior high school from grade 7 to 9. However, speaking English to my Swiss godparents was a lot of work for me. I was also sorrounded by people who speak Swiss dialect of German. My language preference of that time was 1) Japanese, 2) English, 3) German, 4) Swiss German. So, as soon as I know that person knows even a little bit of the language ranked high in my list, I spoke to them in that language even though they preffered to speak in their primary language which ranked lower in my list. For instance, my Swiss godparents would talk to me in German and I answer in English (mixed with German. Nouns tend to be the language of the area)
they: (at dinner) Hast du genug? (did you have enough?)
me: ahm, can I bitte have some more Knöpfli? (ahm, can I have some more pasta please?) (if I feel better I might ask also, i ha noch Hunger. Kann ich bitte Kinder Schoggi haben?... which is mixture of German and Swiss dialect mixture.)
At grade 11th, I changed my school to American school in the area where people speak in Italian. I took some Italian classes, but never really taken German classes. now my language preference became as follows, 1) Japanese, 2) English, 3) Italian, 4) German, 5) Swiss German. As more different languages occupied me, my L1 ability deteriorated especially because Japanese was isolated in Switzerland, it was really hard for me to hear or use the language. There were some embarassing moments that I experienced as well. I couldn't switch the language as fast as I was supposed to. At the beginning, when I went to see my parents in Japan, it took some time to switch my language back completely to Japanese. A real coolest person with two or more languages never makes such a mistake as saying English "yeah" to your friends when you're supposed to say "うん。(un)" in Japanese. (reference to an article written by a German woman who has been trying to raise her children billingual.)

What is supposed to happen and also involving facts were as the website I mentioned earlier explains; "[the writer] Yashiro also counts as returnees adult professionals who are influential in promoting international understanding. In sum, [in Japan] there is a much greater variety of returnees than the stereotype of English-speaking, Westernized schoolchildren. Some have neither an international outlook nor L2 profiency because they stuck with fellow Japanese while living abroad. [...] As sojourners average four years abroad, maintenance of their Japanese language and culture is an important issue. Children's Japanese reading and writing does deteriorate rapidly, even speaking if Japanese is not heard, so L1 maintenance is necessary with a view to their eventual return. The younger the child, the more rapidly language ability can shift, and catching up in schools after returning is very difficult. Thus for L1 maintenance there are 87 Japanese schools and 159 weekend schools abroad with financial aid from the Mombusho. They follow the domestic curriculum and are not able to admit non-Japanese. Very few returnees now have serious problems of linguistic or cultural readjustment. [...] 64% of primary and middle school returnees attended host country schools and are presumed by Yashiro to have become bilingual to some extent. But then the problem shifts to maintaining their L2, for which no official programs exist. Adult returnees have greater opportunities to use their L2, but schoolchildren tend to be preoccupied with catching up in school and readjusting socially. The relatively few whose L1 did deteriorate can find special classes, and progress has been made in ensuring that returnees are welcomed in regular schools, but public schools in particular have dodged the issue of L2 maintenance."

I was trying hard to make friends regardless of their nationalities nor the languages that they speak. I was flexible, and trying to maintain the mind that can accept whatever was going on around me. It is possoble that I was TOO flexible about the surroundings that I couldn't be stable even on my mother tongue.

continuing on,
so am I multilingual?
According to the article written by an ambassador, Marsha Rosenberg, I am semilingual. She says in this article, "Even the word "bilingualism" has different meanings for different families. For some families, having the ability to listen in two languages but speak in just one may constitute bilingualism, while other parents expect their kids not only to be bilingual, but also literate in both
languages. [...] The term balanced bilingualism is used to describe individuals who possess about the same fluency in two languages, while semilingualism refers to those who have deficiencies in both languages compared with monolinguals. These deficiencies could be in a reduced vocabulary, incorrect grammatical patterns, difficulty thinking or expressing emotions in one of the languages, etc. Few people are truly balanced bilinguals in both languages in all situations. One language is usually dominant. This dominance may be different for listening and speaking or for reading and writing and usually changes over time."

Some people asked me if I wanted to be a translator. I know I can't be a translator at this moment. It's difficult because I know each language has different concepts and the way of saying. My brain has to work full and still I have trouble translating quick enough. Could my way of thinking be a little simpler. I can't boast that I'm fluent and good at languages. Since Japanese is pretty unique, there's not many people who speak all these languages that I speak, still I've no intention to be a language teacher or translator. Well, I always wanted to speak good as comedians, though. (...that'll happen when I am able to get nuance and be fluent as native speakers.) Perhaps, I'll soon have to go to a speech therapy or approach a linguist if I start taking this what-now-is-only-a-minor-issue before somebody counts it as a speech defect.

I just can't stand if all my speach abilities won't improve, since I've been always excused wherever I go, whatever I speak. Like people don't really correct my English because they know I'm Japanese, and when I'm in Japan, if my sentense is a little bit awkward, people just consider it's because I've been at oversea.

Overall, what I'm really worried right now is...
if it's possible that I fail my English class because of this.

In addition, I found a site of an agency researching on bilingual and the system of brain.
brain reseach

sources:
Raising our kids bilingually by Karin Dykes
Review of Multilingual Japan by Steve McCarty
Raising Bilingual Children by Marsha Rosenberg
Bilingual Research Projects by Center for Research in Language

Posted by masha at February 5, 2004 7:01 PM