Teaching a RARE MINORITY LANGUAGE with very limited exposure and resources - Page 3

[hope81]

Hey, we are raising a trilingual baby. Greek, Norwegian and English. We talk English to each other, I talk to her Greek but mostly English and she will learn norwegian at school.
We got the approach of talking to her whatever feels right.
I mostly talk English though is not my maternal language but I do say phrases in Greek language to her, also use Skype with my parents, Greek cartoons, the fisher price puppy like you do.
I took the advice from a friend that specializes in multilingual kids.
The approach a parent speaks exclusively one language works best if you have great everyday exposure to this language. As we don't have that we use all three languages at home and eventually everything will click in place when she is older and we go for vacations in Greece etc etc.
I think you should relax and explain when your Little one asks what that means in whatever way you can. After all they have to make the connection that dog is dog in whatever language and he will eventually speak them both when he chooses too, line when you go back home for a trip and he speaks to other kids in Lithuanian.
Good luck it's hard work but it will all worth it the trouble.

[Eclipsepearl]

How old is your baby? 

It's great that you communicate in "whatever feels right" but you might find that means that Greek is not getting a lot of exposure. 

It can be hard to be the only one speaking the language with a child. I'm my children's only consistent source of English. I spoke French and lived in France before meeting my French hubby. Sometimes I have to force myself to speak English, especially in the beginning. It's not just what I feel like speaking. I had to set in place the habit. 

The approach a parent speaks exclusively one language works best if you have great everyday exposure to this language

That's true but not an absolute. Not all of us can get "everyday" exposure. Remember that many children, including mine in German, are fluent even if they don't use it everyday. My kids only had German twice a week in elementary school, but it was full immersion, all day. It still worked, albeit slower. 

Every word of English you use with your child is one less word of Greek she's getting. 

[Fluga]

I have an almost 5 year old and an almost 2 year old.  I'm their only exposure to Icelandi language (spoken by ~300.000) as we live in Finland.  In a way it is easy for me, Finnish is hard to speak so trying to speak that to them would feel unnatural. I managed to get the older one to speak to me only in Icelandic, she struggles but manages fairly well. It took a lot of work when she was younger.  

Like I said I only ever speak to them in Icelandic and wont speak in other languages to them to be polite to those around me.  Politeness is nice but I am their only exposure to an entire language so me muddling with other languages weakens the minority language's position, or so I feel. 

[Tynka]

Oh man... Time goes and i keep failing. Doing pretty good some days and awful the others.. I really do need to put myself on a Lithuanian diet. But now the thought of "and why exactly does he need this" keeps sneaking to my head. If we live here, there is nobody else who speaks the language here, we can't go visit relatives in LT often due insane costs.. PLUS, it's hard even for me. Sometimes i cant think of how to say this or that in Lithuanian. i got used to English too much. And What happens when he starts school and i have to help him with homework? His favorite books are in English , his favorite cartoons are in English.. Everything he does is in English. I just getting depressed really bad over this. I seriously envy those whose "other" languages are popular languages, like spanish, french, etc.. With plenty of materials, big (or even small) communities.. I get jealous hearing/reading how somebody sends babes to a french daycare, a spanish playgroup or german school. I even get jealous hearing about Lithuanian communities having saturday schools and all kind of events in, say, new york, chicago or seattle. But here, i am stuck in this deep hole with no help. Not fair..

[Ragana]

Tynka - No advice, just sympathy. Do the best you can. I know several Latvians who have learned the language as teens/adults because they developed an interest. I completely understand how intimately linked our languages are with our culture and identity. It's hard, no doubt about it. Just keep plugging away. You'll be surprised what gets into their little heads! And someday, when your son wants/needs it, it will come back out. Don't lose hope!