elsanne - OPOL

[~pi]

Originally Posted by elsanne

In a thread-hijackin kinda way, maria, I see your sig says you're planning OPOL and then there are 3 languages there...*eyebrows raise inquisitively*? How many did it take?

Yes, well, you'll notice it says modified OPOL. DH will speak English (also the community language) and I will speak French (my second language) and later I'll add Spanish (my third language) once sprog is well-grounded in French. We are also thinking about making use of French childcare and school in a few years.

I'm a little nervous about it since English is my mother tongue, but I am quite comfortable in the others. I realized the other day, though, that I don't really know many endearments and baby phrases, so I plan to start collecting those. All I can think of right now is "faire dodo" (endearment for sleeping) and while I'm sure that will be a big focus at first, I do want to have common terms for other activities, too!

Originally Posted by elsanne

Sol is a bilingual babe herself, with me being her English input and the rest of the world in Spanish.

That's great! How is that working out for you and her?

By the way, I love the name Sol. I suggested Marisol as a potential name if sproglet is a girl, but DH doesn't like it.

[paisley]

I've been wondering about OPOL too. What does it stand for?

[~pi]

OPOL = One Person/Parent One Language. I assumed Elsanne was poking fun at the idea that 3 languages = 3 parents?

OPOL is currently common wisdom for how to raise bilingual children, although some people use home/community, where one language is spoken at home and the other language is the language of the community in which they live.

Usually people who do trilingualism from the start are using a combination of the two methods. So, for example, if you had one parent speak Swedish to the child and the other speak Swahili, and they lived somewhere where the community language is English, the child would likely grow up fluent in all three.

And some people just mix it up and switch back and forth! We decided not to do that because it can lead to language confusion, i.e. the child isn't sure which word belongs to which language, although they do usually sort it out eventually. That's why we're planning to wait to introduce Spanish until s/he is old enough to understand something like, "When Maman wears a scarf, we speak Spanish, otherwise French."

We are also planning to sign, which has been shown to increase understanding of the idea that different words in different languages mean the same thing. Bi/trilinguals tend to talk a little later than monolinguals, too, so we're hoping that sign will allow for better communication when the words aren't quite there yet.

[elsanne]

Yes, I was poking fun at the three parents. Sounds like you could count for two... lovin the overachiever in you...

The beauty of using your mother tongue is that it is soooo deep in you, literally your mother sang you to sleep, comforted you, in your language, and these things if you don't have them in the second language you never will, y'know? It is not your ingrained programming...not to say it's not a good idea, what you are planning. I love it. Multilingualism is a gift and a passport to so many worlds. Does DH speak either french or spanish? I actually do speak to Sol in partial Spanish (I'm fully fluent *wipes imaginary speck off shoulder, flings hair back*) (Tongue firmly in cheek there) because she understands it, I daresay, better than English since I am the only English input. I usually will sprinkle the known word in with English: "Agua? Do you want some water, agua?"
We have also done signs and she uses about 15-20 of them, it is a great way to communicate at this age when language is not so easy or clear. It took many, many moons of signing for her to sign back, easily after a year old. It's great though, being able to sign with her about the basics.

Because you seem "of a mind" I wonder if you have checked out EC (elimination communication)? Yet another way to communicate with your bebe...

[~pi]

Originally Posted by elsanne

The beauty of using your mother tongue is that it is soooo deep in you, literally your mother sang you to sleep, comforted you, in your language, and these things if you don't have them in the second language you never will, y'know? It is not your ingrained programming...

Yes, I think this is one of the reasons I am nervous, but I keep reminding myself that when I use one of my other languages regularly, I even dream in that language, so while it may not go as deep as my mother tongue, it's obviously pretty deep! And I also console myself that I do have some ingrained programming from the other languages, for example, all my schooling was in French and so I still do all my arithmetic and basic algebra in French.

Originally Posted by elsanne

Does DH speak either french or spanish? I actually do speak to Sol in partial Spanish (I'm fully fluent *wipes imaginary speck off shoulder, flings hair back*) (Tongue firmly in cheek there)

Sadly, DH is mono, although he understands me if I speak slowly.

Originally Posted by elsanne

Because you seem "of a mind" I wonder if you have checked out EC (elimination communication)? Yet another way to communicate with your bebe...

I think it sounds really interesting. I'm not ruling it out, although it could be tricky with our house's carpeting!

[elsanne]

Don't worry about the carpeting...you keep a diaper on the babe, and offer to "pee" him or her at certain intervals or upon his cue. It's amazing how easy it really is.

The basic tenet is that we are born with the ability to feel when we have to pee (or poo), and we (western modern society) train our children to ignore that knowledge, then two years later desire to untrain them. Every child will try to let you know, even from birth, when they need to go--it's a matter of finding out (at first) what that is. The idea is that you basically keep the communication happening all throughout babyhood about it, even if you don't "catch" every single pee, and then when they're ready they'll make the step pretty easy & simple because they've never been trained to ignore their sensations.

Sol's has been interesting--I started around day 9 or so, taking her to pee after she would wake from a nap, and it really amazed me how well we communicated about it--to the point of being dry for 48 hours once--then she learned how to walk at age 10 mos., and ever since then cannot be bothered to stop & go to the potty. She will tell me when she is going, signing it and saying the word, though. So we just keep the communication about it, and when she's ready I think it'll be pretty darn simple.

It is such a fun thing, this whole parenting thing. What do you do besides get ready for motherhood?

[~pi]

Sounds really interesting.

Originally Posted by elsanne

What do you do besides get ready for motherhood?

I'm a grad student so I procrastinate and do research. Usually in that order.