Words are easy

It sounds like a bad country song but in the case of bilingualism, I think it's true.

Every day I grow more aware of Suzanne's language ability and how it will affect her little brother who already seems to be understanding (especially if it has to do with calling Lola the cat which makes Max's head whip around to find where the little jingle jingle of Lola's collar is coming from).

I'm beginning to see how the bilingual brain is wired. For example, Suzanne only speaks English to those friends who she's only seen in an English speaking context (ie where the moms are friends and have created an English-only environment on a regular basis). But with friends like Marlow, whose father is English speaking but who is also in Suzanne's class, she speaks French. I picked both kids up from school yesterday and, as always, I persisted in speaking English to them both even though they were speaking French to each other and Marlow was speaking 95% French to me. I suggested to them that they could speak English together. Suzanne turned to her friend and said, "ma maman dit que nous pouvons aussi parler en anglais".

A couple weekends ago, a franco-canadian little girl came to stay while her mom was at the hospital giving birth - little L was speaking French to everyone but I spoke English to her. At one point, L answered me in English and I could see the wheels turning in Suzanne's brain when she suddenly said to L in English, "you speak English too?" But it didn't take either of the girls long to see that French was the more practical language for the situation.

Suzanne also seems totally aware of adult language capacities. If a French person says something to her in English, she will giggle and answer in French. A couple weeks ago, my sister in law was reading her a book in English and mispronounced a word. So Suzanne came to me to tell me she'd said the word wrong and wanted me to come correct her.

But what amazes me most about Suzanne's bilingualism beyond the 6th sense of what language is appropriate when - since I'm a false bilingual ie not born with 2 lanagues - is how she has mastered the grammar. She applies the correct grammar rules respectively in both languages to her franglais. For example, we were baking cookies and when her papa came into the kitchen she said, "Maman dit que je peux licker la cuilliere" or the other night she said, "Maman dit que je ne dois pas washer mon hair". She asked her uncle to tier her belt. In English she does the reverse, "At school, I travailled, I dessined, I did peinture" (a direct translation of faire de la peinture rather than to paint) Another interesting point to note is that she calls me "Mommy" but in French, she refers to me as Maman but never uses it to my face.

And when she woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't find her stuffed animal, she said, "I cannot find it". I was surprised (enough to remember the anomoly in the morning) that she used the full form rather than the abbreviated "can't" since that's what I say. I never say "cannot". So either she picked it up from someone else, from TV or just understand that to negate something you use "not". Wow.

On a last note, Max is a chatter box in the making. He tries to communicate at meals by grunting and yelling at people who he thinks he's talking to. And the other day, he tried to say "Mommy". I was headed out the door for a run while he was in my brother-in-law's arms. He arched his back and reached for me while making a noise that sounded like a parrot trying to pronounce "mom". I still wonder if he's getting enough language since I speak and read to him less than I did to Suzanne. But, lucikly, it seems he's set out to be a talker like his big sister.