Language week #3: Ein Auswahl des Sagens eines zweispragigen Kind/A selection of expressions from a bilingual child

(An English translation follows immediately.)

Seit ich diesen Post schrieb, machte der Small Boy viel Vorschritt und nutzt nicht mehr einfach Nomen aber Sätze von fünf oder sechs Wörter. Ich bin erstaunt, wie schnell es gegangen ist. Er mischt seine Sprache, aber zweisprachig Kinder machen das oft und später lernen selber die Sprachen zu unterschiden. Im moment, er nutzt die Wörter, die er kennt wann er die braucht. Vielleicht wechselt er zwischen die Sprachen aber er wahlt immer das Wort, was korrekt ist. Das ist alles was mir jetzt wichtig ist. Weil ich Dialket mehr oder weniger versteht, kann ich fast immer seine Sätze gramatisch analysieren (was auf Denglisch "parsen" würde, was tont viel besser finde ich) was man ofters braucht! Zum Beispiel:

Since this post, Small Boy has gone from naming his world with nouns to five and six word sentences. I'm amazed at how quickly it all happened. He mixes his languages, which is quite common among bilingual toddlers and in time they eventually learn to sort it all out themselves. Right now he just uses the words he knows when he needs them - he may switch languages in the middle of a sentence, but the word he ultimately chooses is always the right one. That's all that matters to me right now; because I understand the local dialekt (more or less) I can almost always parse his sentences. And sometimes they do need parsing. Here are some examples:

Wenn er versteckte Spielsachen findet/On finding our hiding place for toys to be given in the future: "Dada! Look! Oppis da Ang needs!"

• Dada is English - Swiss children say "Papa" or "Papi"
• Look is English
• Oppis is Swiss (the German equivalent is etwas) and means something
• da is Swiss (the German would be dort) and means there
• Ang is Small Boy speak and it's how he pronounces his name
• needs is English
• So in English that sentence would read "Dada! Look! Something there [that] Ang needs!"
• and in Swiss it would read "Papa! Luege! Oppis da Ang brouch!"
• and in German it would read "Papa! Luege! Etwas dort Ang braucht!"

Wenn ich sollte ein kleinen Auto reparieren/When he needs me to fix a toy car: "Mama! Auto 'aputt!"

• Auto is Swiss for car (I always call his toy cars cars, but he calls them Autos)
• 'aputt is how he pronounces kaputt - broken
• So that's Swiss for "Mama! Car [is] broken!"

Wenn er etwas nicht will/When he doesn't want something: "Nay merci!"

• Nay is Swiss (the German is nein) for no.
• Merci is French, but the Bernese Swiss are far more likely to say "Merci" than "Danke" for thank you.

Wenn er sieht eine Reklame von einer Speilanlage, die wir einmal besuchten/On seeing an advertisement for an indoor playground we visited once: "Ang once mit N's Mama"

• An almost wholly English sentence, but he always uses the Swiss/German mit for with

Wenn er nicht in seinem Bett schlafen will/On refusing to nap in his bed: "Ang bed uh-uh. Ang 'leep in MamaDada bed."

• Look! It's all English!
• 'leep is sleep

Wenn er aus seinem Zimmer "ausbricht"/On escaping from his room after I've punished him: "Ang be Ang room uh-uh. Ang be mit Mama."

• There's that mit again. Though I guess if I were two and I had the choice between mit and with, I'd probably pick mit too.*

* Though strangely enough he insists on attempting the Swiss Ventilator instead of the far easier English "fan." It comes out as Lamp-a-la-tor.