Friday, April 20, 2012

Bilingual

One thing I really love about this age is when they really start talking. Suddenly they are adding a new word every day and before you know it, it's a dozen new words a day. For Baby H the word of the day was "pigtails." She followed me around for 20 minutes saying "pigtails, pigtails por favor. pigtails."
It was too cute, and so, she got her pigtails. When I held her up the mirror she grinned at her reflection like it was Mickey Mouse smiling back at her.

It will be interesting to see how she develops as a bilingual baby. Right now she is probably 90% English and 10% Portuguese. But I know she understands Portuguese (probably better than me!) because she responds appropriately to what the Brazilians ask, suggest and say to her. Now that we have a maid here 5 days a week, I am curious how that will grow and develop.

Because I find it interesting, here are some of the words she chooses to say in Portuguese.

  • tchau-tchau = bye-bye (she stopped saying bye-bye about a week after we arrived)
  • agua = water
  • por favor = please
  • pipoca = popcorn
  • oi = hi
  • sometimes she uses mamãe = mommy
  • balão = balloon
  • flor = flower
  • sometimes cachorro = dog
  • ropa = clothes
  • opa! = oops!

It seems she picks and chooses which language is easier for each word.

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