Today, I received a very interesting article from my mother in law. It is titled "Bilingual acquisition begins in utero". Here is the link http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/bilingual-acquisition-begins-in-utero-study-finds/article1470649/?service=mobile
Jonas and I have never discussed it in great length, but I think it is safe to assume that we definitely want our child to be bilingual, or multilingual. Jonas has the good fortune of speaking three languages fluently, English, Cantonese and French. I, on the other hand can only speak English, and barely grasp Cantonese and French. It has always been a big regret in my life to not know more Cantonese. Growing up in a small town in Alberta, Cantonese was never 'forced' upon me, for fear of making me stand out too much from the other kids. I know my parents would have preferred for their kids to know more Chinese than we do, but it was never anything that they expected of us. Years later, I realize what a huge mistake that was for not preserving my heritage better. A mistake that I do not want to make with our child. Perhaps while our baby is in my womb, I will speak English to him/her while Jonas speaks Cantonese. Thank you mom for the article!
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A great article. And that is one very lucky baby in there!
ReplyDeleteAmir is one who, like you, wishes his parents had've spent more time encouraging him to learn Urdu.