BILINGUALISM; (of a person) able to use two languages equally well, or (of a thing) using or involving two languages – the Cambridge dictionary.
When you have a baby, one of the things you think about is their first word and when will they be able to communicate with you verbally.
It is said that it is so very important for you to talk to your child from day one – even if you think they don’t understand. This is meant to help with baby’s development regarding their hearing and helping them to find their own voice.
Little A is being raised with two different languages, English and Urdu, although technically there will be a third language (mother tongue Punjabi) used around her but not directly spoken to her. I have had so many comments from people either that I’m going to end up confusing my child and that I should just choose the one language.
But I’ve also had comments from people who are just fascinated by this and think it’s a brilliant idea.
I decided to speak to Little A in both languages from day one. I don’t pick and choose when I speak English or Urdu, it just happens naturally.
I have always heard that children under the age of ten, especially little children are able to pick up another language quite easily compared to adults and it’s amazing how I am seeing this come true right before my own eyes.
At 8 months old, Little A said her first proper word that actually had meaning behind it and wasn’t just her making a sound. She called me ‘Ammi’ to get my attention. Ammi means Mummy in Urdu – although I have never directly said the word to her myself, I kept repeating Mumma or Mummy to her, I believe she picked up on Ammi hearing me call my own mother that.
But the beautiful thing is that now she not only calls me Ammi but Mummy too.
It’s been a couple of weeks now that I have come to noticed that if I give her an instruction in English and she follows it, more than half an hour later or so or even half a day later if I say the same thing to her again but in Urdu she still understands.
Despite negative comments coming forth, I am adamant on speaking both languages to Little A because each to their own but I’m of the personal opinion (please note, this is an opinion) that if you are able to teach another language to your child then why not go for it?
After all, at school we get drowned in language lessons for a reason right?
I don’t think raising a Bilingual Baby is going to cause any confusion but is actually going to help her sense of understanding of phonics.
After all, my parents spoke two languages to me at the same time and I turned out fine (I hope) in fact I happily and proudly put on my CV and personal statements that I can speak more than one language fluently.
I remember doing my GCSE Urdu in year 7 and getting that first ever A was the very first thing I was proud of, let me make it clear, speaking Urdu growing up was a breeze but reading and writing a total different alphabet was just a whole different story altogether.
I’ll forever be grateful to my parents for deciding to go ahead with raising me with more than just English because l have cousins who question their own parents why they weren’t introduced to their mother tongue and I don’t want Little A to ask me when she’s older.
Raising a bilingual baby doesn’t effectively mean directly teaching your child a different language in cases where more than one language is spoken at home, it comes naturally, like I said I don’t pick and choose, it’s impossible.
If Little A grows up and wants to give just one language the preference then that’s totally up to her, I just want to her to have the options and that might mean throwing both English and Urdu out of the window and embracing Welsh or any other language for that matter!
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