Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bassexpander]

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/12/16/200912160050.asp


I agree with some of the first paragraph, but I think they're emphasizing problem children a bit much here, and using that to tell people to teach the kids one language.

I'd like to hear some thoughts from parents of bi-racial kids. My MA program has covered a lot of this, but I wish Dr. Park would have elaborated more on the backgrounds of certain kids who tend to "shut down." How much family support do they receive with language practice at home, for example?

[PatrickGHBusan]

I can dispute that conclusion Bass.

My kids are raised with equal measures of English and Korean and my oldest started on French this year.

They may have taken a tad longer to speak but when they did they really took off.

My son is nearly 5 and he can switch from English to Korean without missing a beat and has a wide range of vocabulary in each language.

We did however follow a consistant rule with him and with our daughter: I speak to my kids exclusively in English, my wife speaks to them exclusively in Korean. This started to change now that my son is older and has a solid base.

I can also say that most of my mixed couple friends follow a similar method and their kids have no language issues. My brother in Japan does this with his kids (English-Japanese and French to his oldest) and no problems either.

The key is to speak to your children on a level they comprehend and not to force them too fast to a higher level of language and vocabulary. It is also normal that when they start speaking they mix up the languages a bit but that fades with time. I do think that if the parents do not follow a clear language method and say each parent uses both languages that the child could be confused. However, thats just a theory.

[Burndog]

[frankly speaking]

I have read a lot on both sides of this issue. I am constantly going back and forth on what I believe is right.

For us we speak English at home 99% of the time. They are exposed to Thai from grandparents and neighbors. Occasionally my wife and I will say some things in Thai, but story time and all major conversations are in English. The children have developed their Thai at a slower rate than English but they are near fluent in both languages. They are still quite young though. They get enough exposure to Thai from school/day care and friends, and are encouraged to express themselves in whatever way is natural as long as each conversation is in one language. We had to stop the 1/2 Thai English sentences. It sounds so stupid.

I think there is solid proof that too much exposure to too many different influences does hinder children. Not just for language development but other skills also. One thing that I have seen very common is that both parents rarely speak one language equally well. Korean women married to Western men rarely speak at or near a native level and the Western Men don't usually speak Korean at or near a native level. Thus what tends to happen is that whoever the child has a stronger connection with will usually speak in that language better.

I had one friend Brit married to a woman from Thailand. He couldn't speak Thai at all and his wife spoke English but she preferred to communicate in Thai. The man cannot even have a simple conversation with his own 6 year old son. The son is very distant with his dad and prefers to talk to mom who has to translate for dad. I think that is a worse case scenario.

I think that this article has some valid arguments but I don't think that it is 100% solid. I have read a lot, and there have been countless studies done in other countries mostly in Europe that show much different results.

I think that for most kids they should learn and speak the language of the country they live in. However, I also think that it is a shame when I meet kids that have fathers from English speaking countries and the kids themselves don't speak English.

It definitely is a fence post for belief.

[ddeubel]

Patrick is bang on...

I just blogged about this today and ad nauseum throughout the years.

There is abundant evidence, research that shows most (99%) of children will have no problem learning both languages as infants.

The problem is always not what but HOW. The pickle is those who do it too late, outside of the first few years. Then, even at such an early age, there is a higher risk of problems.

Bilingual/trilingual children YES, may be delayed in the L1 but will rapidily catch up and surpass their peers. Be warned, the benefits of bilingualism far outweight any attempt to stop starting this process at an early age.

DD
http://eflclassroom.com

[PatrickGHBusan]

Good points ddeubel

[whome?]

unless they're admitting that Korean children are deficient as compared to other countries, this article/letter is pure crap. The findings in Europe, in Canada and even in poorer African countries have all found no issues with bilingual upbringings.

This is just another bit of paranoid nationalism run amok.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Why not stick to the debate on language acquistion and avoid the same ole Daves trap of K-bashing which will then bring in the same ole response from the other side of that fence...?

Whome,

What is YOUR opinion on this language acquisiton question and how to you deal with your mixed kids as you raise them? I ask this because the thread did require the input of parents of mixed kids.

[conrad2]

[Khenan]

[PatrickGHBusan]

Conrad...the notion is that a child may give up speaking one of the languages that is used in the house. Not that such a child would stop speaking to his parents through giving up.

This is about multi-lingual households right?

How are you handling raising your miced kids conrad?

[lifeinkorea]

I believe in the translation approach. I understand this doesn't make a person a good speaker, but it doesn't pit one language against another. I feel this is the hangup with students.

I have lived in China, Japan, and Korea. The more fluent a person is in English as a second language, the more often I see cases where they simply spit out robot responses.

I get many students, even the young ones, who can't speak English but can translate their ideas. It comes from them, not a formula in a book or pattern they heard mom and dad preach to them.

It is an "invisible" form of abuse on a child to tell them to turn their brains off and not use their native language while they are studying a second language.

I hope the day will come when we can come together with people speaking another language and communicate without the prejudices absorbed from "immersing" ourselves in stereotypes.

[Khenan]

[Khenan]

[whome?]