Good Language
15 October 2007
After a week away with the family, speaking only English, Sam’s language abilities have taken a sudden leap forward. Overnight it seemed, he was able to speak in sentences and he keeps surprising me with a remark or a phrase I had no idea he could say, such as “Sam Isaac sharing cookies”or “Sam putting milk on cereal”.
He has always been good at applying the words he knows to describe things he doesn’t know, such as “apple-juice” for all drinks and “cookie” for not only food items but any small, round things, e.g. “mama ear cookie” for earring. But recently he has extended this to concepts he doesn’t have words for. I first noticed in Bangkok airport, when we walked past a 20 foot statue of a demon with a blue body and a fierce expression. Sam ran to catch up with me saying “Sam hurting”, and I thought he probably meant he was scared but wasn’t sure. But later on we passed a whole tableau of similar blue demons and he was quite clear than that they were “hurting shu-shu” (uncles). Last night he was sitting at the table and suddenly started crying, although not very convincingly. When I asked him what was wrong, he pointed at a green plastic dragon of Isaacs that was sitting on the table. “Hurting toy!” he exclaimed, burying his face in my shirt. Not being biased at all I think it is brilliant of him to apply the concept of physical hurt to mental hurt. Soon enough he will learn the word “scared” and stop using “hurting” but I’ll miss it when he does, just as I already miss him saying “oo-ay” for where and “bummy” instead of “bunny”.
Sam has also, just in the past month, drawn a clear distinction between Chinese and English. Before, he would mix up words from the two languages in the same sentence. He would say “hello shu-shu” for example, or he would speak to me in Chinese and to Xiao Long in English. He doesn’t do this anymore. Now he will say something to me in English, then turn to Xiao Long and say the same sentence to her, but in Chinese. And if he doesn’t know a word in Chinese, or English, he doesn’t usually use the word from the other language. He knows how to say tea in English but when Xiao Long asked him what Mummy was drinking he thought about it and said “Sam bu zhidao” (Sam doesn’t know). To double-check I asked him in English what I was drinking and he said “Mama drinking hot tea.” He knows who he should speak to in which language and he rarely makes mistakes.
After a week away with the family, speaking only English, Sam’s language abilities have taken a sudden leap forward. Overnight it seemed, he was able to speak in sentences and he keeps surprising me with a remark or a phrase I had no idea he could say, such as “Sam Isaac sharing cookies”or “Sam putting milk on cereal”.
He has always been good at applying the words he knows to describe things he doesn’t know, such as “apple-juice” for all drinks and “cookie” for not only food items but any small, round things, e.g. “mama ear cookie” for earring. But recently he has extended this to concepts he doesn’t have words for. I first noticed in Bangkok airport, when we walked past a 20 foot statue of a demon with a blue body and a fierce expression. Sam ran to catch up with me saying “Sam hurting”, and I thought he probably meant he was scared but wasn’t sure. But later on we passed a whole tableau of similar blue demons and he was quite clear than that they were “hurting shu-shu” (uncles). Last night he was sitting at the table and suddenly started crying, although not very convincingly. When I asked him what was wrong, he pointed at a green plastic dragon of Isaacs that was sitting on the table. “Hurting toy!” he exclaimed, burying his face in my shirt. Not being biased at all I think it is brilliant of him to apply the concept of physical hurt to mental hurt. Soon enough he will learn the word “scared” and stop using “hurting” but I’ll miss it when he does, just as I already miss him saying “oo-ay” for where and “bummy” instead of “bunny”.
Sam has also, just in the past month, drawn a clear distinction between Chinese and English. Before, he would mix up words from the two languages in the same sentence. He would say “hello shu-shu” for example, or he would speak to me in Chinese and to Xiao Long in English. He doesn’t do this anymore. Now he will say something to me in English, then turn to Xiao Long and say the same sentence to her, but in Chinese. And if he doesn’t know a word in Chinese, or English, he doesn’t usually use the word from the other language. He knows how to say tea in English but when Xiao Long asked him what Mummy was drinking he thought about it and said “Sam bu zhidao” (Sam doesn’t know). To double-check I asked him in English what I was drinking and he said “Mama drinking hot tea.” He knows who he should speak to in which language and he rarely makes mistakes.
posted by Cat Platt at 1:15 pm
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