Does anyone have any tips for how to learn a new language and stick to it whilst working four days a week, raising a toddler and trying to fit in housework etc?
I am going to attempt to learn Scottish Gaelic (hubby is a native speaker and we want to teach our little fella to speak both languages!). I have a 'teach youself' kit... i was planning to read ten minutes a day of it while i am on the exercise bike once Angus is asleep. (Ten minutes a day is about all the spare time i have!)
Could you get a tape and play in through ear phones while you do the housework? Or while you are asleep - I wonder if that really works?
Or read the book while you are eating, on public transport (if you catch it), in your lunch break at work, if you were male I could say on the toilet LOL!
Music is also a good way to learn a language or at the very least get you familiar with the sounds. See if you can get hold of some nursery rhymes or other kids songs in your language and you and your toddler can listen and learn together.
Make one day a week Gailic day in the home and only use English if you really need to.
You might need alot of sign laguage for 'pass the haggis please' to start with but after a few weeks you'll start to be able to use lots of everyday language.
maybe do signs up for things around the house in Gaelic? Then the both of you can learn the things together - make it a game for your son & it will help you both. Then hubby can join in.
My dad used to only speak different languages to me when I was a kid (he was a translator during WW2 and could speak 12 languages), only bad thing was he used to allow me to answer him in English, so I never learnt how to speak them, he died when I was 6 so no more languages for me after that.
I want my children to be bi-lingual. My step-MIL is Japanese so I want my children to be able to speak to her in her native tongue.
The cutest sight I ever saw was in London, on the tube, a father was holding his 2 year old and pointing out things and the child was saying what they were in English and French - I asked the mother about it and she said they were going to France for 6 months for work and they were teaching their son the basics of French before they went.
In schools here they do immersion learning, where you only speak the language for the whole lesson.
Learning a New Language
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