Toddler Talk: How to Encourage Your Little One to Learn Language
Today’s post was written by guest blogger, Eve Pearce.
For most parents, a child’s first word is a huge milestone – the first step in learning communication, language and the beginning of a whole lot of chattering. After the initial ‘mamas’ and ‘dadas,’ a string of other words usually start to flow but this isn’t always the case. Up to 6 million children in the United States suffer from some sort of speech or language disorder which can affect their ability to talk. Others may not have a disorder but simply take longer to develop their speech and language skills. Despite experts suggesting that toddlers will be at least three years old before being able to form short sentences, there are things that you can start doing much earlier on to encourage your child to talk. Here are some tips to help encourage your little one to learn language and what to do if your child won’t talk.
What if my child won’t talk?
It’s important to remember that children develop at different rates so comparing them to their peers isn’t always helpful. Sometimes there are simple reasons why a child doesn’t speak much. For example younger siblings can sometimes be quieter because they allow their older siblings to talk for them. Other times children may develop in physical areas such as crawling, walking and climbing more quickly and this detracts attention away from their interest in talking. But if you feel that your child has reached an age where they should be speaking more than they are of if you are generally concerned about a lack of response to your attempts to interact with them it could be worth seeking advice from a paediatrician or speech therapist. Unfortunately developmental delays in children do exist and conditions such as Apraxia, Dysfluency and ADHD are relatively common and all affect speech and language skills. Getting these diagnosed will help you get the professional advice you need in order to help your child move forward with their language.
Verbalize their feelings
Children communicate with their parents from day one through crying. Over time parents come to recognize the different types of cries and what they mean. As your child develops they will begin communicating in other ways – smiling, gurgling, throwing tantrums and whining. These are some of the more obvious signs but even facial expressions can give away what they are thinking or feeling. If you can verbalize their expressions then they will begin to associate these words with how they are feeling and know what they mean even before they are able to say them out loud. For example if she is smiling at her dolly you say ‘you look very happy today’ or if he is becoming frustrated with something ask him ‘why are you cross?’
It sounds silly but sometimes parents simply forget to talk to their babies. Many wrongly assume that a small baby is incapable of communication and talking is therefore pointless; but actually a baby becomes attuned to their mother’s voice while they are in the womb and talking to them will reassure them, comfort them and interest them even if they can’t understand what you are saying. Alter the pitch of your voice and sing songs. This will grasp their attention. They cannot respond in words yet but you will see from their smiles, gurgles and squirming that they are enjoying the interaction.
Read, read, read
Introduce books as early as possible. Your baby will probably not start to engage with them fully until six months onwards but reading helps them to associate pictures with words, follow stories and pick up on your expression and emotion as you read. It will help them to not only learn the words but recognize the things in the world around them and develop their listening skills too. Introducing sensory books with fabrics, noises and shapes is also a great way to grasp their attention and increase their interest in books. Similarly, do not feel you have to be totally led by the book at all times. Let the child explore the book at their own pace rather than forcing them to sit still and listen while you finish it conventionally. Developing an interest and love for books means developing an interest and love for language so you need to make it fun to hold their enthusiasm.
Talk properly
The reason many people talk to their children in ‘baby speak’ is simple – words such as ‘choo choo’ and ‘woof woof’ are more pleasing for a child’s ears and easier for them to say. As young babies it is ok to use this sort of language but as they grow up it means teaching them that actually a ‘choo choo’ is a train and a ‘woof woof’ is a dog, which is double the amount of learning for them. Some child experts believe that talking authentically from the beginning is the best way to help a child develop language skills. They will notice the difference in your tone and language when you speak to other people and wonder why they are being spoken to differently. There is no need to speak to your toddler in a pitch that ten decibels higher than your normal voice just in everyday conversation – this is not natural and yet you want them to learn and mimic natural behaviour and speaking. This doesn’t mean speaking to them in the same way you would speak to an adult; obviously you need to use simpler words and talk a little slower so that they can pick up on everything you say, but do not patronize them.
If anyone has any other helpful tips, please feel free to share them in the comments below.
We’ve heard from parents that our Vocabulary Builder program for 4-12 year olds has been helpful to them in encouraging their children to talk. Even if it’s their own native language, the colourful characters and games are a fun way to build up their confidence. Vocabulary Builder is available in over 100 languages.
What language is spoken in France?
A quick quiz question for you: what language is spoken in France?
Answer: well, French of course! But did you know France is also home to several small regional languages, including Alsatian, Catalan, Breton and Occitan?
Like many other European countries, the French once spoke a wide range of regional languages and dialects. However, during the Third Republic, the French government made French the only official language, and outlawed use of regional languages such as Breton and Occitan in schools and institutions. The underlying idea of creating national and linguistic unity may have been well-intentioned, but as a result, most of these regional languages are now endangered.
Nowadays, Occitan is spoken by around 1.33% of the population (in the Occitania region in Southern France), whilst Breton is spoken in Brittany by around 0.61% of the population. These languages are recognised by the government, but not considered official languages, and therefore given minimal support and opportunity for use.
The situation is a little more encouraging in Spain, where Basque, Catalan, Valencian and Galician are recognised as co-official regional languages, and a thriving community of native speakers exists in each of these regions.
This rather cool map shows how the areas over which each of these languages is/was spoken has changed over the last 1,000 years.
Over time, due to globalisation, mass media and government drives for national unity, the national languages in Spain, France and many other countries have established dominance and pushed smaller regional languages onto the sidelines. However, there are still communities of native speakers of each of these languages, and many people are passionate about passing on the language and culture of their region to the next generation.
Regional languages are often closely tied to the culture and identity of a region: the Catalonians I know are proud Catalan speakers, and often much of an area’s history, literature, music and so on is written in the regional language. These languages may be small, but they are certainly worth learning and preserving!
In fact, we have produced our Maths, age 3-5 and 4-6 apps in both Basque and Catalan, and uTalk is currently available in Galician, Basque and Catalan. And for anyone interested in regional French languages, why not learn a few phrases for free in Occitan, Breton, Alsatian or Provencal?
Alex
Where it’s at – how to say @ in different languages
The other day a colleague was telling someone his email address in French. He was halfway through and ran across a problem. He didn’t know the word for “the little ‘a’ in the circle”. In English we just say ‘at’, but that translates as ‘à’ in French and that sounds remarkably like the letter ‘a’. See the problem?
What he should have said was ‘arobase’, but different cultures call it completely different things – from official names to animal-based nicknames. Below we’ve found some of the most creative words for “the little ‘a’ in the circle”:
Animals (With Curly Bits)
The Germans, Romanians and South Africans (among others) all describe it as a ‘monkey tail’.
Thai and Hungarian people call it a ‘worm’ and the Italians refer to it as a ‘snail’.
The Swedish and Danish describe the shape as an ‘elephant’s trunk’ and the Greeks think it looks more like a ‘duckling’.
Curly Food
In Catalan, the “little ‘a’ in the circle” is named after a swirly pastry called an ‘ensaïmada’.
In Hebrew it’s named after a strudel.
In Slovak, it’s named after a rolled pickled herring!
Other Uses
The “little a” isn’t only used in email addresses. In Spanish, the symbol is sometimes used to represent masculine and feminine gender in the same word, for example ‘amig@s’ means male and female friends, although this is frowned upon by the Real Academia Española, so we don’t recommend it!
And in Portugal and Brazil, the symbol is used in text messages to represent ‘french kiss’ – so be careful how you use it if you’re travelling in those countries…
What do you call the @ symbol?
Go on… make a mistake!
Everyone’s had that embarrassing moment in a language class when the teacher asks a question and it’s followed by total silence. Nobody wants to answer; nobody wants to risk saying something wrong. You all look at the floor and hope someone else will say something, and pray the teacher won’t single you out. Because improvising in a new language can be a scary thing to do. You’re not sure whether what you’re saying makes sense or, worse, you manage to say it OK but then someone answers you in fluent, rapid speech and you look at them blankly, no idea what they said. It’s a vicious circle with language-learning: you don’t want to be the one to speak up and get something wrong, but if you don’t practice, you’ll never get better, and then you’ll make more mistakes.
But I think that the most fun part of learning a new language is the mistake making. When you confidently ask directions and, none the wiser after receiving them, randomly stride out in one direction, pretending you know perfectly which way to go, only to be called back by your guide who explains, in greatly simplified terms and with more gestures, that he was telling you to go to the right, not the left. It’s embarrassing, you feel like an idiot, but it is quite funny afterwards, and, perhaps more importantly, you remember ‘right’ and ‘left’ next time you ask.
I’ve always thought that people who learn languages can be broadly divided into two groups: those who learn set phrases perfectly and by heart, and never deviate from them; and those who improvise on what they know, having the courage to get things wrong along the way. I’ve always admired the determination of people in the second group, partly because when they speak they have more of a chance of conveying things they actually want to say, rather than, say, pretending to enjoy the hobbies that all beginners are made to learn. I never really mean it when I say ‘I like playing cards in my spare time’, but it’s a safe option and I know I can say it right. Really I want to explain in depth my passion for shark fishing, but you have to be adventurous to try that out and get the sense across…
So, in the spirit of overcoming our inhibitions about making mistakes, I’m going share with you one or two problems I’ve encountered in my language-learning, all of which I can look back on with a fractionally-wiser grin and a chuckle.
I started learning Russian several years ago and when I went to the country I discovered (to my dismay) that the language is riddled with pitfalls for unsuspecting foreigners. Stress is unmarked in Russian, and yet it is very very important, so if you guess that it goes on the wrong syllable you quite often end up saying something totally different to what you intend. For example, замок zAmok is a castle but замок zamOk is a lock, and you just don’t know unless you learn them. Also, with case endings mutating words all the time, you end up with a long list of words that, while different in their nominative form, can be easily mistaken in a sentence. And then there are all the words which just sound very similar, especially to the untrained ear. One of my favourite Russian hazards is the confusion between мука mUka (torment), мука mukA (flour) and муха mUkha (a fly)… I’m fairly certain I’m not the only one who’s been in a Russian supermarket and asked, ‘Can you show me where the flies are, please?’
And of course, for the careless learner, there are always so many other mistakes you can make. On my first week in Russia, rather overawed and not very good at the language, I tested my skills with the very basic phrase, ‘Where is the post office’, Где почта Gdye pochta? Sadly, I had misremembered the exact word for post office and ended up asking, Где почка？Gdye pochka?, Where is the kidney? It was not very well received.
And it’s not just because Russian is full of these little difficulties that I fall into traps: it’s easy to get things wrong in any language. For example, I’ve recently taken up Catalan in my spare time and have been trying to use all my vocabulary as much as possible, but only last week I emphatically responded to a Catalan friend’s ‘How are you?’ with a world-weary ‘Estic casada!’ (I’m married) when of course I really meant ‘Estic cansada’ (I’m tired). Embarrassing, but at least it’s not something I’ll be getting wrong again in the near future.
I could write pages of these little mistakes (I really could!) but perhaps it would be more fun to hear from you some similar stories of language traps you’ve fallen into in the past, and how you’ve learnt from them?
Nat
A brief guide to English Office Jargon
Today’s post was contributed by Mark James, Copywriter at Crunch Accounting.
It’s been just over a year since I traded academia for the office, my three years spent studying English coming to an end and my career as a copywriter now starting to take shape.
In that past year I’ve had to make an array of adjustments; getting used to waking when the sun comes up rather than when it goes down and trading clubbing plans for pension plans amongst the changes I’ve felt. Getting to grips with corporate lingo is something I’ve faced too – an English dialect of its own that can be just as baffling as Scouse or Geordie (perhaps even more so).
Concerned about its influence, the Plain English Campaign has tried to contain its spread, going so far as to say that it’s damaging the economy. That’s probably a tad extreme but there’s no doubt that office jargon’s causing contention, certain phrases creeping outside of the workplace and into our everyday language.
As such, if you’re planning on spending some time on these shores it might be a good idea to learn some of the basics. Here’s an overview of some of the most popular…
‘Touch base’
Heard in offices across the country, confusingly this doesn’t refer to playing baseball, it simply means to establish contact with someone, perhaps through telephone, email, or a meeting in person.
Example usage – ‘David, I think you ought to touch base with Boris. His political aspirations are getting way out of control.’
‘Going forward’
You’ll hear this in meetings a lot. Essentially, it translates as ‘in the future’. Why ‘in the future’ isn’t deemed good enough again confuses me, but hey ho, people seem to like using it.
Example usage – ‘I’ve got my eye on a Bugatti Veyron, so going forward I propose we cut costs and outsource to India.’
‘KPI’
An acronym which stands for ‘Key Performance Indicator’, you’ll often hear this in appraisals and the like. Basically, the term encompasses anything that management can use to manage the effectiveness of a strategy or, you as an employee.
Example usage – ‘For someone brought in to increase productivity by 200%, Tarquin’s KPIs are woefully low. Clear his desk whilst he’s away at lunch.’
‘Thinking outside the box’
This phrase must be a nightmare for a non-native speaker, as there’s no boxes involved, it simply means to think unconventionally.
Example usage – ‘To prosper in the global race, we’ll need to increasingly think outside the box.’
‘ROI’
Another acronym that I thought needed explaining, this stands for ‘Return On Investment’. Put simply, it refers to how much cash an investment in something like property or a marketing campaign reaps in the long term.
Example usage – ‘We invested £200 billion in subprime mortgages but our ROI appears to be less than 300 billionths of that. In other words, we need a government bailout.’
In my first year of office work, these five terms are the ones that I’ve come across the most. There’s many more though, as this article from the BBC reflects, and if an episode of The Apprentice is anything to go by, there’s plenty more where that came from. I’d start developing an office jargon app if I were you, EuroTalk…
Mark James is a Copywriter for Crunch Accounting. If you’d like to touch base with him going forward, find him on Twitter at @MarkJames891.
And if you’re interested in learning some business English, you might want to try Talk Business, which is available as a download or a CD-ROM. It may not include the jargon above, but it’s a good place to start!
Image credit – arenagroove
