dorannmwin

I wouldn't say that I am the best at reading body language, but there are some things that I almost always get right, like when someone is nervous or lying.

Mine was Dada. However, my mom said that after that and Mama, my mother said I started picking up a handful of words every day. She said that by the time I was two I talked like a miniature adult.

This is something that I encounter rather frequently in the area that I live in and I am not a fan at all. The reason that I do not like it is that my brain just doesn't work in such a way that I can process two languages at the same time.

I was taught that usted was to be used in a setting where you are talking to your superior, like a boss or a teacher (and I suppose that it could apply to your elders as well). Tu was a term that you would use when you are talking to your peers, being friends, co-workers, etc.

I agree with you. I also think that if a child starts early with a second language they will be able to grasp that language more readily.

I started learning Spanish when I was in seventh grade, or 12 years old. I do still remember a lot today after 4 years at school, but I am no where near fluent. My son started at 5 and in kindergarten and now in first grade he speaks the language better than me.

This actually doesn't surprise me at all, especially if you are talking about the written word. The Chinese written word doesn't even use the same alphabet as the Western world. Therefore, if you speak a Western language you would have twice as much to learn.

There are a lot of times that I tend to be a grammar police, but this is one that I do not bother with because it is a rule that I don't ever remember learning in school. I really only picked this one up in doing a lot of writing myself.

I am a voracious reader and that is the primary way that my vocabulary grows. I also make a point of stopping and looking up all new words that I come across when I am reading.

That is exactly what I am seeing in Paul. He is a cracker jack with Spanish and it will benefit him a lot in the future. However, he is also picking up his English skills with reading and writing above grade level. I really believe that his working in two different languages is making him a better learner.

It really would be a matter of how much dedication I was putting into learning the language. If I were to fully immerse myself in a new language, I would say six to eight months. However, if I wasn't immersed in it, I believe that it would take years for that new language to really take hold.

In the area that I live in here in Kentucky, we have a lot of residents that are native Spanish speakers. I find that knowing what Spanish I do know is a good thing because it does lessen the communication barrier. In fact, I think that it is important for young people to know Spanish in this area to the extent that my son is in a Spanish immersion program at school. This means that he will be fluent by the time he is 11 years old (he is seven now and already knows more Spanish than I learned in four years in school).

I've been a reader all my life and I do believe that is the reason that I tend to be a fast reader. I tend to think that people that read on a regular basis are much faster than individuals that don't read very often. Now when I'm reading in Spanish or in some dialects of English, I'm a slower reader because I often come across words or forms of words that I'm really not familiar with.

Here are just a couple of the ones that I have written down at my desk right now that I've been doing reflections on here lately. "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail" Ralph Waldo Emerson "What does not kill me makes me stronger" Friedrich Nietzsche

Though I will admit that there are some times that I am guilty of doing this, it is something that I try not to do when it is possible to avoid it. The reason that I do not think that we should judge people because of their accents is because of the fact that we all have an accent of some sort. I really started to notice this as I got a little bit older and I noticed that I sound a lot different from much of my family when I am talking. The difference is that I have always lived in the south and they are northerners.

If I'm not mistaken, Spanish is one of the three most common languages that is spoken in the world. I think that the top three are English, Spanish and Chinese. If a person has the opportunity, I really think that it would be worth learning all three of those languages because it would make you a person that would be very marketable in the business world.

I think that this would be something that would depend on the situation, but overall, I would say that you wouldn't forget your native language if you lived in a foreign country because you would most likely be speaking in your native tongue at home. I know that there are a lot of Hispanic families in my area and though they do speak English when they are at work or at school or just out in the community, they speak only Spanish at home and that does keep them fluent with their native tongue as well.

For me, I would have to say that speaking and listening comprehension are the most difficult for me. The reason for that is that my natural accent shows when I am speaking in another language and that does make it difficult for a native speaker to understand what I am saying at times. With the listening, it is difficult for me because a native speaker will talk so fast that there are things that I know that I miss. When it comes to reading and writing, my accent and speed really don't make a difference so I'm able to read and write effectively.

We are in the United States, in Kentucky to be more precise and I've definitely seen the rise in the Hispanic population in our area through my lifetime. I know that his having this additional skill will make a huge difference for his future because I do honestly believe that there will come a time that Spanish will be spoken just as often as English is spoken in this country.

That is one thing that I like about what he is doing is that he really does seem to thrive in it. I enrolled him to challenge him further and then I realized that it is going to be something that benefits him for the rest of his life.

He actually started this in kindergarten, so all of the children were literally just starting out. However, if you want to get involved in the program at a slightly older age, the kids have to have some sort of comprehension of the second language as well as be at or above grade level with their other courses. I think that is good because it doesn't mean that students are excluded, but they are making sure that they aren't pushed too hard.

I don't know if I would go to the extent of saying that proper parenting should include introduction to a second language, but I do think that it is a great idea. I know some Spanish (I'm not fluent) and I did start introducing both of my children to the language from a young age. Then, when my son started school, I had the option of enrolling him in a Spanish immersion program. He is in his second year now and I know that by starting that when he was five years old that he will be fluent in his second language by the time he starts middle school.

For the longest time, I really didn't think that I had an accent. I thought that most everyone sounded the same when they were speaking English. However I started to travel more outside of my own geographical area and I started to realize that I do in fact have an accent. I grew up in Kentucky and though when I am around people that are from the same area that I'm from I don't recognize that I have an accent. Most of my family is from Cincinnati and north of there and my accent really does stand out like a sore thumb when I am around those people.

I really do intend to keep him in the program because I personally do feel like it is adding a lot to his education. You see, both of my children are gifted and having the opportunity to enroll him in immersion started out as something to challenge him, but now that he has been in the program for over a year, I also see it as something that really is enriching him. I feel that he is very lucky that he has that opportunity in his education. I would have done the same thing for his older sister, but the program is actually only in it's third year here and my daughter is in fifth grade (or sixth year).

When I was a kid I had several different pen pals. Some of them were simply friends that I knew from school that had moved away and others were people that I had met from exchange programs, youth retreats, etc. that were from other places around the globe. The thing with all of my pen pals is that they all spoke English, even though I never thought of learning their native tongues. With the global world that we live in today, I think electronic pen pals (via email) would be a great way to work on our skills with languages that are different from our native tongues.