As some of you might know, we are a trilingual family, but I have a confession to make.
We really only speak English at home.
While we may use the occasional German or Hebrew word, we have been very lazy.
Our songs have slowly become English songs and our book baskets are filled with only English books.
Seeing as only one of our little ones actually talks this has not been a huge problem, but it still seems wrong that English is the only language we speak.
This morning I decided that it’s time to change that.
We are going to be a German speaking family for 100 days.
The preparations did not take long, the book baskets have been emptied of all the English books and filled up with German books.
Some of the German books are even still unread, sent by friends and family and put on a shelf, so it will be great fun to discover new stories together.
We filled three book-baskets with the most interesting looking German books, and we will swap them for books from the German bookshelf as we read them.
I put away our English toys and replaced them with some toys that seem German to the little ones, mostly because they came from Germany or have German names.
(From left to right there is Rudi, Lotta, Wau-Wau-Wau the dog, Hoppel the bunny and Affe the monkey.)
I was surprised to find one of Emily’s favourite books on our German bookshelf, “Gib Mir Einen Kuss, Frau Nuss!” (“Give me a kiss, Mrs. Nuss!”) we were all quite sure that we had lost it when we moved into this house over a year ago. (I wrote a little bit about that book here!)
Deciding to just speak one language for 100 days has already been a blessing, as many old favourite books have been rediscovered.
I think, thanks to our collection of German books, it will not be too difficult to speak German for 100 days, even though the first few days might be challenging.
We have started gently, by reading many of our books already this morning. Emily has started to pick up on the German pronunciation and can read many of the books by herself, even though she still asks what many of the words mean.
Even after just a morning of German her memory of many of the words are returning, shyly asking “Mama, may I essen einen Apfel, please?” (“May I eat an apple,please?”).
The boys have been listening to the German stories more than to any English story we have ever read.
I don’t know quite why that is, maybe it is just because it is all very new, but, who knows, this experiment might help the boys find their first words,
but even if it doesn’t, I think it will be a really good thing for our family.
Have you ever attempted something similar?
I would love to hear from you!
Have a wonderful day!
♥
What a gift for your children!
My father only wanted us to speak English at home, apparently, because he was worried we would be confused if my mother spoke Norwegian (although, naturally, I did hear her speak Norwegian with our wider family and with friends of hers).
I wish she had been able to speak Norwegian though, as likely it would’ve led to my speaking it better and having more of an opportunity to speak with my grandmother (who I speak to using a mixture of Norwegian and French as she speaks very little English indeed), something that becomes more precious the older she becomes (she’s in her 90s now).
I never really did get much of a handle on Norwegian and it is a shame (as an adult I kept meaning to try to learn more, but then there was working and children and so many other things…)
So I say it is a wonderful thing for your children that they have the opportunity to learn German and indeed for you to speak it in the home
Great initiative! I am certain they will speak fluent German again soon. We are a tri-lingual family as well, but since we are living in a predominantly English speaking country the kids prefer English. I try to speak consistently Dutch to them and my husband German. . . they are schooled in English as well, so once in a while it is a real battle to be consistent.
However, we find that all three do well when put to the task – speaking the native languages to their grandparents and other family members in the Netherlands or Germany.
Keep it up and you’ll be amazed how well they adapt. . .
What a great experiment! I look forward to reading how it goes. We are an American family in Germany and my 2 year old daughter just started Kindergarten this week. We have only spoken English at home with her and she has only heard a handful of German from playgroups until now. I am amazed at how much German she has picked up just from 2-3 hours a day this past week. I’m sure your kids will amaze you as well! Good luck!
It is a gift you give to them! Don’t stop after 100 days! I know so many people who are upset with their parents for not raising them biligual. It is so good for their brains, plus my kids totally dig having a secret language… they like watching German movies, too.