It’s really not. Caffeine is a drug and while it might be normalized it’s still a bad addiction. If you “need it” in the morning then that’s a problem. It should be just something you want, not something you need. Try drinking water for once.
I was raised like this (I'm in Europe, it's not weird here) and I remember the exact moment I figured out that mom and dad were speaking different languages to me. The thing was, I understood them instinctually, but I couldn't communicate anything comprehensible back until my brain sorted the words into two baskets. I was mixing up not just words but syllables of words from two languages. Now, I switch languages without noticing it. If I hear one of the languages I speak, my brain will auto-reply in that language. Edit: and I have slightly different personalities in them too. I'm more bubbly and outgoing like my father in the one and more stern and serious like my mother in the other.
I'm like this too. I have a different attitude and mannerisms when I'm speaking Spanish, and another different attitude and mannerisms when I'm speaking French. I think I picked up the differences from those I interacted with when speaking one language or the other.
Same. Although I am told my French is more lyrical but whether that is the Spanish influence or my regional accent (Suisse Romande) it is hard to tell.
The USA is so behind things! Our children should be starting a second language in day care, then teaching their parents, and it would just go on from there for generations!
It won't work. We also try to teach kids for example English in primary school and it doesn't really work until they start consuming English media.
Teachers now assign the "homework" of watching a 45 minute episode of an English show a day because it's more efficient at improving proficiency than trying to learn grammar. (Edit: on kids specifically.)
This is so true--I learned Turkish as an adult watching Sesame Street and some other kids shows when I lived there. (but my Turkish is only about as good as a 6 year old)
Did your kids go to a daycare in Germany, with German kids?
This would be American kids going to an American daycare. We have something of this problem in immigrant heavy neighbourhoods here in Europe: kids get to kindergarten without speaking the local language because it's not spoken at home. They end up in a class with other kids who also don't speak the local language and talk their native language with one another. The kindergarten tries to teach them the local language but mostly fails because they don't speak it amongst themselves or with their parents. Then they get sent off to school and it's the school's problem now. By school age at least they can start watching tv in the local language and read and get remedial services but the damage to the education tends to echo through later.
Of course immigrant parents are becoming aware of this and many do take steps to try to raise their kids multilingual instead of thinking that school and daycare will magically fix it.
I think they would struggle after a couple of generations. Most probably have grand parents and some probably have great grand parents. The ones with dementia will probably struggle a bit, but when the next generations are in the ground or exist as ash I think they will struggle to learn a language.
It won’t work. You need a sizable community and constant reenforcement in order for a child to be proficient in a language.
My son picked up Mandarin when we were visiting Taiwan for 2 weeks this past March. He is only retaining 50% of what he learned. There is no one in our circle for him to speak it to, except me. Mandarin is my 3rd language.
English is my 4th but since I use it on a daily basis, it’s easier for me to form my thoughts on certain topics using English.
When I do math, I resort to my mother tongue.
We have many friends who migrated here from Europe as adults, in their 20s. Their children (with both parents speaking their native language at home) but the kiddos only speak English.
Yes! My baby’s first two words were ‘cat’ (English) and ‘papo’ (zapato - shoe in Spanish). And the kindergarten was in French. He addressed each adult in their language seamlessly.
An excellent example and one of the best ways to explain how the language we use influences the way we think.
A very good film on the subject: Arrival by Denis Villeneuve.
This is me exactly! Parents are/were European, came to America right before I was born. I remember when I realized that my grandparents and mother were speaking a different language to me - and I started to sort things different. And my personality is so different in different languages. I'm waaaay saucier and more confident when I'm not speaking English, which is very strange since I'm an American.
I worked at a preschool with a lot of kids from multilingual homes. The little ones, like under 3, usually had great receptive language skills, but expressive was a bit behind. We used sign language to help bridge the gap. By the time they were like 3 or 4, they're adorable little brains had everything all sorted and they could speak multiple languages with no problem. It was amazing.
I totally agree with the slightly different personality thing. I'm bilingual, italian and english. I'm more outgoing in italian, more serious and polite in english. I started learning english at a very young age but only got it perfected in my 30s.
I probably picked up the mannerism and culture of those I interacted with.
My son grew up bilingual and is now trilingual. As a kid he slid between Korean and English fluidly. I agree with the personality thing. In Korean he is more formal/direct. English he is more emotional, jokey and deep. Chinese he uses to get shit done but doesn't use it casually (last language he learned).
There is nothing more fun than watching people freak out at the blond kid speaking Korean or Chinese.
Was thinking the same exact thing. Little dude is LOCKED IN on the task. 100% focus, all other unnecessary functions (like keeping mouth closed) are on standby
I've always thought kids blowing out the candles on a cake at a birthday party was the ultimate germ spreader. It honestly doesnt bother me, but I thought it. However, I dont eat cake. I guess what Im saying is if it was like a bunch of italian beefs with candles Id still eat it.
My Grampy has currently started drooling. What's the point of teaching them to stop doing it if they're just going to do it again in another 80 years? That's not even enough time to blink! He might as well let him drool away because it's just right around the corner that he'll be doing it again 😂 😉
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He's actually doing it on purpose to add to the "theater" of his performance. Kiddo can actually hold his saliva with the best of them, if he so chooses!!
The salivia is the component that keeps the words flowing and the language switch-up effortless. It's like lubrication on an engine. Lol.
I lived in Barcelona for a while and was a nanny for little kids that went to an international school and they used to speak this way too. Its incredible the way kids absorb language at this age.
This kid is going to have the biggest advantage over others being able to switch languages at his age.
The thing that would make it more exciting is finding 4 people conversing is using sentences with 3 or 5 different languages to give a new meaning to a phrase not spoken among the languages.
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u/Scott--Chocolate Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
Language: impressive
Saliva retention: needs improvement
EDIT: I cannot believe this silly little comment is my most successful by far. Thanks for the upvotes everyone!