Our little girl has very few words she actively uses in both languages. Usually, when she has one word, whether German or French or an onomatopoeia (such as “wauwau” for “dog”), she sticks with that, even if she understands perfectly well when we say “Hund” or “chien”.

For some strange reason (and to my obvious delight), “cow” is the second word, after “tschüß” / “au revoir” (and “bye-bye” following our holiday in Canada), that she uses in both languages.

Enter the crane. Not the bird, but the construction engine. There are a few in our neighbourhood that she’ll see regularly. So Daddy has told her this big metal beast is a “grue”, and Mommy has told her it’s a “Kran”. And when she says one while she’s with the other, we’ll tell her “yes, that’s right that a grue/kran” (in our respective language). I’ll go even further when she insists “non, grue!”. I’ll tell her “Yes, Daddy says grue, and Mommy says Kran.”

So yesterday, on a drive where we came past several cranes, after we’d both told or confirmed her the respective term, she’d point them out and say “papa-grue, mama-kran”. 🙂