Comment élever un enfant dans le bilinguisme, c’est le titre d’une émission passée cette semaine sur RFI, avec comme invitée, Barbara Abdelilah-Bauer, fondatrice du Café Bilingue et généralement spécialiste dans la matière. Pour l’instant, l’émission qui dure 26 minutes est encore disponible sur le site de RFI ici. (Si le lien ne marche plus, j’ai […]

Why didn’t I think of this earlier? Whenever I brought my MP3 player out to record my girl, she reached for it and any chances of catching her “natural speaking” were gone. This morning, I hit the “record” button and let her have it. She still thinks it’s a phone. (I’m glad it isn’t, or […]

We’re back from our holidays, and I realise just how much more our little girl (two years and one month) is saying these days. Ask her yes-no questions and you will get a real answer, sometimes a heartfelt “oh oui!” and at others a definite “ah non!”. There are more two-word sentences coming, notably in […]

The other day, actually the morning after her second birthday, my little girl and I were on Skype with Grandpa, sitting on the bed so she’d be in front of the laptop’s camera. While we were talking, she installed herself with a pillow, a doll and the covers and said “[Her name] dodo.” (Translation: “I […]

We’re back from a visit with the German granny (Oma), where our little girl had a lot to say. Here’s a sample of what she told her Oma as they were looking at the pictures of a fairy tales book together: talk

It’s been a while since I last ran after my girl with the mike. Not for lack of expression on her part, on the contrary, but rather for lack of mastery of said mike, which is integrated in my walkman, one of her favourite “tech toys”. But this morning she was so engrossed in sorting […]

Wir sind die kuh-verrückteste Familie, die ich kenne. Wir haben Kühe in allen Formen, Farben und Größen. Mein Computer und mein Telefon muhen, meine Bettdecke ist schwarz-weiß gefleckt, und unsere Kuhsammlung steht in einem Regal, das bis zur Decke geht. Wir fahren jedes Jahr in die Normandie und gehen mehrmals auf die Landwirtschaftsausstellung. Unsere Website […]

The other day my little girl did not like what I was doing (I think I was taking something away…), and I suddenly realised her “naiiiii” might well be “nein”. (Sadly, “no” is a word she hears often from me, i.e. in German.) On the same night I found myself wondering if the oft-repeated syllable […]

Two days in a row I managed to capture my little girl talking to herself, in what I’m told experts call “jargon”. Please listen to these two soundbites: “bap” talk And watch her read:  

It’s been a while, and I don’t even have a “mama” or “papa” recording to show for it. I do have, however, two samples of my baby in a very good and a very bad mood. Plus more babbling. Listen here: babble more babble unhappy baby laughing baby (she’s getting tickled and enjoying every moment […]