Is it too late to start German again?

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Ich habe zwei Kinder, P wird 6 im October und G. wird 3 im July. Ich habe nur Deutsch gesprochen mit P bis sie fast 3 Jahre alt war. Sie hat alles verstanden. Dann wurde es schwieriger mit Preschool, mein Mann ist Amerikaner, etc. G hat nur letztes Jahr in Deutschland deutsch gehoert. Ist es zu spaet wieder mit Deutsch reden anzufangen. Ich halte mich zurueck damit, weil ich angst habe dass sie mich nicht verstehen und es zu viel fuer sie wird!!?? Ich haette nie gedacht, dass ich NICHT Deutsch mit meinen Kindern reden wuerde. Aber es scheint einfach einfacher zu sein. Help :-(

(translation)

I have 2 children - P will be 6 in October and G will be 3 in July. I spoke only German with P until she was about 3 years old. She understood everything. Then it became harder with preschool and my husband is American, etc. G has only heard German in Germany last year. Is it too late to start speaking German again? I hesitate because I am worried that they won't understand me and that it will be too much for them!!?? I never thought that I would NOT speak German with my children. But it just seemed like it would be easier. Help :(

I can totally relate to your question. It is really hard to resist the forces of English! Speaking a foreign language comes naturally to some people, but I still find it a huge challenge to keep up given all the other things we have going on in life (school, sports, activities, etc.) But you have a huge advantage - your daughter has already had 3 years of German from you! That German knowledge is still with her and she will catch on very quickly. Your son is young and will probably pick things up quickly as well, especially if his sister is enthusiastic.

I spoke German with my oldest, NJ, until he was about 3, then stopped almost completely for about a year for similar reasons. When his little brother, ML, was born, I started speaking German again - I have this thing that I always speak German to babies, even babies that aren't mine :) It's a habit. So I spoke German to ML and English with NJ. This went on for about 2 years and then the German faded into the background until baby #3, JP, arrived. Now I've been speaking German with JP and a mix of English and German with the two older boys. But guess what? Everyone understands what I'm saying to JP since they've heard bits and pieces of it and because they had it themselves for a couple years.

Say things twice
In the beginning, they won't understand you; that's ok. You can say things in English and repeat yourself in German. After a while, the kids will get used to it and it won't seem odd to be constantly repeating yourself (trust me - I do this a lot!). Then you can switch to using German first and repeating in English where they need you to. With kids this age, I spend little to no time formally teaching. I just let them absorb throughout the day. This method is a lot easier - no preparation needed! - and mimics natural language acquisition. You can even do this with books - translate German books into English where needed as you read and English books into German.

Keep it fun
I think the key for you will be to offer German in a non-threatening and low-stress way. It should be light and fun. Music is a great ice-breaker for this kind of thing. We play CDs in the car and the kids hear them over and over. They don't expect to understand everything but they recognize the songs and now they are starting to ask me what specific words mean. Sometimes we stop a song and I'll tell them the words and tell them what they mean. I always keep my explanations ultra-short so they don't feel like it's an actual lesson. Teach them a few nursery rhymes (Alle meine Entchen) and then sing them wrong (schwimmen in dem Wohnzimmer) - the kids will think it's hilarious.

Pick a "German" time
Instead of going cold-turkey and trying to speak German all day long, pick a specific time of the day and try and use German then. You can have German breakfast or German bathtime or speak German when you're baking cookies (lecker!). Your kids will have focused exposure to a subset of vocabulary instead of having to deal with the entire language all at once. You won't get burned out if you can commit to just a small amount of time each day.

Is it too much?
I think if it's incorporated into the day in a relaxed way, it's not too much for kids. They are absorbing things all day long; they are learning machines! I'm not saying it won't be challenging - it certainly will; but if you can make a plan and start slow, you will see results.

I hope this helps a bit. In a future post, I'll talk about complaints and objections ("Mom, I don't know what you're saying!") Please let us know how it goes!

- Sarah

Pixi Wissen - Packed with Info

I was so excited to learn about the new series of Pixi books, Pixi Wissen (Wissen means knowledge). We love the Pixi format - pocket-sized books with full length stories. I keep several in my purse for entertainment when we're stuck waiting somewhere. Think long car rides and doctor's waiting rooms. Now we can enjoy non-fiction Pixis as well. I have ordered 3 titles to start - Pferde und Ponys (Horses and Ponies), Das Meer (The Ocean) and Die Erde (The Earth).

The books provide information like "Wie groß werden Pferde?" (How big do horses get?), a page on prehistoric horses and horses in mythology. Also included are puzzles, a maze, a quiz, and a glossary. Each book has about 30 pages packed with pictures and short facts. Here's a sample page:



The Pixi Wissen series is best for kids with intermediate to advanced German knowledge, although beginners will enjoy browsing through just for the pictures.

At $4.50, these books are a great deal!

Another Fingerspiel

Meine Hände sind verschwunden
habe keine Hände mehr.
Seht da sind die Hände weider,
Tralalalalalala.

(sung to the tune of Kommt ein Vogel geflogen)

Movement
Hide your hands behind your back. When you come to "Seht da sind die Hände,"
bring them forward and wiggle your fingers.

- From Fingerspiele

We have a new look!

Please stop by and see our new website! Let me know what you think! Easier checkout, a new wishlist feature, and much more.

Viele Grüße
Sarah

P.S. If you have Alphabet Points from the old site, send me a note when you order and I'll credit them.

Non-native Accents

We are preparing to sell our piano and so we had it tuned today. No one in the house has played the piano since I stopped taking lessons almost 20 years ago. It just so happened that the piano tuner is a native German. What a small world! She casually paid me the highest compliment -- she said I sounded like a native speaker. Oh wonderful day! When I was studying in Munich, this was a real badge of honor for us students - we were always hoping to be mistaken for native Germans as a sign of our excellent linguistic abilities. I don't think anyone was completely fooled by my accent LOL, but perhaps I could pass for some other nationality.

This leads me to think about what kind of accents my kids will develop. Their German exposure is native from my husband as well as my pretty good accent. They also hear native speakers in German music and on DVDs. They have a really hard time understanding our Oma and Opa, though (from the Black Forest). I, too, didn't understand much of my in-laws initially but have since adjusted to their version of German with it's Badisch bent.

My oldest son has a beautiful accent - he seems to have a real talent for languages. My four year old, however, has the funniest way of speaking. It's not so much an American accent, but it's not quite German either. I guess it will work itself out in time.

I think the key for me was the total immersion in native German I had while learning. (I didn't start studying German until college so I'm proof that you never are too old to learn!) Most of us won't be able to provide total immersion for our kids, at least not most of the time. That's when it's critical to find other ways to provide native German for your kids, either from native speakers or also from CDs and DVDs. My kids listen to the same stories over and over, and easily pick up words and phrases, intonation and all, and so this can be a great way to reinforce a good accent.

So now we have a tuned piano and we had a nice visit with a lovely piano tuner. After hearing her play, I am longing to play the piano again! Maybe we won't put it up for sale just yet :)

What she said...

I love Corey's take on bilingualism.

Watching German DVDs

German movies and TV shows are a wonderful way to increase the amount of German input your children receive. One of the most frequent questions I get from people is how to watch German DVDs.

Multi-Region Required
First, you must be aware that most (95%?) of all German DVDs require a multi-region DVD player. (For more technical information on all this multi-region stuff, see DVD Regions Explained) The good news is that you may be able to convert your own player to multi-region, if you don't mind a little research. Videohelp.com has "hacks" or instructions for many DVD players on how to "unlock" the multi-region capability for your DVD player. It all depends on the player - some are easy to do, some are harder, and some can't be changed.

If you don't want to update your own player, maybe your computer can play the DVDs! Most computer DVD players will play Region 2 (which is Europe) DVDs. The catch is that you have to switch between regions when you play different DVDs and the number of times you may switch is limited. This isn't a problem if you designate the computer as German (Region2) only. If you still want to be able to switch without limitation, you can install software which will bypass the region setting entirely. I use VideoLan for this purpose. It's not super-intuitive to use but it does the job.

In case none of the above options works for you, I do sell a multi-region DVD player on my website.

So grab some German episodes of Sendung mit der Maus, Biene Maja, Harry Potter and the like and have fun! It's an easy way to increase German exposure in your home.