Thread: Its getting confusing in our house!

My 4 year old son is quickly picking up Russian words as I, slowly, learn them. This is great! Once we are able to speak better Russian and my son has has become adept at writing his own native English, I hope to be able to teach him written Russian.
All very positive stuff.
But we live in Wales and my son has just started his first year at school. This means, as part of his schooling, he has to learn Welsh. Again all good, he has been teaching me the odd Welsh word too.
Only, I fear that between us we are about to give birth to a new Russian-Welsh language if we start getting mixed up!!

There is one advantage however, to pronounce some Welsh words properly you have to make the same sounds as some Russian words, something we can both already do.

Lets just hope we can keep the two languages seperate, if not I might be searching for a Russian Welsh speaker!!

You can try to play for him Russian children songs:
http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtopic.php?t=5264

A great idea, thanks. He already listens to Vys.otsky with me and we sing along, a little, to our favourite.
Thanks Lampada.

I don't think you need to worry about mixing up the languages. It will happen every now and then, but it won't stunt development or anything like that.

I have about 7 students in my class that are tri-lingual, and many more that are bi-lingual.

Originally Posted by Ezri

My 4 year old son is quickly picking up Russian words as I, slowly, learn them. This is great! Once we are able to speak better Russian and my son has has become adept at writing his own native English, I hope to be able to teach him written Russian.
All very positive stuff.
But we live in Wales and my son has just started his first year at school. This means, as part of his schooling, he has to learn Welsh. Again all good, he has been teaching me the odd Welsh word too.
Only, I fear that between us we are about to give birth to a new Russian-Welsh language if we start getting mixed up!!

There is one advantage however, to pronounce some Welsh words properly you have to make the same sounds as some Russian words, something we can both already do.

Lets just hope we can keep the two languages seperate, if not I might be searching for a Russian Welsh speaker!!

So are you English?

Interesting. So in Wales which is most prevalent? Do people commonly speak welsh in the streets and at home? Or is it more traditional to learn Welsh?

Originally Posted by z80

I don't think you need to worry about mixing up the languages. It will happen every now and then, but it won't stunt development or anything like that.

I have about 7 students in my class that are tri-lingual, and many more that are bi-lingual.

Cheers. Seems your right too. The only thing my son was getting mixed up about is which language it is rather than the language it'self. He's fine already now. And can speak bits of both Welsh and Russian better than me!

Originally Posted by TATY

So are you English?

Yes. English ex pat now living in Wales.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Interesting. So in Wales which is most prevalent? Do people commonly speak welsh in the streets and at home? Or is it more traditional to learn Welsh?

The Welsh language nearly died out, so a few years ago the Welsh went on a mission to revive it by teaching Welsh in school again as well as adding Welsh to all road signs, shop signs etc etc. Even our bills are sent to us in both English and Welsh.
But its still rare to hear Welsh spoken on the streets and there are only a few people in the sticks who's first language is Welsh. Mainly its in the north, where you can go into cafes and the like and hear Welsh spoken as a first language and then the vast majority can all speak English perfectly too.

Originally Posted by Ezri

Originally Posted by TATY

So are you English?

Yes. English ex pat now living in Wales.

Ex pat? Where did you live before that?

Originally Posted by Yazeed

Originally Posted by Ezri

Originally Posted by TATY

So are you English?

Yes. English ex pat now living in Wales.

Ex pat? Where did you live before that?

It was a joke I think England

The Welsh language nearly died out, so a few years ago the Welsh went on a mission to revive it by teaching Welsh in school again as well as adding Welsh to all road signs, shop signs etc etc. Even our bills are sent to us in both English and Welsh.
But its still rare to hear Welsh spoken on the streets and there are only a few people in the sticks who's first language is Welsh. Mainly its in the north, where you can go into cafes and the like and hear Welsh spoken as a first language and then the vast majority can all speak English perfectly too.

cool thanks!!

Originally Posted by Yazeed

Ex pat? Where did you live before that?

England.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Ex pat? Where did you live before that?

It was a joke I think England
!![/quote]

back to your confusion... dont worry about it! If you are learning 3 languages, it should not be a problem. especially if it is in your first language. I know when i talk in more than one language at the same time it gets mixed up some times... but not too much. I think if you are working on just two it shouldn't be a problem at all!

Hope that helps and gives some encouragement!

Originally Posted by giovanni

back to your confusion... dont worry about it! If you are learning 3 languages, it should not be a problem. especially if it is in your first language. I know when i talk in more than one language at the same time it gets mixed up some times... but not too much. I think if you are working on just two it shouldn't be a problem at all!

Hope that helps and gives some encouragement!

Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement. It seems to not be a problem for my 4 year old son, but for me, I have trouble trying to learn one language. But Ill keep trying.
Thanks Giovanni.

No problem! I think its great to teach him a another language, and two at that! I wish my parents taught me more... because its harder to pick the rest up now. To only think... i could have been multilingual by 5 instead of just two... But it's good either way, because its been proven that you learn so much faster when you are that age.

But just curious... why russian? Is there any reasoning to it?

Originally Posted by Ezri

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Interesting. So in Wales which is most prevalent? Do people commonly speak welsh in the streets and at home? Or is it more traditional to learn Welsh?

The Welsh language nearly died out, so a few years ago the Welsh went on a mission to revive it by teaching Welsh in school again as well as adding Welsh to all road signs, shop signs etc etc. Even our bills are sent to us in both English and Welsh.
But its still rare to hear Welsh spoken on the streets and there are only a few people in the sticks who's first language is Welsh. Mainly its in the north, where you can go into cafes and the like and hear Welsh spoken as a first language and then the vast majority can all speak English perfectly too.

Everyone in Wales is fluent in English as well. The last person who only spoke Welsh died in the 1960s I believe.

Are those just random letters in TATYs image, or is that really Welsh?

You choose.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/