German Preschool

Late this summer, it appeared Erich wouldn't be admitted to the private German preschool we were looking at, so I took matters into my own hands and started up a cooperative preschool with some other German mothers in our area. Wouldn't you know it, a couple of weeks later, I got a letter from the German school asking if we were still interested. We decided we'd found a better solution and could save a buttload of cash in the process. Seriously, what were we thinking?? All I did was send out an email to some German parent groups that I'm a part of and I got a really good response. We met, all of us for the first time, and discussed details in German as I tried to desperately to understand what the H they were talking about. Let me tell you, I was a rag doll by the time they left my house. But I had made it through the first meeting and they didn't kick me out of the group! Bonus!!

We decided to meet for 2 hours twice a week and rotate houses and responsibilities (snacks, reading/singing time, craft). We have 6 parents - all native Germans with the exception of me - and 7 children. Luckily, the children get along really well, although that could be because there are only 2 boys in the group... and even though my Erich isn't much a fan of sitting, or potty training, or eating, he's doing pretty well. He'll repeat words he hears, he's starting to ask for things more clearly, and socially he's becoming more... um, normal. What I mean is, instead of walking up to another kid and making weird animal noises, more often he'll say hi or tell me they're in his way (hey, to me that's progress!).

Overall, it's working out great - even better than I'd expected. Everyone is involved and commited, and I'm incredibly happy about my idea coming to life. However, it's been three weeks and I'm still feeling insecure about my place - whether I'm not fitting in, or what the other mothers think of me. They are all really nice and creative and easy to be around, and so are their kids, but I just wonder if they think I'm crazy or silly for only speaking to my son in a language neither my husband nor I fully understand. My biggest fear is that they'll eventually call me out as the fraud I am, deciding that my German is too sub-standard, and that my child is too young and disruptive for the group anyway (a result of my poor parenting). I feel like my only recourse is to do my best at developing relationships; however, even this is difficult because I don't understand everything they say. During our first meeting, I could only understand about 1/2 of everything that was said, and now I understand about 3/4 of the conversations, which is at least encouraging. I go home every day and look up words they used, but I still get get hung up, and even though I'm frustrated, the last thing I want is to force everyone to speak English to me. It would defeat the entire purpose of immersing Erich (and me). I also hope I can show them I have a lot to offer when it's my turn to lead. I've been sharing German translations of English songs that they don't know, maybe that will be my niche?

As I said though, I really believe this preschool is a good thing for us. I have faith that I'll grow more comfortable overtime. Erich and I are both improving in the language and it's providing more structure and social opportunities for him. Plus he LOVES going to see his "deutsche Freunde," as he calls them. I'm grateful that we gain so much from the our new friends, I just hope we can offer as much back.

Interview about Bilingualism

I was recently interviewed by the owner of Alphabet Garten, an online German-language bookstore for children. For anyone interested in our efforts in learning German and teaching teaching it to Erich, you can read the full text of the interview here, at her blog.

Erich Speak

(I should probably just go ahead and rename this blog to "The Erich Days" since that's all I write about lately...)

To track Erich's progress in learning German (and hopefully to translate at least a little bit of his gibberish for everyone else), I've documented all of his current vocabulary. As you can see a few English words have slipped in there - 'no' being his favorite. I only wish I could include some recording of him saying these words, but this kid simply refuses to be a trained monkey. So I just wrote the phonetically spelled version of how Erich says the word, then the correct German word and the English translation in parenthesis.

1. Mama
2. Papa
3. Opa (Grandpa)
4. Oma (Grandma)
5. Mimi (other grandma)
6. Nummy: Yummy
   
7. Eye: Eier (eggs)
8. NEIN!
9. NO!
   
10. Uh-oh
    
11. Mehr (more)
    
12. Buh-bye
    
13. Oosh: Tschuss (bye)
14. Ball (same in German)
15. Baby (same)
    
16. Koo: Kuh (cow)
17. Eckie: Eklig (yucky)
18. Po (bum - he says this and "eklig" when he poos)
19. Weevee: Revie (his friend)
20. Zah: Saft (juice) or Wasser (water)... He doesn't seem to distinguish between the two but that could be because cup is "Tasse" and he's just saying that.
21. Ahssee: Kashi (as in Kashi's Heart to Heart cereal, his favorite)
22. Ooo-cow-bah: Hubschrauber (Helicopter - TONS fly over our house)
23. Duh-kah: Danke (Thank you)
24. Entee: Ente (duck)
25. Ah-pee: Affe (monkey)
26. Nana: Banana (banana)
27. Bah-dee: Bade (Bath)
28. Shauw - Schau (look)
29. Yay-gah: Jaeger (our dog, not the drink. Also his first word.)
30. doo, dee, die: (combo of one, two, three & eins, zwei, drei)
31. Auf (up)
32. Aus (out)
33. Auto (car)
34. Kop: Klopf (knocking on a door)
35. Ahn-dee: Handy (cell phone)
36. Bibi (his Aunt Rebecca)
    
37. Zee: Ziehen (pull)
38. Shoo: Schuh (shoe)
39. Bauw: Bauch (Tummy) or Baum (tree) -- Depending on what he's pointing at...
40. Neh-mo: Nemo (yes, THAT Nemo. And this is to describe every fish of every color and size, by the way.)

Just yesterday, he said: Pipi (yes, as in 'peepee'), Tiger and Erdbeere (strawberry). We'll see if they stick!

And finally, he makes these noises with the corresponding animals:
Dog: Arf
Cat: Meow
Cow: Moo
Rooster: Ar-OO-oo-ar-Aroo
Chick: Peep, peep
Pig: back of the nose snort
Bear, Tiger, Lion, Crocodile, Giraffe, Bunny, Frog: Grrrrrroaawwrrr!
(We're still trying to teach him that the last few don't actually roar. He prefers things his way.)

I was so surprised while putting this together how many words he actually says! I've been telling everyone he says a dozen but apparently I've been a stinking liar. I'm thinking now I should print out copies and pass them out to all his friends, neighbors and nursery teachers. By memorizing this list, you could probably have an entire conversation with Erich and he'd be your best friend forever.

The pressures on, though.. I'm going to have to up my studying - this kid is catching up to me quicker than I thought.

English Nursery Rhymes in German

I'm not sure if any of my readers will be interested in this besides me, but after an exhaustive search I was finally able to find German translations of some of my favorite English nursery rhymes. Up until now I've been singing my own rough and pathetic versions to Erich. (Reason #27 that I may have already screwed up my kid before his second year.) Boy am I excited to actually be saying them correctly! You may notice though, that most of these aren't literal translations. This isn't uncommon. I suppose the charm of lines like "the old man is snoring" must get lost in translation. How unfortunate.

For anyone interested, I found the translations here. The site also translates nursery rhymes into a bounty of other languages, so it's a definite keeper for any multi-lingual families. And while we're on the topic, this is also a fabulous site. Pick your language, and pull up pictures. As you scroll over the picture, you see and hear the word. Erich loves this and we do it almost every day!

Bruder Jakob (Are you sleeping?)

Bruder Jakob, Bruder Jakob,
schläfts du noch, schläftst du noch?
Hörst du nicht die Glocken, hörst du nicht die Glocken,
Ding Ding Dong, Ding Ding Dong

Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist, das wüßt ich gern.
Stehst hoch über aller Welt,
ein Diamand am Himmelszelt.
Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist das wüßt ich gern.

Tickedi tickedi tack (Hickory Dickory Dock)

Tickedi tickedi tack,
die Maus läuft die Uhr auf und ab.
Die Uhr schlät eins,
die Maus rennt heim!
Tickedi tickedi tack

Es regent, es regnet (It’s Raining, It’s Pouring)

Es regnet, es regnet,
es regnet seinen Lauf.
Und wenn's genug geregnet hat,
dann hört's auch wieder auf.

Ringel, ringel, Rosen (Ring-around the Rosie)

Ringel, ringel, Rosen
Schöne Aprikosen
Weiß und blau
Vergiß mein nicht,
Alle Kinder setzen sich.

Das ist der Daumen (This Little Piggy Went To Market)

Das ist der Daumen,
der schüttelt die Pflaumen,
der hebt sie auf,
der trägt sie nach Haus,
und dieser kleine Lümmel ißt sie alle auf!

Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne (The Itsy Bitsy Spider)

Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht in Wasserrohr,
dann kommt der Regen und spült sie wieder vor,
dann kommt die Sonne und trocknet das Wasser ein
und die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht wieder ins Rohr hinein.

A,B,C,

A, B.... Y, Z, oh weh, jetzt kann ich das ganze ABC!

Boo-YA!

Click here to check out
The Arlington German speaking Playgroup!

Ich kann Deutsch... sort of.

As many may know, Marc and I are trying to raise Erich speaking German. Yeah, it might seem random at first, but if you know us its really not so much. Marc took German in college but he's also half Swiss, so he's had a lot of exposure and strong ties to the language. We also have a lot of German blood between the two of us, so speaking German in our home seemed to us to be the perfect holla' back to our ancestry. We've always talked about doing this, but I didn't get serious about learning the language until Erich was born. I'm now in a second semester course, which Marc is taking with me as a refresher. (To be honest, I'm so glad he's there! He's naturally the smartest in the class and not shy in the least, so he raises the bar while bringing me out of my shell.) And now that Erich is 1 and saying his first words, the heat is on! I feel sometimes like he and I are in a race to see who can pick up the language faster. Sure, he can't form a lot of words yet, but I know he's listening and absorbing everything I say. And that is where the trouble lies; in my presentation. I'm no linguist and German is certainly not my native tongue. To say the least and I've had... moments. Sometimes I get really excited and have all the faith in the world in my abilities. Other times, however; I'm convinced that I'm making a mess of my child and I'll never be able to pull this off. I should add though, that those negative feelings have greatly decreased in volume and intensity over time. I only wish I'd started sooner. I still worry a lot that I'm not coming across to Erich as sincere, fun and confident, so I try to be very aware of how I come across when I speak to him.


We have a pretty decent arsenal of German books, dvds and music, but I'm always on the lookout for more - as at this point they help me more than they do Erich. I did a Google search today for "German Dr. Seuss" and found the best site: Alphabet Garten. It was truly a blessing to find because the woman who runs this website is a non-native German speaker (married to a German) and she keeps a blog about her family's bilingual life. She also links to all kinds of support sites for multilingual families. It was exactly what I needed!! I can't say what a relief it is to read about other parents in my same position with the exact same concerns, and then to read the reports and studies about why those concerns are crap! Seriously, check this out. What I realize now is just what Marc has been telling me all along: Don't give a damn. Around friends, family, or anyone, just speak German as best I can, make mistakes and don't care what they may think or say. The only person I need to care about is Erich and if I stay focused then I'm giving him gifts that will last forever. And now that I've said that... I hope you all hold me to it! I mean it now, if you're really my friend then you won't let me slack off in front my kid.


To top this all off, I joined a German playgroup through Meetup.com. I haven't officially been accepted yet, though. The group representative sent me an email basically saying (depending how well I translated my German) that they expect all members to speak only German at home and with the playgroup. And if thats where I'm at then let him know. Yikes. I basically responded (in broken German), uh yeah, sure, I can do that.

I'm so scared.

Deutsch on the Gehirn

In honor of Erich’s Swiss & German roots, we’ve decided to try to raise him “auf Deutsch.” I’ve been learning to speak German through Post-it's around the house, Marc’s diligent tutoring, and the language learning software Rosetta Stone. I was studying almost daily until I started working again 3 weeks ago. Since then it’s been going… okay. Marc used to bug me to study constantly, but soon realized life would be too busy until he’s done with school. Just yesterday he informed me that he would be a "German studying Nazi" once finals are over. I knew he was only joking that he would be strict, like Seinfield’s "Soup Nazi" (“No soup for you!”), so I took joy in pointing out the undertones of what he'd just said. He’s so cute when he blushes.

In some of my Rosetta Stone lessons I have to match phrases with pictures. My most recent lesson was about size. Fat is “dick”, thin is “dünn”, and very is “sehr.” The sentence below reads:

“The women are very fat.”

I call THAT a German lesson. I’m glad I’m learning the important things first!
Now... do you think those women know they’re in that picture?