Language Lessons

14 July 2010 by By Yola Motsieloa

When my 7-year old son was born, my husband and I were very careful to be consistent in speaking to him in our respective languages. That really bore fruit because when he started to speak, he could speak to me ‘the way mama spoke’ and to his dad, the way he spoke.

When my 2nd son came along, close to 4 years later, my eldest was already in pre-school and a 3rd language had slowly crept into our household. It was not as easy now to have the ‘expose-to-mother-tongue-only’ rule because English was a new fascination for no.1 and he loved to show it off, especially to his baby brother. And as tends to happen with no. 2’s, we were not as strict and consistent with our language rules and found ourselves slipping at times and speaking more of our ‘default’ language, English. To compound the issue, shortly after his 1st birthday, we introduced a 4th language, Xitsonga into our lives, in the way of our helper. Talk about a tiny but over-active brain!

I have since watched both my kids maneuver their way between the 4 languages, and I marvel at their adeptness at the languages at such tender ages.

But, it was when their Xitsonga threatened to overtake Xhosa in popularity that I knew they were spending too much time with ‘Aunty’ and maybe I needed to re-prioritise and be their main guidance again. They grow so fast and I wanted to be the one influencing their world-view and teaching them that ‘everything is possible’, that ‘if you want something, give it’, and that ‘when you make a choice, you change the future’. Big life concepts really, that need time and dedication to teach, nurture and model and I love how it took language matters to give me a kick in the right place to get them going and get my Xhosa from B to A with my boys.

We are on the road again…….

Tell us your thoughts by leaving a comment below: What are the language dynamics in your family? How strict are you with language? How have your children responded to their language choices?