Yesterday, my little one sat down at the table and said "Mummy, I need a prat". I've been enjoying hearing her stop-gap responses to language she can't remember, but this time I thought it best to offer her the appropriate word."Would you like a plate?""A prate?""A plate""No, I need a prat". She has been problem-solving … Continue reading The joys of translanguaging
Tag: Bilingual
New language – shape, sound and word association
I bought a book for my daughter around about the time she turned one. It was £1.99 from the British Heart Foundation and called '1000 Words and Pictures'. She can lift and carry it by herself now that she's getting on for four. This week when we were reading about the parts of a tree, … Continue reading New language – shape, sound and word association
Some thoughts on bilingualism, language acquisition and language learning
I have never studied bilingualism and I'm not bilingual so my thinking on the subject comes from what I have picked up from a few books, articles, comments and memes, connected by some personal observations and marinated in plenty of prejudice and bias. Before learning another language I used to think (and I believe this … Continue reading Some thoughts on bilingualism, language acquisition and language learning
Bilingual children and language development – Confusion between first and third person in Portuguese
On the subject of the confusion that must arise between the first person singular and the third person singular for a child acquiring Portuguese - mentioned in my last post here and back by overwhelming demand - I have some further observations. Not only do the majority of Brazilians talk about themselves in the third … Continue reading Bilingual children and language development – Confusion between first and third person in Portuguese
Writing in Portuguese
At the beginning of lockdown I was still more or less convinced that I would never write poetry again, and that the spoken word poems and songs were long gone, a passing and past phase never to be revisited. I had been grieving my loss of language for a while (more on that in another … Continue reading Writing in Portuguese
Brazil from the outside in 