Photo by molajen
Recently, as I was putting on extremely red lipstick in preparation for one of those rare occasions when my husband and I reply “yes” to an adult party invitation, Vanessa – who was running around like a chicken with its head cutoff from my bathroom to my room – stopped dead in her tracks and looked up at me in admiration. She has just started to ask what things are called by pointing to whatever and asking: llama? Short for: cómo se llama esto? Anyhow, I thought about it for a split second – lápiz de labio? Labial? – and then I blurted out LIP-STICK. She looked intently at my lips – as she always does when she wants to learn how to pronounce something – and repeated: PIP-TIC and ran off, God knows where, shrieking.
This – my choice of words, not the shrieking – got me thinking about how even though I’m supposed to speak only Spanish to my daughter in this mission to raise her bilingual, I am guilty of using certain words in English for their simplicity and ease in memorizing them. Am I doing something wrong? Sometimes it’s just that I simply don’t remember the word in Spanish; other times it’s that the word in Spanish is much longer and therefore harder for a two-year-old to pronounce.
It’s easier in English…
Here’s a list of some other words that seem to rise to my lips much faster in English than in Spanish:
- raccoon = mapache (I don’t remember the last time I said: “Mira ese mapache“.)
- skunk = zorrillo/mofeta
- blueberries = arándanos
- snowman = muñeco (hombre) de nieve (See what I mean about English’s simplicity?)
I imagine the list will continue to grow along with Vanessa’s vocabulary. Should I be really concerned with this? Am I making a big mistake?
According to one of the mothers from Vanessa’s bilingual playgroup, whenever this happens to her, she just tells her daughter that at the present moment she doesn’t remember how to say the word in Spanish. And then, she tries to remember to look it up or ask someone so she can eventually tell her daughter the word in Spanish. Well, in theory, that could work…but Vanessa is relentless in her search for new words. She won’t give up which means I kind of have to have an answer right then and there.
So, what do you think? Should I run to the dictionary every time I’m faced with this dilemma or is it really no big deal to do this? Does this happen to you? What words are in your list?
I completely agree. I read many of our English books in Spanish to my kids (they’re still very little – ages 15 mo and 10.5 mo twins) so it’s mostly pointing out pictures in the books (hint – another great blog entry would be spanish book recommendations). We have one book that has sea creatures in it and for the life of me I can never think of the word in Spanish for Clam. It’s never convenient for me to run to the computer to look it up online as I usually have 3 little ones on my lap. So I usually either gloss over it or use the English word.
BTW – pinta labios is my word for lipstick
Thanks for sharing, Steph! We will definitely be reviewing books in SpanglishBaby. In fact, we’ll be talking about some tomorrow. You can also always check “La Tiendita,” our online store, where you’ll find many books in Spanish.
BTW – the word for clams is almejas!
Ami me pasa a cada rato con alondra..me convierto un ocho y se me olvida todas las palabras y le digo dame un momento para pensar por que ella me ? palabras para decir en ingles hasta que me viene la palabra y se la digo tambien ami me ayudo muchisimo barney aunque no lo soporto a ella le encantaba..Y por eso alondra me habla un ingles muy bien y por disney channel..Con la beba de 2 mi bella sobrina vanessa me la ayudo bastante para que arrancara hablar claramente en el poco tiempo que compartieron mi adriana me habla mucho mas claro y palabras que aprendio de su prima y ahora le pongo mucho dora y la oigo contando en ingles y en espanol asi que roxy sigue con tus historia que estoy aprendiendo bastante de ti para q las nenas sean bilingues
And I have a few more words… tonight my son brought me a book about bugs and for the life of me I can’t think of the spanish word for “ladybug” or “dragonfly”. I guess growing up, I didn’t discuss bugs with my mom or abuela. I just called them all “bichitos” tonight when reading the book.
PS – thanks for the word for clam!
“ladybug” = mariquita
“dragonfly” = livelula
Gracias a Dora, a los insectos les dicimos “buggabugga”
a mi se me olvida la palabra para “walrus”
A mi me ayuda mucho poner peliculas de los nenes en espanol. Thank God for the Spanish language track on DVDs.
Also, I know you’re talking about me, Roxy. But, like most moms, I don’t have time to run to the computer to look up a word I don’t know. However, I like to tell my children that I don’t know the word in Spanish because I want her to be aware of her language learning–this is called metacognition. When I do know both the English and the Spanish, and she tells me the English, I tell her, “Si, en ingles es ‘racoon’ y en espanol es ‘mapache’.” BTW, children who are also learning ASL or “BabySign” are also becoming aware of language learning.
People who are aware of their own thinking tend to be better learners and more successful in educational endeavors. FYI.
Steph: those are tricky ones. Well, maybe not “dragonfly” which is libélula in Spanish – and I’m pretty sure most of us would agree on that. I say that because the other word “ladybug” is apparently translated in several different ways, depending on the country/region. Here’s how we say it where I’m from: “mariquita,” but in Puerto Rico, where my husband’s from, it’s called “caculo!” Who knows where they call it elsewhere! My daughter calls it “leyibag.” I will definitely be writing about all this soon because I find the topic fascinating!
Also, the word “bichitos” – which I applaud you for using because that’s exactly what they are – has a very negative, and I mean NEGATIVE, connotation in some countries!!! Just so you know…
Nana: qué bueno lo de Adriana!!! Me encantaría escucharla! Y, gracias por leernos…me alegra saber que te está ayudando!
I keep asking myself if I should teach my daughter the Spanish words that she will need to communicate with my family back in Chile, or those words that are more commonly used here in the States. For example, the Chilean words for ladybug are “catita” or “chinita”, but we have a bilingual toy that calls them “catarita”. The most common word for pig is “chancho” in Chile; but I decided to tell Amanda that pigs are called “cerdos”, which is a more proper or neutral word, I think. For this reason, a sentence or word that should be really easy to teach in Spanish turns out to become a problem sometimes. I find myself talking “funny” when using words that I know are correct, but just don’t seem natural to me because are not part of my native country’s slang.
I know exactly what you mean, Claudia. Thanks for sharing! I’m going through some of the same things with my daughter, who is 2 1/2 years old. I’m Peruvian and I also call a pig a “chancho” and since it comes naturally into my mouth, that’s what I’ve taught my daughter. In fact, my mother sings a song to her about three little “chanchitos” and I just don’t see her changing that to a more neutral word–although I totally understand where you’re coming from.
Another thing we’ve been going through–and which I plan on blogging about in the near future–is that my husband is from Puerto Rico, and as I said in an earlier comment, there are some words that I’ve taught my daughter, that in his Island are actually considered “bad” words.
Needles to say, it has been a pretty fun ride, so far!
Wow, I just found this blog and wanted to congratulate you all on such wonderful work! And then I found this post, all about an issue I wonder about every day. I am an interpreter and my life revolves around looking things up, so I tend to look things up for my kids (3-year-old twins), but that’s definitely not always practical. Still figuring that one out. And I have the same issue with cerdo/chancho that you both pointed out above! In that case, I decided to use both words and explain that there are all kinds of different words for the same things in Spanish. I should know, it trips me up when I’m interpreting all the time!
Felicidades, I’m seriously enjoying the blog and can’t wait to read more!
Keen’s last blog post..Brothers
When you run across a word you don’t know, after looking it up maybe you could make up a little song or a little story that will allow you to repeat the “proper” word several times, and then repeat that song or story a few times over the next few weeks. By the time you feel you’ve learned and absorbed it, the child will have mastered it even better than you. Kids adapt so easily. Even in one language there are commonly different words for the same thing and kids simply learn them. Example: in the “Tierra Caliente” region of Mexico, boy= niño/ chamaco/ huache (and maybe even another word I haven’t learned yet). The kids are frequently the ones who explain these things to me…
My sister-in-law tells me niño is “standard” Spanish, chamaco is Mexican, and huache is Purepecha (indigenous that area). They have so many words like this and the kids just find it very natural.
My sister-in-law just told me yet another word they use in Tierra Caliente for “boy”: huerco. It never ends…
Roxana i’ve lived in Puerto Rico for the past 20 years and a ladybug is NOT called a Caculo. A caculo is a brown insect with an oval body, they are pretty ugly and pretty BIG.