Languages

I must confess to a bit of an addiction lately. I've gotten really hooked on the Pimsleur language CD's. I wasn't listening to them in the house, so I started playing them in the car and I can't seem to stop! I was working with the Chinese short course, but had to turn it back in to the library. While I'm waiting to get it back again, I decided to get the German course for Victor. I ran through it as a refresher though (I took four years of German in high school). Now, I'm heading to the library today to get the Spanish short course. I should get the Mandarin CD's back in a couple of weeks and then I'll move on to the higher level Mandarin CD's. I'm also hoping to move on to higher level Spanish and German CD's at some point. I'm even thinking of getting the French short course and working with Collin. He takes a French class at his elementary school (and has since kindergarten), but he knows so very little French. He knows much more Mandarin from the DVD's we've watched than he knows from 2 1/2 years of French class. Poor Alana is probably very confused! She is trying so hard to learn English and retain her Mandarin and now she is hearing German and Spanish. I think it is probably great for Dylan though. He is so verbal anyway and I have to think it is good for him to be exposed to so many languages so early.

Alana is doing great with her English, but I am surprised that she is further ahead in more complex areas and struggling in others that seem so basic. For instance, she can tell me that she wants a Dora cake for her birthday and her vocabulary is enormous. However, she has problems pronouncing everyday words. She still mispronounces her own name 95% of the time (says Anala instead of Alana). She also mispronounces both of her brother's names -- saying Cowan and Dywan. So, she is substituting a W for an L in those words, but in a word like "tomorrow" she says "tomollow." I don't get it. She puts L's in words when it should be a R and W's in words that have L's. She also has a lot of trouble with R's and TH's, but I can understand those better and she is more consistent with her mispronunciation (Dola for Dora and Sank you for Thank you). I used to let it go when she mispronounced Collin and Dylan's names, but I'm starting to correct her. I really feel like a broken record though. She'll say "Cowan" and I'll tell her that her brother's name is Collin. She will then say Collin's name correctly, but 5 minutes later this scene will repeat itself (again and again). I know she will say them correctly eventually and I probably should just let it go. However, Dylan likes to repeat what Alana says, so now he is mispronouncing words as well. =) My kids can be a handful, but they are so worth it!!