akbarsprincess Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 My daughter is tri-lingual speaking English/Farsi/Turkish fluently. She hasn't made the move here yet as she is currently on an extended holiday with my husband's family abroad and will be returning here at the start of nursery and taking up a place at Mossbank nursery. She is 3 but it occurs to me that she will now grow up speak English like a local and will use the local dialect naturally but will still be seen as an incommer. I'm not bitter about this, i just find it quite funny that she may pass for a local unless someone knows here background:-). Lyndsey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances144 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 She probably won't speak with a Shetland accent or dialect. None of mine do. We moved up here when one was 1 yo and the other 3yo. They both have English accents because that is how we speak at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akbarsprincess Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I have been wondering about this but only I speak English with her at home Although my husband is fluent in English, it's not his first, second, third or even fourth language. I don't allow him to speak English with her at home because she will get that from me and where she goes to nursery. Consequently, she only hears Farsi and Turkish from her father because I want to make sure she learns to speak these langauges fluently as her father did hoping she will perhaps buck the trend of us in the UK for being useless at foreign language:-). She is duel national of both UK and Iran. Currently, she is with my husband's family and will be returning here at the start of August. No one over there speaks English so consequently she has forgotton it herself. She will pick this up again in no time as they do at this age but that is why i think she will have more of a local accent. because she will almost be starting from scratch when she comes back and the only English she will hear spoken with an English accent will be from me. Lyndsey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasmie Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 A lot of incomers bairns speak the local dialect in the playground, but adjust when they're in their parents company and speak wot like they do.I see a lot of kids who are bi-dialectical (is that a word). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinner72 Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^^ Agreed. I've been fascinated by our daughter (4, and also at Mossbank nursery) who has from the time she started speaking been switching between english and dialect in much the same way we adults do depending on who we are talking to. In that sense, your daughter may well become fluent in dialect and you may not notice until she is in the company of others doing the same. Given that she is clearly already familiar with multiple languages, one would think she will handle both with ease. Welcome to Shetland! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulb Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 the do pick up the dialect my son really has it down well now. i have to get the wife to translate sometimes. the other son however still speak like he always did. maybe an indication of an ability with languages. will see when he starts french in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyScy Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 We moved up here 5 years ago and our daughters were 6 and 3 months at the time. My husband is from Shetland so my eldest was already using some Shetland dialect, she is now 11 and can sound as broad as any child that was born and bred here, but can switch between her Irish accent and her Shetland accent when ever she wants and depending who she's speaking to. When we travel back to Ireland she leaves Sumburgh sounding Shetland and arrives back to my hometown with a Sligo accent. My youngest has an Irish / Shetland mix and some times I am even surprised at how Irish she sounds, she's five now and our family here are very broad spoken Shetland so she uses all the dialect with an Irish twang. I work at the local playgroup and I have had parents say to me about their children coming home speaking with an Irish accent when they have learned something new! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akbarsprincess Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 A lot of incomers bairns speak the local dialect in the playground, but adjust when they're in their parents company and speak wot like they do I see a lot of kids who are bi-dialectical (is that a word). I think she would get a stern talking to from me if she spoke with such bad grammar:-) but yes she may speak with more than one dialect and if ''bi-dialectical' wasn't a word, it is now:-). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akbarsprincess Posted June 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^^ Agreed. I've been fascinated by our daughter (4, and also at Mossbank nursery) who has from the time she started speaking been switching between english and dialect in much the same way we adults do depending on who we are talking to. In that sense, your daughter may well become fluent in dialect and you may not notice until she is in the company of others doing the same. Given that she is clearly already familiar with multiple languages, one would think she will handle both with ease. Welcome to Shetland! Your daughter is at mossbank nursery as well is she? Do u mind my asking her name and is she there full time or just for a funded session? Nefertari-Jill will be there FT she they will surely be together fairly frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJ Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 Used to laugh with Farsi friend's kids switching from Farsi to broad Doric when translating for their mothers. So many of the kids around us had 2 or 3 languages, it was frankly embarrassing how they could switch from one to the other flawlessly, many with regional accents in each.It's actually usually an advantage when speaking a language to have a "local" accent, even if it's not local to where you are.Thing is dialect isn't as strong in the schools up here. Get a bit frustrated my daughter's losing her Lower Deeside accent, but she's gaining one of those nondescript, not quite sure where accents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GypsyScy Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 ^^ For a while here at the Scalloway school and youth clubs a lot of the kids seemed to speak with a strange singing orcadian / american / bbc english accent! It seems to have disappered now thankfully!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Becky Posted June 23, 2009 Report Share Posted June 23, 2009 I used to work in a school in Turkey teaching kids who were mostly of a half English, half Turkish background though some were from wealthier Turkish families who wanted their children to be fluent in English from a young age to increase their chances of University places. It was my job to teach them English but I often had to explain to the children who only spoke Turkish what to do in Turkish first then in English so that they would understand better. Which is fair enough obviously, though some of the children did fail to understand why I spoke so strangely I think! What really amused me was hearing the children say words that they had learnt from me, you haven't lived until you have heard a class full of 2 to 7 year old Turkish children counting in a Scottish accent. Was great! Though I did feel awful when I heard the English speaking kids speaking Turkish with a Scottish accent...nobody wins there!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akbarsprincess Posted June 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2009 I used to work in a school in Turkey teaching kids who were mostly of a half English, half Turkish background though some were from wealthier Turkish families who wanted their children to be fluent in English from a young age to increase their chances of University places. It was my job to teach them English but I often had to explain to the children who only spoke Turkish what to do in Turkish first then in English so that they would understand better. Which is fair enough obviously, though some of the children did fail to understand why I spoke so strangely I think! What really amused me was hearing the children say words that they had learnt from me, you haven't lived until you have heard a class full of 2 to 7 year old Turkish children counting in a Scottish accent. Was great! Though I did feel awful when I heard the English speaking kids speaking Turkish with a Scottish accent...nobody wins there!! Ha ha! Visualising that will keep me laughing for days:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.