C’est what?
As Devra and I relaxed on the beach during our long weekend in Cancun, we had a lively conversation about Planters Punch and the many ways it is preferable to having a Plantar Wart. (Totally disgusting topic, yet true story! Blame the punch!) I realized our buzzing reparte’ might make for a decent introduction on the many facets of language and how families might be able to anticipate some of the responses their kids could have to being in a multi-lingual community like Club Med. But then I remembered I had a better one.
My 7 year old daughter once scolded me when she found a book at our house titled, How To Choose the Sex of Your Baby. “Mom, you can’t just leave that sitting out for people to see. It has ‘sex’ in it!” Huh? I didn’t expect to be called out by a 7 year old for leaving sexually explicit (in her mind!) material around our house. Yeah she read it right, but she still got it all wrong. Perfect example of how language, even when it’s our native one, can be a challenge for children. Not only do our kids keep us guessing at home, we can also get ambushed on vacation. Devra had it happen to her on a cruise ship.
Read on….
Well, I had an unanticipated moment of parenting hell while out in the middle of the ocean. The 8 month old was easy, the rocking of the ship acted as a continual soother, so he spent much of the time aboard conked out like a college student on spring break. The 5 year old put us in a tailspin. As soon as we ordered our first meal in the dining room, our son must have heard us order “whine.” We couldn’t figure out why our son, who has eaten in all sorts of restaurants with cloth napkins, was suddenly unhappy in this one. He begged us to go eat at the kid’s club. He did not want to eat with us. We were utterly dumbfounded. Was it some sort of 5 year old food mutiny? Nope.
After asking all kinds of open ended questions like “Tell us what you like about the dinner?” and “If you could order anything you wanted, what would it be?” we were getting nowhere with him. Finally our son blurted out, “I can’t understand the waiter! He talks funny.”
Just like Aviva was surprised to be called out by her kid, I was stymied to have my multi-ethnic son tell me someone “talked funny.” But then I thought about it. Yes, our son has a Mexican grandfather and a German grandmother but how often does he hear anyone speaking with a Spanish accent in our current homestead of Belleville, Illinois? Aha! We got it. He was uncomfortable with the unfamiliarity of the language. He didn’t have a problem with the waiter at all.
Because there are GM’s and GO’s from all over the globe, families vacationing at Club Med have a truly international experience regardless of the location of the resort. Everywhere you turn you can hear something being said in a different language. It may be a greeting as you walk by of “Bonjour” or a “gracias” as someone gives you a drink.
So whether your kids know and understand only one language or if they are fortunate enough to know two, three or more, they will be around other people who may speak one, two or even as many as six different languages.
While we don’t think it is reasonable or necessary to have your child listen to language tapes for hours on end, here are some easy ways to familiarize your kids with multi-cultural experiences before you even pack your bags.
• Music. Hit the library and pick up a CD in another language. Our recommendation, the “Putumayo World Music“http://www.putumayo.com series. (If you want to make your ears bleed, get the Wee Sing International, but consider yourself warned!)
• Watch some international programming. If you aren’t a cable or satellite subscriber, maybe you have a friend who is.
• Check out books from the library in a different language. Reading aloud might show your kids even grownups can have a hard time pronouncing new words, but let’s try it anyway.
• Do you have a friend who hails from a country you plan to visit? Ask them to come over and teach you some words, phrases or share a story about life in their country.
• Visit restaurants specializing in the cuisine you might have while on vacation or really get the family involved and find some recipes to try at home.
Why not take a night, or two, and try taking a mini trip before the Big One. Hop on the internet and research the country or countries you will be visiting. Learn about the cuisine, the music, the language. Find a recipe and hunt around in your grocery store for new ingredients to spice up your cooking a bit, learn a basic phrase or two, practice your new language-or even sing it- turn up the international tunes and dance in the kitchen while you prepare your feast Then later, when you are on vacation, you may find your family feels right at home in a “strange” land, because it won’t feel so strange after all.
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