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Post by ssmiechowski on Jan 15, 2012 13:54:46 GMT -7
Hello,
I'm new to this discussion board so if this has been posted some where else, please be kind.
I am a native Polish speaker who immigrated to the US in the 90's. I am married and have a beautiful two year old daughter. My husband is not a Polish speaker, and has a hard time even getting the words out. I am concerned my daughter will not speak Polish.
I know everyone has heard about the rosetta stone program and all of that. But has anyone had success with other methods? Having my husband and daughter repeat words doesn't really work, and being a law student money is tight. We just don't have the money to spend on language learning programs that might not work when I have 100k hanging over our head in debt.
Thanks
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Post by Jaga on Jan 15, 2012 20:22:16 GMT -7
Dear Ssmiechowski,
your situation is similar to mine and I am a forum host here. I have a husband who does not know Polish and a daughter.
I never tried Rosetta Stone and I am also puzzled by it. I think this is probably a good way if somebody has a will to learn. Your daughter is still in the age (probably) that the best would be to expose her to as much Polish as possible. Try to be disciplined and talk to her only in Polish and you would see in no time that she really understands it. The other option - send her to Poland for long vacations every summer.
Kids catch languages very quickly.
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Post by kaima on Jan 16, 2012 2:31:48 GMT -7
The greatest success I have heard of is when each parent speaks his and her native tongue with the child. The child grows up speaking both languages and switches with no difficulty. That seems to be the common experience in Europe, while we in America still stick to learning languages other than English as foreign languages.
That is my observation from living in EU for 10 years and listing to many successful parents. My siblings and I rather wish our parents had done the same. (3 out of 4 of us, anyway).
Kai
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Post by Nictoshek on Jan 16, 2012 7:26:23 GMT -7
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Post by PolishMama on Jan 16, 2012 10:05:50 GMT -7
I agree. Assuming your husband is not like mine (he just cannot tolerate others speaking a foreign language around him because he won't understand. I say won't rather than doesn't, because at some point you just need to try), speak Polish around her as much as possible.
Go online, there are Sesame Street youtube videos in Polish, Polska The Times sells books and dvds often which of course are in Polish (my Babcia buys them and sends them to me), try to find a Polish radio station either near you or online and play it in the background, immerse your child as much as possible.
I took my older daughter (then 3 1/2) to Poland for one week and did not translate and she was speaking 1/2 Polish by the time we left. She has forgotten a lot (due to someone not being supportive). Your husband's support will be key in this.
Good luck!
I have a few videos I found that I can share also.
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Post by kaima on Jan 16, 2012 19:42:19 GMT -7
Hej, I am making progress! I could understand most of it. I was surprised that the pronunciation of 'dobry' was more like the Czech than the Slovak. |
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Post by Nictoshek on Jan 17, 2012 12:05:29 GMT -7
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