Comments on: What the OPOL are you saying?

By: gio

gio — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:35:01 +0000

Personally I tend to say it in both languages. Always when other children are involved. I do that because I think that when for instance my child picks up somebody else’s ball, it is important for her to be “told off” in a language others understand, in order to create in her the feeling that it was not fair in the other child’s regard, not mine. As a parent you are educating the whole time, and in those circumstances you are also educating the other children, showing them that picking up other people’s stuff is unpolite. So, saying it in the language everyone understands makes everyone aware of being responsable for their own acts. I then usually repeat the sentence in Italian to stick to the OPOL system and to state clearly to my daughter that she can speak to me in italian when we are outside if she wants.

By: OPOL on the Beach | Bilingual For Fun

OPOL on the Beach | Bilingual For Fun — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:17:12 +0000

[...] I started to question my OPOL strategy. V. has a point, we all know how difficult it is to speak a minority language in public, only I hadn’t thought much that this might be difficult for my child too… However [...]

By: L.

L. — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:31:53 +0000

Eve,
thanks for giving your view, it’s good to hear from people who have been there before.
In the specific case though my question was more on the neighbour than on the child, i.e. will she thinks I’m unpolite if I speak to him in English and don’t translate for her so she understands what’s going on? May be… we shall see…
L.

By: ebodeux

ebodeux — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:06:35 +0000

Regarding your comment “When we meet the neighbour I speak with her in Italian and don’t involve A., I don’t know what I’ll do when he’ll start talking.” I think this will resolve itself. For my kids, when my mother (American) visits our home in Colorado (also English speaking area, of course), I spoke French with my kids as always. My sons speak to each other in mix of EN and FR (but do not usually code switch – it is one or the other), speak to Mommy in French, and turn to Grandma and speak easily in English. They resolve it on their own. I think your child will think it normal that you speak to neighbor in Italian, turn and speak to him in English, and he speaks to the neighbor in Italian.