Ani has a friend, L, in preschool.
L's parents speak Tamil to her, insist on her answering in Tamil and speak Tamil to each other.
I speak Tamil to Ani, but it is peppered with English. English is the language with which RK, Ani and I converse.
Ani speaks English with a strong Indian accent at home (complete with the head bobs... I didn't realize that either RK or I did that until Ani started doing it) and English with a strong American accent at preschool. He understands Tamil but he doesn't think in it. On the other hand, L speaks English only with an American accent, but Tamil with a Tamil accent.
Even more interesting: L calls Ani the way his name is supposed to be pronounced: A-nee
However, when she refers to him in the third person, he becomes 'Aah-nee', the American-accented version of his name.
It's one thing to read about kids unconsciously absorbing the culture around them, quite another to see it in real life.
2 comments:
Both of you do the head bobbing, especially you when you no longer what to talk to the other person (this happens when you are in the middle of your book or someone is giving you cooking instructions), so you reply with different versions of the head bob to get them to finish what they are saying and be on their way :D Ram does it when he's having one of his 'discussions' and he has to suffer interruptions to his monologues from un-enlightened audience. heh.
Oh.. and I miss the kids. :)
-Gotti
You're so observant.... you do the head-bob when I give you advice! :p
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