je speak en German

Okay, so things are beginning to get a little confusing!

Jack was just perfecting his art of speaking Franglais (or Frenglish, if you prefer). You know 'je veux cake' and 'où est ma car' (I want cake and where is my car).

He was just beginning to count in the two languages 'un deux trois cinq' and, equally with the 4 missing in English 'one, two, three, five.'

He was enjoying Dora - who speaks French but has (in imaginary cartoon world) an English Dad and so who tries to teach her audience English. Like any French kid, he was enjoying shouting 'We did it' (Dora's catchphrase) and calling for 'sac à dos' ('backpack,' Dora's trusty companion).

Then we did two things.

First, I showed him a Dora DVD in English.. where Dora's Dad is Spanish. Ola! You try explaining, to a 3 year old, that 'maman' in English is 'Mum' in British English but 'Mommy' in American English and that with Dora's American accent, yes, it seems like she's calling her Mommy, Mamy.. which is French for grandmother. And so, non, Dora's Maman isn't really that old... it all got kinda messy.

So, from now on we're going to watch Dora in only French.

That is, unless I meet his demands to watch it in German.

Now, don't panic, he wouldn't understand it if it was in German but as we are living in Alsace, which is part of France, we are only 20km from the German border. What does that mean? It means half of his schooling is done in German. He has a French teacher on Mondays and Thursdays and a German teacher on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's all quite fun and he seems to be really enjoying it. As our TV receives French, German, and British stations, he often plays the 'the man speak German?' game.. and what is pretty cool is that he often 'gets the concept' when there's an English man speaking with a French voice over. He's also dead proud...

which is funny especially as I heard him counting 'eins, zwei, drei, funf' yesterday.

Apparently, 4 doesn't exist for him in any language which might just make his next birthday a little bit complicated!

Hoping your numbers are adding up, wherever you are in the world!
love n hugs,
Robyn
ps/If anyone reading this knew me at school, let me reassure you, I have NOT transformed from the awkward dunce in languages into some multi-language beast! Each day in French is still a challenge.. and Jack probably knows more German than me now. Heck, he knows how to say 'nose' in German and that's the bee's knees to me ;-)