Hanis - Mixing Finnish And German

Fräulein has now been in the German Krippe for one year. She has learnt the language quite well. Actually so well, that I noticed earlier that we are raising a bilingual child!

I was a bit worried, what would happen during our seven weeks in Finland. And yes, Fräulein's return to Krippe was a bit difficult. But it was not only the language - most of her friends had moved to the Kindergarten groups as they had turned three years old, there were many new children in the Krippe, and her favorite teacher was on holiday.

Well, after just one week everything was back to normal. Her language and speech (in Finnish) had really developed during our holiday and now her German was improving as well.

Nowadays, she is not only using one word commands sentences, but something more complex. And her vocabulary has improved greatly. She is also able to find the connection between the two languages: "Koira. In the Krippe they say 'Hund'!"

But then there is this one word, which I find highly amusing: 'rabbit'. In German 'Hase' and in Finnish 'jänis'.

Thus, Fräulein calls her bunny 'Hanis!'

Baby and her 'Hanis'

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Paluu Krippeen Suomi-lomamme jälkeen oli Fräuleinille vähän hankala. Hänen suomensa oli kesän aikana parantunut merkittävästi, mutta sitten olikin taas aika palata saksankieliseen ympäristöön. 
Jo viikon jälkeen homma kuitenkin alkoi taas sujua ja saksankielisten sanojen ja juttujen määrä on lisääntynyt huimasti.
Mielestäni hauskin on uudissana, jolla Fräulein kutsuu pupuaan: Hase + jänis = Hanis!

Oh Dear, We Are Raising a Bilingual Child!

It should not have come as a surprise. We are a Finnish family living in Germany and our daughter spends her days in a German Krippe.

And as I have wrote here before, spending some time daily in the Krippe seems to be the easiest way to learn German.

Unrelated photos from last week, when it was 20 degrees warmer than today

But still, I have only now come to realize that we are actually raising a bilingual child!

It has taken quite long for Fräulein to learn to speak, but now that she does, it is easy to notice that she speaks two languages. Two languages! My child! I have always been poor in learning languages and now I have a bilingual daughter!

And I have no idea what to do. At first, when Fräulein said something in German to me, I repeated it in Finnish. But it soon started to sound like I was correcting her and that is not the impression I want to make.

I think I should find some books about raising a bilingual child. I think it is important that a child learns to master one language perfectly. Learning other languages is just a bonus.

But for now, as she is only two years old, we will let her use her own combination of the two languages. The only 'rule' I have is that I speak consistently Finnish to her myself.

Poor Fräulein has inherited my hair, which becomes all curly when it is moist.

We will fly to Finland next week and spend several weeks with our friends and family. So, in case some of you don't speak German, here is a small dictionary of Fräulein's most common German phrases:

 

German	English	Finnish
Mein!	My!	Minun!
Nein!	No!	Ei!
Nicht du!	Not you!	Et sinä!
Ich auch!	I too!	Minä myös!
Zu viel!	Too much!	Liian paljon!
Nur bisschen!	Just a little!	Vain vähän!
Ich möchte ... haben	I would like to have...	Haluaisin...
Danke!	Thank you!	Kiitos!
Morgen!*	Morning!	Huomenta!
Tschüs!	Bye!	Hei hei!
Laut!	Loud!	Kovaa!

Do you notice a pattern here? Most of these phrases end with an exclamation mark - useful in kindergarten :)

*) Fräulein uses 'Morgen!' as a greeting at any time of the day...  

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O-ou, vasta hiljattain oivalsin, että Fräuleinhan on kaksikielinen! Itselläni on aina ollut huono kielipää ja nyt oma kaksivuotias tyttäreni puhuu kahta kieltä!

Olen myös oivaltanut, ettei minulla ole hajuakaan, miten kaksikielisyyttä tulisi tukea. Mutta toistaiseksi menemme periaatteella, että Fräulein saa puhua kieliä sekaisin, kunhan itse olemme johdonmukaisia suomen kielen käytössä.

Fräuleinin sanastossa on paljon saksankielisiä sanoja, mutta yllä on listattuna yleisimmin toistuvia sanontoja. Jotenkin huomaa, että nämä on opittu päiväkodissa... :)