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I'm 外人. Tips for teaching 日本語 to soon-to-be-born nephew? -
06-12-2010, 02:12 PM
Dear Japan Forum:
My brother's son is due any day now and I have permission to teach him Japanese. Neither my brother nor his wife speak Japanese (my brother loves anime, though), so I will be his only relative speaking to him in a language other than English. Can you offer any tips or, possibly, advice from past experiences with similar situations? Thanks, Steven p.s., greeting my nephew after delivery, should I go with はじめまして! or is there a more appropriate greeting for a newborn? |
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06-12-2010, 09:31 PM
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I plan on sticking with it for at least the first few years. Do either of you know if, say, NHK or the Japanese Department of Education offer courses or videos? Or maybe of a Dora the Explorer-like program that incorporates English and Japanese? Thanks for confirming はじめまして for me. Best, Steven |
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06-13-2010, 03:10 AM
It`s not a joke, and is a pretty common thing for new parents and family to say to babies. Along with よろしく and the like.
As for teaching them Japanese... Well, do you speak it fluently? Are you going to speak ONLY Japanese to them? It`s not as simple as just randomly teaching some words. |
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06-13-2010, 09:47 AM
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I plan to speak very little, if any, English around the baby. I will speak English to my family, of course, which will hopefully be all the English he hears me speak. I plan on putting in the extra time needed to improve both my reading and verbal fluency so he doesn't learn a hackneyed version of the language. Apologies for the romaji. I haven't installed Anthy on this computer yet. Steven |
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06-13-2010, 02:22 PM
Hurrhurrhurr, just thought about some of my 2nd Year Japanese classmates and how their language skills are. Wouldn't want them teaching me Japanese!
"Hageemaymashyte aka-san" *shudder* |
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06-13-2010, 03:34 PM
Haha! Well, I can't write due to a spinal cord injury, so my verbal score was weighted heavier than others and I still maintained a 4.0.
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06-14-2010, 01:23 AM
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While "baby talk" may not be necessary, simplification is. That kind of grammar doesn`t come into play for quite a while. You want to communicate with the least number of words. (~なーに? ~だね! etc ) and an emphasis on the important part you want to teach. (おおきな~だね! ながーい~だよ! etc) I won`t say that you should give up, but I think it would be a good idea to look into actual material for children. Watch some shows aimed at babies. Just as you wouldn`t start out speaking to a baby with stiff and formal English, you don`t in Japanese. |
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06-14-2010, 03:56 PM
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