Mixed race children.

[Ryzorian]

I'm Human...mostly, might have some Martian, but that goes way, way back.

[ushkana]

wow thats awesome. Im native American 2. I am Italian, Spanish from Spain, Mexican, French, Greek

[tksensei]

Originally Posted by Naoko

I think interracial children can be so cute. My only worry is society's reaction to them. I hate it when I see interracial kids get picked on for it.

And how often do you see that?

[ozkai]

My mixed boy

Japanese/Aussie..

Trilingual with Korean..

[ChildOfGod]

The Word "Caucasian" Simply Means "Mixed Race"! It is high time that we all accept this fact people. The study of Geography originated from Germany where many Racial studies were done. The more the Germans studied the differences in all the Human Races the more evident it became that there were elements of all the races in the Germanic Heritage. This was one of the reasons for burning the books in WWII. Hitler wanted the evidence of this fact removed. The word "Caucasian" is actually what happens when all the races blend together. The Term "White" is a general, simplified, term for the word "Caucasian". The word "Caucasian" simply describes the span from the Caucasus to Asia, and everyone in between. We must not confuse the term "White" with the term "Nordic", which is used for the Northern, Scandic, Races. It is also very important that "Caucasian" people remember that there is a little bit of every race inside of them now. We are now in the time of world wide / cross cultural interbreeding where "Caucasian" simply means "There is a little bit of every race in me".

[Tenchu]

ChildOfMyth,

You've got to be the most uneducated person I've met in a long time...

[JasUK]

My son is mixed Indian (British Born) + Japanese (wife) at moment living in Tokyo, because of work i live in China so fly back and forth like a yogo!!
Plan is next year we will go back to UK.

[WeeFugu]

This thread is very interesting to me as my wife and I are trying our best to separate the two languages for our baby son. We now live in Scotland and I speak to him in English and her in Japanese, but she speaks English to me in front of him.

I some times let the odd Japanese word slip out (bad habits), but I try my best to not speak Japanese in front of him. I did hear that bilingual children are supposed to start speaking a little later and to actually read real experiences of this are somewhat settling. He is only 6 months at the moment, but we are trying really hard to engage him in both languages like reading books in both languages and speaking to him all the time.

Any advice that you could offer me to improve what we are currently doing? Do you think my wife should stop speaking English? She is trying hard to improve her level while she is living here, as we will eventually move back to Japan when I have acquired enough teaching experience here in Scotland.

I will keep an eye on this thread I think.

[hadron]

Originally Posted by WeeFugu

This thread is very interesting to me as my wife and I are trying our best to separate the two languages for our baby son. We now live in Scotland and I speak to him in English and her in Japanese, but she speaks English to me in front of him.

that is lovely but why separation? i think in your situation i would prefer talking all languages by everyone, without any strict rules. maybe stick with one as a main family language, and that should probably be the one used in place where you gonna live for next 20 years (during the childhood) so kid does not have to switch language when home and when going outdoors

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by hadron

that is lovely but why separation? i think in your situation i would prefer talking all languages by everyone, without any strict rules. maybe stick with one as a main family language, and that should probably be the one used in place where you gonna live for next 20 years (during the childhood) so kid does not have to switch language when home and when going outdoors

The reason for separation is that without any firm rules there is no way for a child to know which language is which and to use them separately. Using them in a mixed jumble will leave the child with one language - a mix of the two that isn`t a real language and that would be of little use outside of the family environment.
As for using the language of the location you are in... That is the opposite of reason in this situation. If you are using the same language inside and outside of the home... How is the child going to learn the other language? They`ll be monolingual - no different than children with monolingual parents.

In general, the main successful patterns seem to be one person, one language - and one location, one language.
One has individuals always speaking a single language to the child, giving the child the chance to associate one language with one person and keep the two separate. The other has one location always having the same language environment - this one tends to work best when both parents fluently speak the language that is different from that of the "outside world". For example, using 100% English in the home while living in Japan.

As long as there is a firm rule that is not broken, a child will be able to learn both languages distinctly.

In my case, neither traditional pattern would work for my family, and there were things I was completely unwilling to sacrifice for the sake of that second language - so my son is monolingual Japanese.