Teach Your Kids Your Native Language
Vocabulary:
Simultaneous Bilingualism - a form of bilingualism that takes place when a child becomes bilingual by learning two languages from birth.
Yeah we're learning today.
My parents flew to America from Sub-Saharan Africa over 20 years ago, and never looked back. You could say they were "economic refugees", although the US didn't recognize them as such. Canada did though, which is where my aunt settled.
A couple years after settling down, on a random Tuesday, their first fully "American" child was born (as opposed to my sister born back in the motherland).
I skipped pre-school, so during the time at home, I (allegedly) knew the indigenous language my parents grew up with. I don't think this is very true. I do, however believe I learned British English from them. Their country was colonized by the British (typical), leading them to attain simultaneous bilingualism.
Growing up I tried to learn The Language™, but any practice was met with unsupportive comments:
"You sound too American"
"What's the point in learning it when you know English - it's a global language"
Ironically, these comments came from the same parents who get embarrassed when I tell relatives that I'm too American and don't know The Language™.
At first, I was embarrassed too, but now IDGAF!
I had a distant cousin who came to the US for the first time last year. He sat us down and started speaking to my siblings and me in The Language™. After he said his introduction, I told him I didn't understand any of it. He was like "You don't understand it at all?"
YES MY GUY THAT'S WHAT I SAID!
I just turned to my mom for her to elaborate on why the first America-born person in the whole ancestral line is soooo disconnected to the Motherland, as if we've been in America for generations.
Now, do I claim their Motherland's nationality when it's convenient? yes, that's my right. But if I do that around other Africans and they do not give it praise like my fellow patriots. My parents' land is soo fucked up, and people of the continent know that.
British people, this does not apply to you. Teach your kids BSL though!
I am not monolingual, like you may assume. To overcompensate for my lack of identity as a third culture kid, I majored in Linguistics and am now a know-it-all when it comes to language.
My parent's native language is technically endangered, but unfortunately, the knowledge of it ends with me and my siblings, who know ASL, Spanish, Japanese and Korean, but not our own mother tongue.
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wanna guess which country/language? contact me (⌒‿⌒)