What do you remember about learning your mother tongue?
I don’t remember how I learnt my mother tongue. I guess that I saw it as something natural, that is something that I don’t recall. But I remember how I try to acquire a more formal way of speaking. I started to read novels and poesy and a had handy a dictionary with me.
Do you remember when you first noticed that some people speak different languages?
When my parents took me to the USA.
Do you remember anything about the conditions of learning additional languages in your own life?
My parents took me to the USA and I went to school there for a few months. At school I ‘was forced” to learn the language to communicate with the teacher.
If you speak more than one other language: do you associate certain feelings or memories with certain languages? And if so, what are they?
The feelings towards the other language sometimes are bad, even though I like it and I become a teacher of this language. They are bad because I saw how the native and not native people treated us in a derogatory way.
I’m from Argentina and my mother tongue is Spanish.
I don’t remember how or when I learned to speak, I suppose it’s something innate.
I don’t even remember my teachers. I almost had no contact with another languages in my village and community, except by an aunt from the usa who visited us every two or three years.
Yes I remember the conditions, certainly. In my memories I start learning English in high school, not before. My dad used to insist a lot in learning other languages, specifically english. I didn’t like it, I remember me throwing the temper tantrum. When I grew up I decided to learn english and live in ireland for a while, I think that because it was not an obligation otherwise a conscious decision chosen by me.
Now I keep improving my english and also I started taking German classes last year because i found ancestors in my family tree, so yes i could say that there are feelings connected with languages, at least in my case.
I don’t remember either how I learned my language. My earlier memory is being corrected about the irregular forms of the verbs ( roto, not “rompido” etc).
I learned about other languages when my older sibling when learning French at school. I would opened their textbooks and tried to understand and sound out the words.
When I was learning French I met a French girl in exchange with my Best school friend. I loved the way she talked and dressed. I thought French was very chic and modern.
I remember my mother reading storybooks for me and sitting there listening to the words and how they sounded. Guess this was how I learnt more words and more about their meaning.
When I was four y.o. my parents started speaking French between eachother, in our Swedish home. I remember us sibblings mimmicking their language pretendig to be grownups.
I was moved to other culture when I was five. I do not remember feeling otherwise when speaking in their languages. I just learnt by playing or being hungry.
I remember moving back to Sweden when i was 15 and how I felt incredible wounderbul since it felt like everyone could hear my thoughts, if i thought in Swedish. I knew no English then and had to put all languages aside to try to learn both Swedish and English the shcool way -it has taken forever
I don’t remember learning to speak, though I have always been fascinated with words. The mother tongue in our household was English. My father liked to throw around words and phrases in other languages, and I found that exciting. At school, everyone learned another language from the first day. This has bad associations for many people in my country who were turned off that language, but I have a great love of it. It definitely has strong positive emotions and associations attached to it. In secondary school, I took up French and German and enjoyed them both. I studied French at university, lived and worked in Francophonie. There are strong pleasant associations with French. As an adult, I have also learned Spanish. Any other language I speak feels like it opens new dimensions of experience. I want my students to experience this sensation!
I am an American and my mother tongue is English. I don’t remember learning to speak English, I don’t even remember learning to read because (according to my mother) I taught myself at age 3. I do remember how I had to correct some things I did not understand clearly or mispronounced. For example, for a long time I thought a “restroom” was a place where people went to rest. (It’s an American euphemism for a toilet.)
I learned a bit of French and Spanish when I was in kindergarten, so I was aware at least from then on of different languages. I started learning French formally in Seventh grade and continued through college, but I don’t remember much about the teaching methods. It’s all a blur along with the rest of my formal education. I am much more aware of learning German, which I started as an adult because my husband is Swiss. I have tried many different methods and have a better sense of what works for me, along with nearly 2 years living in the country now.
Certain feelings and memories? I find French easier to read and understand but harder to speak. My pronunciation makes me feel very self conscious. I find German easier to speak even though I know my accuracy is not very good. It just feels closer to English and more familiar. Swiss German is another story though! When I try to speak it, I want to laugh, it is so comical. I think the Swiss feel the same about English, so we’re even.
What do you remember about learning your mother tongue?
I remember when i was four years old how i tried to imitate everything my parents said. At the time we had a different national language( kiswahili) which was taught in our schools.
Do you remember when you first noticed that some people speak different languages?
Yes, i am from Kenya and when we would visit our capital city with my family we met people from different tribes and they all spoke different languages
If you speak more than one other language: do you associate certain feelings or memories with certain languages?
I realized when speaking my mother tongue there s more authenticity and truth compared to other languages
I do not remember anything about learning my mother tongue, but it must have gone quite quick, as my mother remembered, that I spoke very early, long sentences and never (read: rarely) made any mistakes. This probably as I was a child among many adults and had good examples to follow. When it comes to other languages, first what I remeber were tapes which French lessons, my mother used,. I enjoyed to repeat the simple sentences like “voici la coque” etc . However, as I am living in a rather monolingual country (Poland), therefore ther were no occasions to try it in real situations.
I have always been aware of the other languages as my mother came from an area of Slovakia, where people speak Hungarian. This way, I have always been connected to another/second language.
When I started learning English, I was 7 or 8 years old. Since then it has been the second part of my being.
However, I remember very well studying at the bilingual grammar school where English has become my second me…
We were dealing with English all the time, so we had a feeling that some situations and feelings were easier to be expressed in English. It was an interesting experience.
On the other hand, I remember the time living in the UK so long that I became a feeling that I am losing the connection to my mother tongue. It was a strange feeling.
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10 Comments
What do you remember about learning your mother tongue?
I don’t remember how I learnt my mother tongue. I guess that I saw it as something natural, that is something that I don’t recall. But I remember how I try to acquire a more formal way of speaking. I started to read novels and poesy and a had handy a dictionary with me.
Do you remember when you first noticed that some people speak different languages?
When my parents took me to the USA.
Do you remember anything about the conditions of learning additional languages in your own life?
My parents took me to the USA and I went to school there for a few months. At school I ‘was forced” to learn the language to communicate with the teacher.
If you speak more than one other language: do you associate certain feelings or memories with certain languages? And if so, what are they?
The feelings towards the other language sometimes are bad, even though I like it and I become a teacher of this language. They are bad because I saw how the native and not native people treated us in a derogatory way.
I’m from Argentina and my mother tongue is Spanish.
I don’t remember how or when I learned to speak, I suppose it’s something innate.
I don’t even remember my teachers. I almost had no contact with another languages in my village and community, except by an aunt from the usa who visited us every two or three years.
Yes I remember the conditions, certainly. In my memories I start learning English in high school, not before. My dad used to insist a lot in learning other languages, specifically english. I didn’t like it, I remember me throwing the temper tantrum. When I grew up I decided to learn english and live in ireland for a while, I think that because it was not an obligation otherwise a conscious decision chosen by me.
Now I keep improving my english and also I started taking German classes last year because i found ancestors in my family tree, so yes i could say that there are feelings connected with languages, at least in my case.
I don’t remember either how I learned my language. My earlier memory is being corrected about the irregular forms of the verbs ( roto, not “rompido” etc).
I learned about other languages when my older sibling when learning French at school. I would opened their textbooks and tried to understand and sound out the words.
When I was learning French I met a French girl in exchange with my Best school friend. I loved the way she talked and dressed. I thought French was very chic and modern.
I remember my mother reading storybooks for me and sitting there listening to the words and how they sounded. Guess this was how I learnt more words and more about their meaning.
When I was four y.o. my parents started speaking French between eachother, in our Swedish home. I remember us sibblings mimmicking their language pretendig to be grownups.
I was moved to other culture when I was five. I do not remember feeling otherwise when speaking in their languages. I just learnt by playing or being hungry.
I remember moving back to Sweden when i was 15 and how I felt incredible wounderbul since it felt like everyone could hear my thoughts, if i thought in Swedish. I knew no English then and had to put all languages aside to try to learn both Swedish and English the shcool way -it has taken forever
I don’t remember learning to speak, though I have always been fascinated with words. The mother tongue in our household was English. My father liked to throw around words and phrases in other languages, and I found that exciting. At school, everyone learned another language from the first day. This has bad associations for many people in my country who were turned off that language, but I have a great love of it. It definitely has strong positive emotions and associations attached to it. In secondary school, I took up French and German and enjoyed them both. I studied French at university, lived and worked in Francophonie. There are strong pleasant associations with French. As an adult, I have also learned Spanish. Any other language I speak feels like it opens new dimensions of experience. I want my students to experience this sensation!
I am an American and my mother tongue is English. I don’t remember learning to speak English, I don’t even remember learning to read because (according to my mother) I taught myself at age 3. I do remember how I had to correct some things I did not understand clearly or mispronounced. For example, for a long time I thought a “restroom” was a place where people went to rest. (It’s an American euphemism for a toilet.)
I learned a bit of French and Spanish when I was in kindergarten, so I was aware at least from then on of different languages. I started learning French formally in Seventh grade and continued through college, but I don’t remember much about the teaching methods. It’s all a blur along with the rest of my formal education. I am much more aware of learning German, which I started as an adult because my husband is Swiss. I have tried many different methods and have a better sense of what works for me, along with nearly 2 years living in the country now.
Certain feelings and memories? I find French easier to read and understand but harder to speak. My pronunciation makes me feel very self conscious. I find German easier to speak even though I know my accuracy is not very good. It just feels closer to English and more familiar. Swiss German is another story though! When I try to speak it, I want to laugh, it is so comical. I think the Swiss feel the same about English, so we’re even.
1, When I was 7 or 8, I watched “Beauty and the Beast,” and noticed that a different language was spoken,
2, I only remember going to after class English lesson and played games.
3. I remember feeling sharp and clever speaking English. When I spoke Japanese I felt concerned and polite.
What do you remember about learning your mother tongue?
I remember when i was four years old how i tried to imitate everything my parents said. At the time we had a different national language( kiswahili) which was taught in our schools.
Do you remember when you first noticed that some people speak different languages?
Yes, i am from Kenya and when we would visit our capital city with my family we met people from different tribes and they all spoke different languages
If you speak more than one other language: do you associate certain feelings or memories with certain languages?
I realized when speaking my mother tongue there s more authenticity and truth compared to other languages
I do not remember anything about learning my mother tongue, but it must have gone quite quick, as my mother remembered, that I spoke very early, long sentences and never (read: rarely) made any mistakes. This probably as I was a child among many adults and had good examples to follow. When it comes to other languages, first what I remeber were tapes which French lessons, my mother used,. I enjoyed to repeat the simple sentences like “voici la coque” etc . However, as I am living in a rather monolingual country (Poland), therefore ther were no occasions to try it in real situations.
I have always been aware of the other languages as my mother came from an area of Slovakia, where people speak Hungarian. This way, I have always been connected to another/second language.
When I started learning English, I was 7 or 8 years old. Since then it has been the second part of my being.
However, I remember very well studying at the bilingual grammar school where English has become my second me…
We were dealing with English all the time, so we had a feeling that some situations and feelings were easier to be expressed in English. It was an interesting experience.
On the other hand, I remember the time living in the UK so long that I became a feeling that I am losing the connection to my mother tongue. It was a strange feeling.