It's always 1 September somewhere

[starfishstar]

Happy first day of Hogwarts! Because of course in the wizarding world, September 1st is magically always a weekday. ;)

I was just reading about the fans who gathered at Kings Cross to celebrate today (which is adorable) and ALSO I just learned that the departures board at Kings Cross today listed an 11:00 departure to Edinburgh "via Hogsmeade." (Photo here.) I checked on the Scotrail website, and yes there really is an 11:00 train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, so that's a real train, and the folks at Kings Cross are cool enough about the whole Harry Potter thing to put Hogsmeade on the official departures board. I'm dying. <3

Comments

[starfishstar]

I’m really impressed that you’ve got her not just understanding but speaking German – especially since neither of you is even a native speaker! It seems more common among my friends who are raising (or who were themselves) bilingual children, that the kid understands the other language, but replies in the dominant language/the language of the surrounding culture. But then you’re the experts in this, being linguists, so I’m not surprised you’re making it work! (Still impressed, though. My German is very fluent, but still I think I would want to be able to speak to my own kid in my first language, the one I never have to think in.) I love that you’re learning German from it, too!

And you went to Germany with her! That sounds super fun. Some friends of mine are in Germany right now visiting family; they have two little kids who are *sort of* growing up with German (it’s only Opa who speaks it to them, but apparently they understand some) so that should be neat to hear how they do when suddenly surrounded by the language, and by German-speaking cousins.

[shimotsuki]

I actually think LB's German has nothing to do with my partner and me being linguists, and everything to do with her just being a spontaneous language geek. ;) Just as you say, I have various linguist friends whose kids understand two or more languages but are only willing to speak English, and when LB started to talk (and her friends at daycare started to talk) I kept expecting her to balk at using German. But instead, she's really into it -- the only time she ever uses English with her father is when she doesn't know a German word and has to ask what it is. Often at dinner she will tell one of us something in one language, and immediately turn to the other parent and translate. It's really cool to watch.

I'm with you on wanting to parent in my native language, though. Sometimes I feel guilty for not doing more Japanese with LB (we do some, but more as play) -- but I like to speak English with her! On the other hand, my partner is having a blast making himself use German all the time, so more power to him. It still could be that at some age, she'll decide she's had it with German. But for now, it's definitely fun.

On our trip this summer, LB once turned to me with a huge smile and said, "We're in Germany! That's why everyone is speaking German!" The one thing she didn't seem to understand was that there are some people who speak only German, since all the German speakers she sees at home speak English too.

How neat for your friend's kids! I bet having same-age cousins is a really big motivator.

[starfishstar]

A spontaneous language geek! A child after my own heart. (I just had a friend from Iceland visiting me these last few days, and I had to really try not to constantly bug him with, "Why is that pronounced that way instead of this way? Do you know why there's an exception of this instead of this? What does this mean? Is it the same as this...?") Anyway, that's so fantastic that she's actually really *into* speaking two languages, not just doing it by default or because she's supposed to.

I wonder what she'll think when she gets older and figures out that your partner actually *isn't* a native German speaker, and has raised her on German her whole life just for fun! Hopefully it'll be a cool thing, like a secret language the two of them get to share.