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Oh, rad, I didn't know accents worked like that! So if I speak to my kids in English, and my wife speaks to them in Finnish, they'll get to grow up with a disco
by hiAndrewQuinn 3y ago
Oh, rad, I didn't know accents worked like that! So if I speak to my kids in English, and my wife speaks to them in Finnish, they'll get to grow up with a disconcerting mix of newscaster English and northern Finnish drawl.
I wonder if getting exposed to a bunch of languages as a kid is why I have a (relatively) mild accent in Finnish now, despite only starting to learn at 26 or so.
- vintermann 3y agoFor the two-language trick to work, both languages need to be equally useful for the kids. My sister and her Canadian husband tried having her speak to them in Norwegian, and him in English, but as soon as they understood that she could speak and understand English, but he could not speak or understand Norwegian, the kids switched to English. They still understand Norwegian, but they speak little of it and with a heavy English accent.