Ok so I am sure that kids do not have any problem learning multiple languages and I am all for it. I want my son to be able to speak urdu as fluently as he can. He is 2 right now.
We both work and my son goes to a daycare. I strictly speak Urdu with him at home. We use urdu to communicate between oursleves too.
My son totally understands both english and urdu. He understands what I am telling him in urdu but he does not reply back in urdu. He is not speaking sentences right now but whatever he says is in English. I know it is because he spends so much time at the daycare and is learning english there.
I tell him to repeat urdu sentences after me and when he speaks his accent is so weired.
Also I tell him to say ‘jee’ or ‘nahin’ , he follows me once but then when I ask him again his reply is either yes or no.
I am concerned that even though he may understand urdu , he will not speak it.
We do not have anyone else at home.
Does anyone have any experience to share. I want some encouragement that he will learn to speak urdu as he grows
I am not obsessed by Urdu but I think it would be nice if he could speak both languages.
*kids speak a language that he is comfortable with. most kids and younger people do understand urdu but hardly ever speak. i think older kids are embarrassed about their accent in urdu. u r on the right track and inshaa Allah ur kid will be bi-lingual :) keep doing what you do at home. *
Instill a rule in the house....no english, only urdu. I refuse to listen if my son uses his limited english or danish (he is also gonna be 2 in a few weeks). I just say ammi ki samajh mein nahi araha, urdu bolo.
Tell him u speak english at daycare and urdu at home. He will learn soon.... I know this works cuz my parents used this on us when we were growing up.... Our accent is perfect in urdu....we to this day dont speak to them in english...
There is no easy way out of this... U gotta work hard to make a desi outta ure child when living in the west.
^Exactly.
My mom tells me that she's really disappointed to see that none of her children can speak their mother tongue. My Urdu was really good until I went to school. Then I started to speak dutch all the time. If my mother installed the rule, I was now able to speak my language.
I try to speak it, but it's like speaking chinese.
It's really ashaming, especially when I try to avoid other Pakistani people.
we have this rule at our house that amma doesnt understand english (i feel bad lying to him) but its cute when we are at some party and somebody says something in english and my son rushes to my side to trasnlate it in urdu for me.
we have this rule at our house that amma doesnt understand english (i feel bad lying to him) but its cute when we are at some party and somebody says something in english and my son rushes to my side to trasnlate it in urdu for me.
I would have tried teaching German/French/Chinese or any other language if I knew one :)
Instill a rule in the house....no english, only urdu. I refuse to listen if my son uses his limited english or danish (he is also gonna be 2 in a few weeks). I just say ammi ki samajh mein nahi araha, urdu bolo.
Tell him u speak english at daycare and urdu at home. He will learn soon.... I know this works cuz my parents used this on us when we were growing up.... Our accent is perfect in urdu....we to this day dont speak to them in english...
There is no easy way out of this... U gotta work hard to make a desi outta ure child when living in the west.
be strict about speaking only the language that you are trying to teach him at home.
another thing that works for some is having desi channels in the house so that the tv is also “speaking” urdu.
I am so afraid that my kids will ever watch urdu TV aka GEO, PTV, or probably any otehr indian channel.. all those dramas promote affairs (at all kinds of levels), in laws issues, etc etc. that I will not want my kids to watch... i mean even I am embarassed to watch some of those with my mom on you tube! we dont even have urdu channels for similar reasons!!
I mean unless and until they are watching GEO News all day long... rest I don't think I will allow my kids to see!
We do not have desi channels at home. I only have the basic TV channels and I only let him watch cartoon on it in the morning.
I would not even prefer him watching Geo news channel as I do nt want him to watch all the violence and stuff.
I have started telling him to speak in urdu with us. Sometimes it is funny when he is trying to remember what he has to say. He repeats those sentences I have taught him but without any understanding of what it means. The other day he was asking for something and I told him to ask for it in urdu and after much remembering he said 'yeh meri mama hain' :)
my daughter is 4.5 years and until 3 years of age she could only speak a few words in english ............i had a strict rule of speaking only urdu at home ,i told all the family members that please only speak in urdu with her ...........i wont lie her urdu was perfect ,perfect accent but she had a hard time learning at preschool which btw was fine with us
i worked with her teacher and we were able to make her a bilingual kid at 3.5 years of age .........note: she went to school only for 3 hours
now fast forward one year ,she goes to school full day and refuses to talk in urdu if i say mera bacha mama ko urdu ki samjh aati hai tu she runs from me and says ok ill go and talk with daddy he knows how to speak in english .infact she stopped talking to me and i was devastated ,now im again working with her to make her speak urdu but i dont push her i just let her speak how ever she wants
about urdu channesl we have geo news but there is nothing interesting in it for kids for me what works best and i cant emphasize it enough is talking with grand parents on fone and video chat .....whenever she talks with them she starts speaking in urdu ,
