This afternoon we were at the grocery store, cruising through the dairy aisle. My 12 year old (home 6 weeks) said something in Amharic that I didn't understand. And then my two year old (home 2 years) said something back to her that I also didn't understand.

My 12 year old burst out laughing and explained. "I say 'I'm cold' in Amharic. She say 'really?'-- in Amharic!"

Keep in mind that until the big girls arrived home 6 weeks ago, the two year old's only exposure to Amharic has been the half dozen or so words I know. I do NOT know how to say 'really?' in Amharic. In fact, I can't even remember it long enough to blog the actual word. (It is something like 'ah-nut', I think...) I find it quite amazing that the two year old is picking up Amharic from her big sisters.

We are, however, trying very hard to keep the Amharic alive around here. We got a bunch of kids' stories at a Christian book store in Ethiopia, as well as Amharic Bibles. The girls read their Amharic Bibles during morning devotions. I discovered today that everyone pays better attention if we go around the room, each person reading one verse. And I also discovered that it is no problem at all if 2 out of every ten verses are being read in Amharic.

Today the 12 year old was excited to go to the library -- until she realized that our library does not carry anything in Amharic. I found her a couple English-language soccer books with a bunch of pictures that looked interesting to her, but still, my heart hurt that she could not have such a basic thing. This evening I spent some time on the Ethiopia Reads website where I discovered that they have a whole new batch of books written for children in the main languages of Ethiopia (Amharic, Oromo, and Tigray.)

Still, I know that I am fighting an uphill battle. This morning as usual I asked both girls to write their Bible verse in Amharic as well as English. I also had the girls to look up their spelling words in the Amharic dictionary. The 12 year old complained and said, "no Amharic, just English..."

I (again) explained my reasons for working with Amharic every day. I told the girls that many children forget their Amharic, and that I want them to remember-- not for me, but for their living birth family in Ethiopia that we hope to bring them to visit some day.

They were more understanding after that explanation -- it is a goal of theirs to see their birth family again. And they did the work that I asked graciously. I understand my daughter's desire to focus on English, and also the decision that many families make to simply let the Amharic go.
I am not sure if we will be successful at helping our girls keep their Amharic-- the vast majority of kids do not.

But at this point incorporating some Amharic only adds 5 or 10 minutes to the school day. And doing things in dual languages like this not only reinforces their Amharic, but also enhances their understanding of the English words that they are working with at the same time. It lets them build their new language on top of their old one. I am hoping our daughters will be some of the rare ones who keep their language. Time will tell.