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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.
I just wanted to give you some encouragement. It can be done!! If you work hard enough and find the right resources, they can keep their Amharic.
My daughter is 2, adopted at 2 months old, and speaks both amharic and english.We are blessed with an Amharic speaking full-time babysitter, but we have also used books, the tsehai dvd, amharic kids songs and as much exposure in the community as we can find! Good luck!
I think it’s so wonderful you’re trying to keep the Amharic for your girls. I’m wondering, though-how do you pronounce ‘Amharic’? Every time I read it I try a different pronunciation!
Tamatha
Tamatha,
It is said “Ahm-HAR-ick”….
Mary
Thanks, Mary!
Hi Mary!
Mulilingualism is one of my areas of interest, and from what I have experienced and read, I would predict that your girls are going to need to hear and interact with a native speaker of Amharic on a regular basis. If you find someone to come to your home a couple of hours a couple times a week, they could maintain their language, and others in your family might learn a bit as well. Otherwise, the likelyhood of them maintaining fluency is slim. Our oldest daughter (age 7) speaks three languages, but our son (4) only speaks two, because it is really, really hard to gain and maintain fluency. We just haven’t dedicated the time in his case, like we did with our daughter. OK, just my 2(or 3) cents, and good luck with everything! It sounds like you are doing such an awesome job with the girls, and I admire you so much!! Thanks!
We, too, work on keeping original languages as well as their new English…
I’d love to know if you are aware of any books in either Amharic or Tigrayan that would be for children older than picture book age. I have only one – far cry from what I hope to have!
I am staring to use the Amharic 101, 102, 103, 104 series put out by http://www.africanlanguage.com. Since my four year old has forgotten most of her Amharic, I thought this my help us both. So far so good…
I’m late chiming in here, but I recently found that on http://www.nazret.com/radio, you can listen to Voice of America in Amharic. Maybe this would be of interest to parents seeking to maintain the aural skills of older kids, who may have some (if limited!!) interest in the topics being discussed. With enough effort and commitment, I believe, language can virtually always be learned and maintained.
~Stefanie