Mounika Bolisetty

a month ago

Decoding the multilingual kid.

“Tata meeru anta ghan ghan chikhsaru. Translating to, Grandpa, you have messed it all up," my three-year-old said, and my father looked at me perplexed. "What is ghan ghan?”

Having a Maharashtrian father and an Andhrite mother, Blend of the two languages was a daily norm for her. By the age of 2 or so she was very effortlessly switching between the two languages and translating phrases to the two sets of grand-parents. And I was a proud mama.

The next adventure in her linguistic journey came with introduction of hindi and english through school and youtube videos. And now her own little mind picks up words from the different baskets of language and makes up sentences, which we are left to decifer.

“But Amma, it happened apoaply( marathi for automatically)” “ Amma, yeh thoda uchalegi kya( mom please pick it up). Mujhe na, books rakhna hai.” “Yeh mera avadta aushad nahi hai. Mujhe dusra wala paije. ( It’s not my favourite medicine, get me a different one).

I often get down to correct her. At times I just let it be, and enjoy the symphony of words created.

Now she is 5, and for some reason the school thought to have fun and  introduce French and German in the curriculum. And I am getting me Translation skills on.

Any tips for the times ahead?

Ta-da for now.

Mounika 

Never miss a post from
Mounika Bolisetty

Get notified when Mounika Bolisetty publishes a new post.

View Profile

Liked by

Satyajeet Jadhavmanan dedhiasanika joshi

Comments ( 6 )

raobr@hotmail.com

a month ago

The wait is over. I can relate to the conversation, seeing the young and fertile mind coming up with novel verbal structuring and switching between the languages effortlessly.

Satyajeet Jadhav

a month ago

Adorable! I have a 4.5 year old and can totally relate. The way he constructs words really makes me think if we grown ups have it backwards. He genuinely believes that some Marathi words are English and vice versa. He is picking up Kannada now. Fun times ahead! 😃😅

Mounika Bolisetty

a month ago

All the best!!

Mounika Bolisetty

a month ago

Yeah, I can see some words getting mixed the future like may be " aai, oota is too tikhat".

jaee jadhav

a month ago

And to have fun they introduced French and German...haha as if the fun was less before 😀. Very sweet memory penned down! Sweet daughter and sweet mommy 👩

manan dedhia

a month ago

Absolutely love it. Languages are a living thing - the more they are restricted, the faster they die. This is the only way they survive / thrive.

Participate in the conversation.

Read More

Love language!

On my way back from work on a rainy day, I tuned into a podcast by Jay Shetty. He was talking about how we all have different love languages, in which we either express our love or want to be loved. This caught my attention and suddenly the honking of horns, the sweeping sound of...

Vihaan had to go for Mansha to come

As I sit here watching my daughter Blow Bubbles with so much Joy and Utter Bliss, her right leg injured from a fall in the bathroom as she Seized, and yet she singing and Blowing Delightful bubbles in the air…She doesn't know what a seizure is and how and what happens to her whil...

the immigrants

“Good we are moving. This house is so small.”, said Vivaan. He must have picked it up from our conversations. “But I will miss my friends”, he quickly added.