Singing Nonsense

You've probably heard it as often as I had: Children can learn languages easier when they're younger. I didn't understand why until I read How to Teach Your Baby to Read. I will expand on all of those interesting points in another post. For now, I just had to record this recent experiment.

I've always wanted to learn a second language (I don't have much to show for three years of High School German-though it may not be my fault or my teacher's!) When Jake learned Portugese I thought it would be neat to learn it too. I learned some simple vocabulary but have forgotten all but a few words. The book suggests that a young child can be learning up to five different languages.

We don't know the technicalities of the language program yet, but we decided to start teaching Ellie a song in Portugese. Imagine my thrill when a few days later she burst into song on her own--phrases that I didn't know, and if anything, had more exposure to the song than she did (from previous years). Last week it happened again. We sang the song a few times during the week and on the way to church. I was having a hard time absorbing it and kept asking Jake to slow down. Sunday evening Ellie started singing again-a phrase I didn't remember.

Jake pointed out that she is likely just listening to sounds, not worried about perfection. And I think he's right. What she was saying sounded like nonsense, but I suppose all foreign language does at first. It wasn't articulate but they were indeed Portugese words. I thought about what the book said--its kind of fun to have a real person to experiment with. I'm excited next to learn about how to start additional languages.