- Papi, can you give me 'that'?- Pardon?
- Can you give me 'that'?
- Can I give you 'what' exactly?
- Can you give me 'that' to put it inside 'this'?
- I don't understand, nena.
- Hmmm... Can you give me that jumper to put it inside this basket?
- Ahhh, that I DO understand!
It is a problem, really. It is not just Daughter who indulges in this practice. Son is also keen to use demonstrative pronouns when he should be using proper nouns instead. And they do it both in English and Spanish, so really I should not feel too hard done by.
Well, actually, I do. I don't like linguistic laziness and it is a fact that once you go down the road of economising language it is very likely that you will drive through all the stop signs that come your way without paying hardly any attention to them at all. I understand that sometimes Son and Daughter are physically knackered, their energies completely spent after countless hours engaging both brawn and brains, but even so, simple words like 'jumper' and 'basket' should never go AWOL in a person's conversation.
Because they're both learning Spanish and it will be obviously a lifetime process (I am still getting to grips with English after all these years), I do give them some leeway occasionally, especially with words they don't know. But when I am in my Cruella de Vil mood, I make them both go up to Son's room where the two Spanish dictionaries are kept, in order to look up the word or words they want to use.
But then again, Daughter always knew what 'jumper' and 'basket' were.
But then again, Daughter always knew what 'jumper' and 'basket' were.
Copyright 2008
"...it is a fact that once you go down the road of economising language it is very likely that you will drive through all the stop signs that come your way without paying hardly any attention to them at all."
ReplyDeleteWell said and very true. Keep challenging son and daughter. It will make all the difference.
Hi, shine. I will, don't you worry about that! It's a tough job, but it gives me endless satisfaction. To see them both growing up and speaking my language and evenadopting some of hte traits that come with my culture is a prize worth fighting for.
ReplyDeleteThanks for passing by.
Greetings from London.
Hmmmm... yo también hablo así...... a veces :-)
ReplyDeleteo comiéndome los finales de las palabras o uniéndolas (dame loj lápice, ve pa'llá, etc.) :-(
con lo cual me mido mucho cuando no estoy en casa, claro, pero las esponjitas que son los nin~os las captan no obstante...
Me he propuesto tener más cuidado........
Lo que más me molesta, agu, es que ellos saben el nombre de los objetos, pero la vagancia es tremenda. Te digo que como tú yo tengo que cuidarme, porque hay un gran trecho entre "Dame más agua, por favor" y "Dame ma' jagua, po' favo'".
ReplyDeleteSaludos desde Londres.
El mio, cuando habla con sus amigotes, substituye contantemente cualquier palabra que le cuesta un poco de trabajo por "truc" que equivale a "stuff in english o "cosa" en español. Yo tambien me bato todo el tiempo por que use bien los idiomas. Particularmente el español.
ReplyDeleteAl, ese va a ser el tema de una futura columna en un par de semanas. Ya está escrita. Sí, el fenómeno del "cosismo" y el "alguismo". Hay bastante tela por donde cortar.
ReplyDeleteGracias por pasar.
Saludos desde Londres
insiste Cuban, que a este paso entre "xq", los "akí" y los "k kieres" en los mensajes de móvil y chats, y los facilismos del `eso´ y el `aquello´ los chamas acabaran hablando una jerga imprecisa como los que oigo por la calle aquí, me quedo botá...
ReplyDeletePor cierto, leíste el manifiesto en defensa del castellano que acaba de presentar el escritor Fernando Savater al congreso? te lo mando a tu correo..un abrazo
Gracias betty, voy a revisar mi correo inmediatamente. Pues si, el lenguaje de texto ha venido a bastardizar (si existe dicha palabra) la lengua española y la inglesa también, porque ya no puedo con aquellos que se ofrecen a trabajar de voluntarios para nosotros y no puedo descifrar sus mensajes.
ReplyDeleteSaludos desde Londres.
It's just so frustrating when you're speaking one language, but in your head you have the word of the "thing" in a different language. I either end up mixing the languages or using words like "this" and "that". I guess I just have to work harder, and slow down when I'm talking instead of just rushing through my sentences...
ReplyDeleteSaludos desde Portobello ;-)
Thanks for popping by, Sara. I used to do that with French a lot. To me it denotes poverty of language and it's a phenomenon I will come back to in a couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteSaludos desde el otro lado de Londres.