"Lots of Mix" tapi Kecek Kelate

Hai Assalamualaikum.

Lama tak bersiaran di blog ni. Catchy tak tajuk tu? Hehe, kebetulan sekarang ni agak famous term "lots of mix" tu, apa salahnya dijadikan tajuk. ;) Saya rasa nak bercerita sikit tentang keluarga pemilik akaun instagram yang tinggal di UK dan ada campuran Pakistan, Thailand, Melayu, dan Arab. Satu perkara yang paling buat saya kagum ialah anak-anak mereka diajar untuk bercakap dalam bahasa Melayu loghat kelate! Menarik kan?! ;)

Setakat yang saya lihat, kebanyakan keluarga Melayu Malaysia yang tinggal di UK atau negara orang putih yang lain, mereka lebih memilih untuk menggunakan English sebagai bahasa perantara di rumah mereka. Jadi, anak mereka tidak biasa berbahasa Melayu dan ramai juga yang pelat cakap Melayu.

Memang impressive bila kita lihat anak Melayu sangat fasih berbahasa Inggeris, apatah lagi bila ada slang atau accent tertentu. Tapi sayang sebenarnya kalau ibubapa memilih untuk tidak mendedahkan mereka dengan bahasa Melayu sejak mereka kecil. Bukan kerana kelebihan bahasa Melayu itu sendiri, akan tetapi kelebihan mengetahui banyak bahasa. (Saya ada berkongsi tentang kelebihan bilingual atau multilingual di blog ini). Rugi kan kalau cuma fasih bahasa Inggeris tapi tak pandai berbahasa Melayu sedangkan ibubapa itu sendiri boleh berbahasa Melayu?

Jangan risau, tiada istilah anak-anak akan keliru apabila tercampur bahasa. Anak-anak kita semuanya dilahirkan sebagai "linguistic genius", sebanyak mana bahasa yang diajar kepada mereka, sebanyak itulah mereka boleh kuasai tanpa terkeliru.

Kita sebagai ibubapa sepatutnya menggunakan peluang yang ada dengan sebaiknya untuk mengajar banyak bahasa kepada anak-anak. Sebagai contoh, jika kita tinggal di UK, maka kita sudah tidak perlu risau lagi tentang kemampuan anak kita untuk belajar serta menguasai bahasa Inggeris. Kerana anak-anak kita sudah ada komuniti yang akan 'mengajarnya' untuk bercakap dalam bahasa tersebut. Kerana itu, ketika di rumah, selain menggunakan bahasa Inggeris (sebagai meraikan bahasa yang anak-anak sedang belajar), apakata ajar juga bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa tambahan. Aktiviti dalaman otak lebih cergas apabila anak kita tahu banyak bahasa dan pandai membandingkan perkataan antara bahasa yang berlainan.

Tentang bahasa apa yang dia lebih selesa untuk gunakan dalam percakapan seharian, itu terpulang kepadanya, sekurang-kurangnya dia tahu bahasa ibunda sendiri dan tidak janggal apabila mendengar orang lain menggunakan bahasa tersebut, apatah lagi jika dia sendiri yang perlu bercakap dalam bahasa itu.

Selamat mendidik anak menjadi bilingual, multilingual, atau polyglot! <3

P/s: Belanja video Fatimah (kanak-kanak berusia 3 tahun yang menetap di UK tapi petah kecek kelate. ;)  Credit to instagram: @thefamily.uk

Bilingual Activities in Restaurants?

Bismillah.

As I was sitting down flipping the pages of my bilingual reference book, I came across an interesting idea about bilingual activity. An activity outside home, inside a restaurant. Yes, a restaurant!

Instead of having to spend lots of money to go and travel to the country that speaks in the minority language that we teach our kids (in my case, it's Arabic and English- but English is not really a minority language in Malaysia I guess), why not we try to bring our kids to the ethnic restaurant. I believe we have lots of restaurant run by different ethnics. Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Indian, Western and more. However I am not sure whether the workers there are the native speakers of the 'meals' served. But I have found a lot Arabic cuisines restaurants which are truly Arabic! The waiters, the owners, and the customers are real Arab people, and even the menus are in Arabic.

This is definitely a cool idea for bilingual family with Arabic as a target language. Our kids will definitely feel awesome with the small-yet-original piece of the real country. Believe me, kids will feel good when they see that there are more people outside the family that use the minority language. We can let our kids to check on the menus and order them in the minority language, let them call the waiters, ask this and that about the menus & order whatever food they want; in the target language. Both you and your kids will definitely get the sensation of euphoria upon having this kind of chance.

Besides restaurant, any ethnic shop outlets or stores is a good place too to bring your kids. Though the name of every item might not be displayed, you can still teach your kids about their names while shopping. InshaAllah this kind of activity can make your child happy about being bilingual and always in the mood for learning more and more about the target language.

A piece of Middle East in Malaysia.

A piece of Japan in Malaysia. 

Of Choosing Bilingual Parenting Method

Bismillah.

Have you started your bilingual journey? Or are you still in the midst of choosing which is the best method? Basically there are two main theories when it comes to raising bilingual children; OPOL and ML@H. I will explain about these two theories later. :)

When I first began my bilingual project, I can say that I started it with almost zero knowledge about bilingualism. I simply started because I know that I want my daughter to understand Arabic and English. The only two things that I knew regarding bilingualism at that time were; 1) it's good for the brain and 2) I need to start it as early as possible.

So here is the simple description of the above mentioned methods:

1) OPOL
》》stands for One Parent One Language. Eg: daddy speaks in English and Mommy speaks in Arabic. However, kids still need to know that their dad/mom is not the only person using that language. So it may require the parents to send their kids to playgroups or hire a nanny/teacher to come and speaks in that target language

2) ML@H
》》stands for Minority Language at Home. It means that each and every member of the family speaks using the target language even if they are non native speakers of it. This method is less popular than the first one but it is tremendously successful because it provides extra consistent usage of the language.

As for me, the second method is not suitable since my target is to expose three languages to my daughter. Moreover, my husband doesn't speak Arabic and he is more fluent in English compared to me. So OPOL is our plan, ie.: husband speaks in English with my daughter and I speak in Arabic. What about Malay, the third language?

One thing I can say about it; my daughter is quite excellent in it, considering her current age. I myself am amazed by her proficiency in Malay language. She can construct a long Malay sentence plus she's not 'pelat' at all. Of course her Malay vocabularies are fewer than her arabic & english, but she's good in practicing all the Malay words that she knows. A week with her grandparents, aunties & uncles is totally a booster to her proficiency in her heritage language.

I don't know, but I really feel like doing a research on why my daughter can easily understand and master Malay language despite the fact that me and husband rarely speak in Malay with her. ;D Kidding. But perhaps, what I have written before here are among the reasons.

Whatever it is, I still need more improvement in my own arabic language proficiency. And I need to be very consistent in speaking ONLY arabic with my daughter. Currently I still can't get rid of mixing arabic and english in my conversations with her.

There is one more good method of bilingual parenting, which is a method that I have tried during my early days in this project. What method is that? Well, I will write it in a new entry since this entry has reached its limit.

Till then,
Be awesome, be bilingual. ;)

Mantapkan Diri Sambil Mengajar Anak

Bismillah.

Antara salah satu tips yang saya sebut tentang cara untuk mengurangkan rasa malu untuk bertutur dalam bahasa asing di depan orang lain ialah dengan memantapkan penguasaan diri sendiri dalam bahasa yang ingin kita dedahkan kepada anak. Bukan sekadar untuk menghilangkan rasa malu, bahkan perkara ini amat penting untuk memastikan projek bilingual kita berjaya, inshaAllah. Secara ringkasnya, menurut Dr. Stubbe Kester, antara perkara yang boleh kita lakukan untuk memantapkan diri dalam sesuatu bahasa ialah:

1) Gunakan program-program bahasa yang ada di internet.

2) Cari rakan yang boleh kita praktikkan bahasa tersebut dalam perbualan dengannya.

3) Cari dan baca buku kanak-kanak dalam bahasa yang kita mahu itu.

4) Senaraikan semua perbuatan, objek dan apa sahaja perkataan yang anda ingin gunakan dalam perbualan dengan anak anda (dalam bahasa anda), kemudian cari terjemahannya (tanya kawan, cari di kamus, atau cek di internet) dalam bahasa yang anda ingin pelajari itu, dan jika rajin, boleh tulis nama objek ke atas kad (dalam target language) dan tampal pada objek tersebut. Cara ini akan turut membantu anak anda untuk belajar.

5) Jika ada, jadi sukarelawan dalam kelas bahasa tersebut yang disediakan untuk kanak-kanak. (Boleh tolong mengajar atau membantu guru atau apa sahaja dalam sesi kelas itu asalkan kita cuba biasakan diri mendengar bahasa tersebut diajar dalam kelas)

6) Pergi ke negara di mana bahasa tersebut dituturkan oleh rakyatnya. (Yang ini pasti sangat menyeronokkan!)

p.s.: Tips tambahan daripada lecturer sewaktu saya degree dahulu: Selalu bercakap dengan diri sendiri menggunakan bahasa yang kita ingin kuasai itu. Contohnya sebelum tidur, kita cerita pada diri sendiri apa yang kita sudah lakukan sepanjang hari, menggunakan target language. Bukan monolog dalaman ya. ;)

Arabic Kitchen Conversation

Bismillah.

Good morning happy parents out there! I pray that Allah will ease everything for you today and He will grant every du'a that you have whispered to Him this morning.

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am gonna share with you some of the usual sentences used in conversations with kids at the kitchen. By reading this post, you will have the idea about what is happening in my kitchen everyday. ;)

Note: In these sentences, "mama is" means "I am". It is written that way since this is a dialogue between a mama and her SON.

1) Mama is frying the fish: ماما أقلي السمك (Mama aqli as samaka)

2) I am peeling the apple: أنا أقشر التفاحة (Ana uqash shiru at tufahah)

3) Mama is washing the dishes: ماما أغسل الصحون (Mama aghsilu as suhun)

4) Don't go near the stove: لا تقترب من الموقد (La taqtarib min al mawqid)

5) Don't stand in front of the microwave while it's working: لا تقف أمام الميكروويف وهو يعمل (La taqif amamal maikrowif wa huwa ya'mal)

6) Don't let the fridge door opened: لا تترك باب الثلاجة مفتوحا (La tatruk bab ath thallaajah maftuhan)

7) Close the cupboard's door: إقفل باب الخزانة (Iqfil babal khizaanah)

8) Take a tissue for mama: خذ المنديل لماما (Khudz al mindil li mama)

9) Put your plate in the sink: ضع الصحن داخل الحوض (Dho' as sohna daakhilal hawdhi)

If you happen to notice any mistake in the above translations, please inform me. (In the comment section or send me email.) Thank you so much. 

Is this scene seems familiar to you? ;)

Arabic Morning Conversation.

Bismillah.

As I have promised before, so here I am gonna share with you some of the common sentences used (between parents and child) in the morning.

Wake up, cutie sleepyhead.

Good morning: صباح الخير (Sobaahal khayr)

Your diaper is full: حفاضتك امتﻻءت (Hafaadhotuka imtala'at)

Come let mama change your diaper: تعال ماما أبدل لك حفاضتك (Ta'aal mama ubaddilu laka hafaadhotaka)

Mama is preparing oatmeal for you: ماما أصنع الشوفان لك (Mama asna' ash shaufan laka)

Eat properly: كل جيدا (Kul jayyidan)

Hold your spoon properly: أمسك ملعقتك بعناية ( Amsik mil'aqotaka bi'inaayatin)

Come take bath: تعال لنستحم ( Ta'aal linastahim)

You want milk?: أتريد الحليب؟ ( Aturidul haleeb)

Chew your food: إمضغ طعامك (imdhagh to'aamak)

You want more: تريد أكثر؟ (Turid akthar?)

Don't let the milk spill on the floor: لا تترك الحليب ينسكب على اﻷرضية (La tatruk alhaleeb yansakibu 'alal ardhiyyah)

Did you brush your teeth?: هل فرشت أسنانك؟ (Hal farrashta asnaanaka)

Okay that's all for now, I will share more later inshaAllah. You can now start to use these dialogues with your kids. The earlier the better. Why? Well, we need a new entry to explain about that. Don't forget to check for new updates! ;)

P.s.: You can ask me personally if you wanna know about any other terms or common sentences used between parents and children. I will help you inshaAllah. Drop your questions to my email nor.sajidahz@gmail.com.

Arabic Language is the Reason

Bismillah.

What actually drives me to decide that I want to raise my baby bilingual? I wasn't exposed too much about the importance of bilingualism years ago. Only after I started having kid did I find out on my own about teaching children to be able to speak in more than one language. The answer for my previous question is: I am truly in love with Arabic Language since the first day I learned about it 14 years ago.

I admit that all my Arabic language teachers (from secondary school till matriculation) are the best and among the most awesome teachers. Perhaps my love for Arabic Language makes me see them in that way. I was impressed everytime I saw them having conversations in Arabic. I wanna be like them, I will be like them, that was what I kept saying to myself.

If you learn Arabic Language, I bet you will feel the same way as I did. Because the beautiful nature of the language itself will always leave you in an awe, especially when you learn about the balaghah (rhetoric) part. Arabic language isn't a difficult language, instead it's a very strong language. That's what my lecturer once said and I couldn't agree more. It is such a precise and systematic language.

Orientalists have their own way of learning this powerful language. They need to know Arabic. Why? Because they are studying about alQuran & hadith. They are looking for flaws in that two elements of Islam in order to attack Islam. What about us? Do we care enough to be good in this language for the sake of understanding the religion better? It's not the matter of we are good in it or not. It's the matter of whether we do really want to learn and understand it.

I myself is not very good in Arabic. I am still learning. Learning together with my daughter. If there's anybody requesting me to teach them advanced Arabic grammar, I am really sorry I don't have much knowledge about it. My target for now is at least to understand this language as well as to be able to speak fluently in it, at least with my daughter. :)

And as I have stated before in my previous entry, since forever I have been adoring non Arab kids that can speak in Arabic. Having conversations in Arabic makes them look more attractive. I admit we are living in a society where parents feel proud if their children are good in English, and people are usually impressed to see toddlers speaking in that language. I beg to differ, I want my kids to be good in Arabic as much as they are good in another language. I want my kids to feel more attached to Islam when they have the language stored in their hearts and minds.

It is sad somehow, to think that people feel that Arabic language is only for those who are in the field of Islamic studies. It's not their faults anyway, maybe todays' way of life doesn't make them feel that the urge to learn Arabic language is supposed to be stronger and than the urge of learning other languages. That's why I wanna be among the pioneers that raise a society (beginning from my own family) that regards Arabic Language as a language with paramount benefits. InshaAllah.

Learn lots of languages, it's good.
Read a lot in various languages, it's awesome.
Speak in many languages, you will look attractive.
Be bilingual, be intellectual.


P.s.: I know I have lots of friends who have learnt Arabic but it's almost gone from themselves day by day because it is not used in their daily lives. Well, having the basic of this language is actually a bonus to you. It's time to relive it in yourself, and it's time to learn it again together with your kids. How? InshaAllah I will share more about it later.

Having Breakfast in Arabic Language

Bismillah.

It's morning here! Don't you feel it will be great if you can enjoy your morning in Arabic language? :D Waking up with a prayer to Him, greeting your loved ones in Arabic, invite them to breakfast in Arabic and having a chit chat during breakfast in Arabic! I bet you would love to be able to do so, right? ;)

Believe me Arabic Language is very beautiful and different from other languages. Especially because it gives us the good feeling (while using it) since we know we are talking in the same language as our beloved prophet Muhammad sollallahu 'alaihi wasallam.

And you know something? For me, nothing is cuter than a little (non arab) kid speaking in Arabic fluently. ^__^

Insha Allah once in a while I will share with you some of the common terms used in morning conversations. So, stay tuned everybody!

The Early Days of Our Journey

Bismillah.

I just wanna put here the entry that I've posted (in my personal blog) a year ago, regarding my earlier days in this journey. 

INTRO 

A few months ago I managed to finish reading this book: 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child by Naomi Steiner. Before you start reading this entry, I want you to know that I am not going to explain those 7 steps or write every information from that book, instead I am just going to share my journey in teaching my daughter a second/third language, and how this book has helped me in this matter.  

Since I was in secondary school, I kept having this one dream: to have children who can speak Arabic. Coz I found it is super cute to see little kids talking (or arguing) in that language. :) However, of course the main actual reason behind that dream is Islam. I know you get what I mean. The author of that book stated that before starting with the bilingualism project, I have to answer why I feel attached to that particular language. (As for me, it's Arabic Language.)

MYTHS AND FACTS 

Let us first see some of the popular myths and facts about bilingualism:

-1st myth: If a child is not very intelligent, then he cannot become bilingual. (Fact: A baby's brain is naturally made to learn multiple languages).

-2nd myth: A child will become "confused" and mix languages. (Fact: Mixing is a natural step in learning multiple languages.)

-3rd myth: A parent must be fluent in more than one language to raise her child bilingual. (Fact: Monolingual parents can raise their child bilingual.)

OUR JOURNEY

Since birth till a few months ago, we talked to our daughter mostly in English. Approximately 70% English, 20% Malay and 10% Arabic. Day by day, I kept saying to myself that it is very crucial for me to start now. I remember the author said: "when it comes to bilingualism, later always means never." Plus, I wanted to start as early as possible because in learning languages, experts generally agree that earlier is better. So at that time, I tried this way: Today is English Day, then tomorrow is Arabic Day, then English day again, and so on so forth. Well, it's not so good. Coz it doesn't seem organized.

To cut a long story short, after I read this book, we tried the one parent one language method (OPOL) which is highly recommended since it is such a successful way to raise a bilingual child. (There are 6 reasons why it is effective, but I am not going to write them down here. But u can request me to list them specially for you). So, by deciding to use this method, my husband chose to use English to talk to her and me, Arabic. (I am not good in speaking Arabic, but the author said that it isn't mandatory for a parent to be fluent in certain language if she wants to teach her child that particular language. Hey, we can learn together with our kids!) 

Actually little infants can already differentiate between languages being spoken to her. And as for me, I myself have witnessed it. Before we started using the OPOL method, I noticed that my daughter really knows if the word I use is an Arabic word. Coz everytime I point to something, then I mentioned its name in Arabic, she will immediately say Amin. For example, when I point to a pillow and say wisaadah, she will say Amin! What is that with Amin?!!! Ok, it goes like this, everytime I recite a prayer (which is in Arabic), I will recite it loudly and say Amin after I am done. So when Majdiyya says Amin after I mentioned Arabic word to her, it means that she knows I am using the same language that I use while reciting prayer, and also, it means that she knows it isn't an English word. (Even though it is the first time she hears that particular word)

I have a problem in implementing this OPOL method. Mainly because my husband is a super duper busy man. His time with my daughter is very limited. If she talks with me more than with her dad, she might be late in learning English and her competency in using that language will come later than Arabic. (Since I speak Arabic with her). So I guess it turns out to be: OPTL (one parent two languages- this term isn't available in that book) Finally I read that book, and found a solution; I will still use Arabic as a dominant language in my conversations with my daughter, but I need to find certain activities which I need to use English. So far, the activities that will require me to speak in English are: meal times, reading books time, bath time. The rest, conversations will be conducted in Arabic.

I AM NOT GOOD IN ARABIC 

You might say that you are not good in Arabic or English or any other second language, therefore you don't opt for raising a child bilingual. You should know this: monolingual parent can raise a bilingual child. And fluency in certain language is not a prerequisite for you to have the capability to teach your child that language.

I admit that since I have left university for about 3 years, surely it means that I no longer use Arabic in any of my conversations. I have forgotten lots of vocabularies and become very slow if I were to speak or write in that language.

So I seek help from a friend, who is an Arabic native speaker. I list down a few sentences in English, then I ask her to translate them for me. That's how I learn some new words regarding motherhood. I am so happy that in order to teach my baby, I myself will learn something.

I just use simple words, and mostly repeated words! Because everyday's activities are almost the same. ;) Alhamdulillah, even though I am still in the basic level in speaking Arabic, at least I use it in my conversations more than I used it during my degree.

My little problem is I am still shy to use Arabic whenever we are outside our home. :( I am still training myself to be good in Arabic and importantly, to have guts to use it publicly. 

Well, the author said that one of the methods to be brave to use the second language in public is by letting your friends or family members know that you are using that particular language with your child. Till today, I still have lots of words that I don't know. So once in a while I will make a list of English sentences and send it to my arabic-native speaker friend, for her to translate them.

BAHASA MELAYU 


If any of you meet my daughter, please speak in Malay with her. ;) You are one of the resources that I have in order to teach my daughter Malay language. Well, my baby still will understand Malay because me and my husband are using that language in our conversations. Though my baby might not join our conversations, but still she will slowly understand Malay. Insha Allah.

Apart from that, extended family is also a good Malay language 'teacher' for my baby. Plus, I am not worried much about my daughter can't speak Malay, because she lives in a community where majority of the people she meets or will meet, are Malay native speakers.

Teaching Malay Language is somehow a way to make my daughter feels the sense of belonging. Family gathering is always a good idea and place for your kids to learn your family language. Well, one important thing: don't forget to inform your families that you are raising your kids bilingual. Insha Allah you will get support from them, or at least you won't feel awkward to use the second or third language with your kids, in front of them.

It Begins Here

I begin this blog by thanking God for giving me the courage to set up a special page dedicated to writing and sharing about raising a bilingual child. 

I am still a beginner in this field, as my daughter is only 2 years and 10 months old. However, I have a deep passion for raising my child bilingually, and I believe this passion urges me to share and support anyone who wants to embark on the same journey. 

We can exchange information as well as opinions, as I am still at the early stages of building my knowledge of bilingual education. I am not an expert, but I do hope I will become one. 

Stay tuned, and I will do my very best to fill this blog with beneficial information about bilingualism, inshaAllah.