Lögberg-Heimskringla - 03.10.1963, Blaðsíða 6

6
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 3. OKTÓBER 1963
BRINGING UP
Framhald irá bls. 5.
cause I do not wanit learning
Swedish to be at all like work
or study.
Have we then had no prob-
lems?
The answer cannot be given
as an unqualified “yes,” but
the qualifications have main-
ly to do with self-discipline,
the mixing of languages, and
culturaí attitudes. Self-disci-
pline is undoubtedly the big-
gest. It was definitely strange
for Astrid and me to start
talking Swedish with each
other. Then, keeping it up day
after day was hard. But ev-
entually it became a habit.
With the children, one runs
into the problem of continu-
ally reminding them to speak
Swedish without having to re-
sort to nagging. But it can be
done. The children will go
through one or more phases
of resistance. At those points
it is best to remember that
you know more about the
world than the child does and
can make a better judgment
about the value of a second
language than he can.
Mixing languages occurs
when a young child is leam-
ing two languages simultane-
ously. At first Vicken heard
only Swedish from us, but of
course only English from her
playmates. She would, as a
consequence, tend to mix her
languages, saying such things
as: “Jag vill ha ett glas wa-
ter”; “Jag vill get ner”; “Jag
vill ha ved. att bygga ett hus,
jor jag vill spela hus.” Or
with her playmates, “I don’t
wan to slip going along,” and
so forth. Some parents would
be horrified at this. Actually,
little children experience no
frustration on this score. They
know you speak in a certain
way to certain people and in
another to others. It never
bothered her playmates when
Vicken used a Swedish word.
Either she would find out
what the others called the
thing or else all the children
would adopt the S w e d i s h
word. One amusing incident
occurred when we were living
in an apartment house. Vick-
en always called me “Pappa,”
whereas the other children
called their fathers “Daddy.”
Soon I was called “Pappa” by
all the children in the build-
ing. I guess they thought that
was my name. It was just a
bit embarrassing when I
would appear in the park and
children from several differ-
ent mothers would come run-
ning up to me calling “Pap-
pa”!
As a child grows older he
comes to distinguish between
languages and this problem
disappears. Accents do not
disappear so easily. But we
had no problem about that,
since Vicken heard both Am-
erican and Swedish words in
their proper pronunciation (at
least from her mother), not
accented English spoken by a
foreignJbom.
A greater problem for more
people has to do with cultural
attitudes. Very often I meet
second-generation Polish-, It-
alian-, Japanese, or even
Swedish-Americans who have
rebelled against speaking the
language of their parents be-
cause they associate that lan-
guage with a lower social sta-
tus. Children can pick up such
attitudes even before grade
school. They soon form a de-
sire to dissociate themselves
from their cultural back-
ground in order to conform
more closely to what they
conceive to be the “100%
American” types around them.
This happens mostly where
there is a minority commu-
nity. When a child gets the
idea that his cultural heritage
is somehow “inferior,” it may
take some skillful edueation
at home to convince him that
his background is something
to be proud of. It is difficult
to keep from going to the oth-
er extreme and implanting
the equally pernicious idea
that his heritage is “superior.”
In our case, there is no min-
ority problem. Our little “in-
doctrination” at home has so
far succeeded i n making
Swedish something “special,”
something that is fun and de-
sirable. Other chdldren come
over and say they want to
learn Swedish, too.
Since Astrid and I have had
so much initial success with
our two li-ttle daughters, we
would like to recommend to
all bilinguals who have or are
about to have children that
they take a little pain to pass
on to their children the won-
derful gift of a second lan-
guage. Generalizing from our
own experience and that of
friends of ours, the recipe
miight run something like this:
(1) Choose a language which
either or both parents speak
without an accent. We know
of a Pole whose American
wife speaks no Polish but who
addresses their child only in
Polish. To help the situation,
they have decided to get a
Polish maid. If one parent is
weak in the second language
(such as having learned
French in high school and
thus having no household vo-
cabulary), he can learn along
with and a little ahead of the
child. He should supplement
learning from his spouse with
some self-study and as much
reading for pleasure as pos-
sible, both aloud for the child
and on a more adult level to
himself. The child will tend
to acquire the accent of the
more fluent parent.
(2) The process can be be-
gun at almost any age, but the
younger the better. I know of
a very successful White Rus-
sian couple who d e c i d e d ,
when their children were ten
and twelve, that they should
know Russian. They just made
it a rule that at the dinner
table no conversation was per-
mitted except in Russi'an. It
is a good idea to have a core
time and place for conversing
in the second language. One
must also have the authority
and self-discipline to over-
come the resistance phase,
which may come early in old-
er children and late in young-
er ones.
(3) Outside stimuli should
be used wherever convenient.
A variety of interesting read-
ing matter in the second lan-
guage should be supplement-
ed by a record collection of
songs and stories as an aid in
leaming things by heart in a
perfect accent. Grandparents
who still retain a command
of the second language should
help with the teaching of the
grandchildren. One s h o u 1 d
make a special effort to have
the children meet any guests
who speak the language. Cor-
respondence in the language
can be begun with relatives or
new foreign friends. Joining
any relevant foreign singing,
folk dancing,, or other cultur-
al groups is educational fun.
And all this prepares for the
best stimulus of all—a trip to
the “old country,” with its
many new impressions and
experiences and its unequaled
opportunities for putting one’s
second language to good use.
—The American Scandinavian
Review, Spring 1960.
Mörgum mun enn í mirini
bruninn mikli hér 1 Reykja-
vík 1915 og hvernig hann bar
að. Var mikið um drauma og
fyrirburði fyrir þeim ósköp-
um, og voru sumir af þeim
draumum prentaðir í blöðun-
um hér í Reykjavík.
Utanbæjarkona sagði mér
draum, sem ekki mun hafa
farið hátt. En þar sem nú fer
að fyrnast yfir þessa rauna-
atburði, þá set ég hér draum-
inn.
Stúlku á bæ sögumanns
míns dreymdi, að hún stóð
úti undir bæjarvegg, var lítið
eitt brugðið birtu. Sér hún þá,
að maður kemur ríðandi og
fer mikinn. Hann reið rauð-
um hesti, og var sem neistaði
af faxi hans og tagli. Maður
þessi var klæddur hertygj-
um, eins og hún hafði lesið
um, að riddarar báru á fyrri
öldum, var hann gyrður
sverði og bar logandi kyndil
í annarri hendi.
Þegar hann kom í námunda
við hana, leit hann til hennar
og kvað:
Ég á bæði brand og glóð,
ber ég hel í sverði.
Þá bragnar syngja
brúðkaupsljóð,
betra er að standa á verði.

Öxarárfoss
Maður er manns gaman. Margt er manna bölið.
* * ft * ♦ *
Margt er í hjóna hjali. Margs fer óframur á mis.
NÆRFÖT - SOKKAR - T-SKYRTUR
:
LOWEST
AIR FARES TO ALL
SCANDINAVIAN
ASK
ANY
TRAVEL
AGENT
ICELAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN
DENMARK
FINLAND
ENGLAND
HOLLAND
GERMANY
COUNTRIES
ONLY ON ICELANDIC
LOWEST fares from New York of any
scheduled airline...and even lower
during Fall Thrift Season. Extra sav-
ings on Family Plan and Thrift Sea-
son fares for 10% months, Aug. 16
to Apr. 30; return Oct. 16 to June
30. Savings also apply to children
12 to 25. Save wherever you go ...
pay far less than jet Economy fares
to key cities of Scandinavia and
other European countries. Enjoy
real lcelandic hospitality, free
meals and cognac, expert service
by 3 stewardesses on every long-
range pressurized DC-6B.
VISIT ICELAND, newest tourist discovery.
The PÍONEER of Low Fares to Europe
ICELANDIG AIRLINES
610 Fifth Ave. (Rockefeller Otnter) New York 20 PL 7-8585
WRITE FOR
FOLDER XI
NEW YORK • CHICAGO • £AN FRANCISCO