[etni] [FWD: Re: It's not haval, it's a shame]
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- Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 23:20:46 -0700
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Subject: Re: [etni] It's not haval, it's a shame
From: "Ehrlich Family" <ehrlich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> It's not haval, it's a shame
> Haaretz - March 11, 2005
> Only three Hebrew words are allowed to be spoken in the Kohn household
> in Ra'anana: Imma [mother], Abba [father] and Shabbat [Sabbath]. Aside
> from these minor concessions, all communication is in English. "We
> speak 100 percent pure English with no mixing," says American-born
> speech and language therapist Margaret Kohn. "We don't go to the
> makolet [grocery store] to buy lechem [bread], and we don't say pass me
> the bakbook [bottle]."
> According to Kohn, who lectured to a group of mostly Anglo parents at
> Hod-Hasharon library on Monday evening, native English-speakers are the
> worst offenders in Israel of what she views as a highly damaging
> practice: mixing their native language with Hebrew.
> Indeed, the statements made during the evening by audience members bore
> out her point: "I speak English to my children and my husband speaks
> Ivrit [Hebrew]"; "My daughter is starting gan hova [kindergarten];" and
> "Our metapelet [nanny] speaks Hebrew to our children."
> (To read the whole article, go to - www.etni.org/news/nothaval.htm )
I read the article. Those who get the Jerusalem Post will have read
the article by the speech professionals two weeks ago. I believe that
that article contradicts the one written by this "professional" Mixing
languages in not a problem. The child who has used "limchoking"
has learned the English grammar perfectly and has used a word he
just did not know in English and made it English. Most of our children
who live almost entirely in Hebrew speaking environments will not go
around speaking English on a native speaker level even if "Her" child
did so.
Each of our children is an individual. Some of them learn languages
better than others. Teaching a musical instrument at an early age and
practicing it early will not make all children virtuosos.
My mother and many of her peers grew up in homes where only
Yiddish was spoken. There was no mixing of the languages. To
this day my mother cannot speak Yiddish. At all.
I read English books to my children every day. I have three who
speak English and two who do not. The difference? How much
contact the children had with friends. The more social the child, the
LESS English he spoke.
Just food for thought. I hate articles that make parents and for
that matter, teachers, feel guilty about their practises.
I think you may continue saying "Makolet" since that is what it
is called here.
It's late. Layla Tov!
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