Fings, Free, Fink - UK Lazy English.

[hairlessupportmonkey]

My Daughter - now two and three quarters, has been going to her play group for a while now, and since then, she has been coming home speaking with a lazy southern English dialect. (we live in East Hampshire)

e.g:

Things = fings
Three = free
Think = fink
Water = waaha (We have finally got her to say water properly)

There are a few more but those are the main ones.

Now, I'm always now pulling her up on her pronunciation of these words, or should I relax a bit with it and it will sort itself out when she is older and realises how silly it sounds. Or should I call the play group and ask the staff to speak properly?!

My Daughter is also very bright, and is getting on very well with the English language and some Vietnamese (she is 50/50 ). She can recite her alphabet, and now spell words and starting to recognise them. She is also good with her numbers and can count past ten! So perhaps I shouldn't worry too much?

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[MakeItSo]

Not exactly fit for your daughter, but a good example of possible remote damages of improper speech might be this hilarious
video about a lift with Speech Recognition ins Scotland.


“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” (Kofi Annan)
Oppose SOPA, PIPA, ACTA; measures to curb freedom of information under whatever name whatsoever.

 

[JCreamerII]

It will easier to get her on the right track now. The more you wait the more ingrained her speech will become. You can make it a game and she will adapt quickly.

Jim C.

 

[Andrzejek]

Just a couple of days ago I’ve heard on the radio a program about the language: accents, dialects, etc. And some knowledgeable person stated that development of child’s language depends on people around. Not a new discovery. So at the beginning of child’s life the parents are the people who influence the development of the language, of course. Who else would? Child belongs to the group, a family, and that’s what shapes the development, including the language. But then, when the child has contact with other groups, like at the playground, child care, pre-school, it starts to ‘belong’ to other groups who influence the development of its language.

That’s why children who only speak their native (non-English) language at home pick another language (like English) so fast because they are introduced to other groups of children who speak English only. It is amazing that adults need sometimes several years to master other language, where children can pick it up over the summer just by playing with other kids.


Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[kwbMitel]

An effective technique that I've used with all of my 3 boys with good results is to engage them in the process of learning. Instead of telling them that what they are doing wrong, I prefer to ask them if they think it is correct and open a discussion on the subject. Before you ask, yes, a 2 1/2 year old is more than capable of having this conversation especially if she is as smart as you says she is. My children were almost always capable of recognising the error and very proud of themselves for doing so. Sometimes we would make a game of it and I would do the thing wrong randomly to see if they could spot it and correct me. My favourite game along these lines that gained a life of its own involved spoonerisms.

**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

kwbMitel,

I agree, and for the best part, I already engage with her in the fashion you say. Currently she is making up her own words. I thank Dr Seuss for that!

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[JCreamerII]

No big deal I still make up my own words? One trick I used for math was to get something they liked to eat M&M or just cheerios and put 10 on the kitchen table. Went thru sets of two, three and four, add, subtract, and then let them eat them at the end and count backwards as they are eating them. They never had an issue with math after that, (they were 3 & 5 at the time).

Jim C.

 

[Andrzejek]

It is interesting: try to explain to children the idea of division by 2, 3, 4, etc. giving as an example a loaf of bread – that takes a long time to grasp. Use chocolate to explain the same concept, and it is done in 5 minutes.

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[JCreamerII]

Andy,

You just have to give them something they can relate to and focus on. The lession stays with them forever, although my daughter doesn't remember the lesson, she didn't forget the math ( Grad School at Northeastern ).

Jim C.

 

[SantaMufasa]

In a Discovery Channel program awhile back, they asserted that by 6 months old, Chinese children develop the ability to distinguish between phonemes that we non-Chinese-speaking persons cannot distinguish.

Verefoe, I fink vat you as her favah and her muvah, should teach her now vat just because uhvahs speak pohley, don't mean our family speaks pohley. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

Oh dear

She is very bright and I'm very pleased about that, so I've been making up word games to say.

Say "I think three things" and ask her to say it quicker each time.

She gets bored after three of four goes but at least she tries.



ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[kwbMitel]

Yes, you must tread carefully on the boredom threshold. Never "just one more", I always aimed for just one less.

**********************************************
What's most important is that you realise ... There is no spoon.

 

[flyboytim]

I think the way to prevent your children from acquiring strong regional accents and lazy speech is to move around the country during their formative years. Some cities in particular can correct certain traits:

Brummie (it was probably good enough for William Shakespeare):
Yow kud mawv to Birmingham, if yow wontid yower kid to lern to speek properley, and pronownce orl her consenunts!

Pompey (Charles Dickens was a mudlark by birth):
Uvverwize, get dahn ter Sahfsee an'be prahd yer li'l g'rl speaks be'er'n'er mates.

Etc...