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From: ac4@pucc-h (Tom Putnam)
Newsgroups: net.kids,net.nlang
Subject: Re: Teaching children to be bilingual
Message-ID: <1327@pucc-h>
Date: Tue, 9-Oct-84 10:55:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: pucc-h.1327
Posted: Tue Oct  9 10:55:40 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 12-Oct-84 07:29:31 EDT
References: <1505@ucla-cs.ARPA> <858@ihuxb.UUCP>
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
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I had an interesting experience while vacationing in France
a few years ago.  A mother, father, and daughter sat behind
me in a stadium, and I listened to their conversations.  
The mother spoke English, the father listened and replied
in French (I speak a little myself), and the daughter listened
to either one and spoke in English.  This was the normal
mode of conversation for most of the evening.  Occassionally
any one of the three would throw in a phrase or two from their
"other" language.

This supports a point of view which I think many of us may have
experienced when learning a new language:  it is much easier
to learn to understand the language than it is to construct
your own phrases (i.e. speak) in a language.  (This even applies
to computer languages).  You never really learn to speak in a
language unless you actually use it.
-- 
Tom Putnam
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