English - British - Czechglish
The kids are exposed to many different languages here which is great. We try to maintian a certain level of American English but have also accepted some British English into our home. Things like sweetie instead of candy has become standard. Today, however, Sofia said, "This is a great rubber." Before I burst out in adolescent humor I had to correct her and say, "yes, but we call it an eraser." She responded with, "yes, but some people call it a rubber." I had to agree with her that some people do call it a rubber but reiterated that we call it an eraser. (For those of you who don't know, in American English slang a rubber is a condom.) So there are some British English words we can accept and some we prefer not to use.
Another thing we also here is Czechglish, a blend of English and Czech. Sofia loves going to Czech school and learning Czech. When she is at Czech school her teacher calls her Sofinku and her teacher calls Ali, Alinku. This is normal in Czech. Sofia has taken those nicknames and applied them in English. Daddy has become Dadinku and her stuffed animal horse has become horsinku. It is funny and interesting how she is combining the two languages. It is hard to know how much Czech Sofia knows since she won't speak it with me very often but I know she must understand quite a bit since when I pick her up from Czech class I never hear a word of English being spoken. I don't push her to speak Czech and I am just enjoying hearing her Czechglish. I love the mutlicultural language she is developing... rubbers, sweeties, dadinku, horsinku and all.
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