Translating Poetry - harder than it looks

K has been experimenting with translation recently.

I taught her the old rhyme: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" We were on the way to get ice cream at the time. Once she had memorized it, she said, "I know what it is in Czech. Já křičím, ty křičíš, my všichni křičíme na zmrzlinu. (pause) It doesn't rhyme that way. But I said it right..."

I told her even though she said the words right, they won't rhyme in another language necessarily. She's still wrapping her head around that.

That wasn't the first rhyme she's tried to translate - I've heard her sometimes trying out Czech nursery rhymes or schoolyard chants in English, repeating them over and over trying to get them to flow or rhyme the way they do in Czech. Some efforts are more successful than others.

She's a braver girl than I - I won't touch poetry or song translation with a ten-foot pole!

another bilingual mom

Had a pleasant chat with the check-out lady at the grocery store this evening. She asked me:

"Do you mind if I ask - is your husband a foreigner?"
"Well, I guess so, he's Slovak."
"I see...because I've noticed you speak English with your children in the store."
"Ohh, well, that's because I'm American."

She expressed some surprise at that and then started talking about bilingual parenting and how her kids don't want to speak the family language at home and the difficulties of raising children in a foreign country... She and her husband are both from Uzbekistan, but their children only want to speak Czech. And what can you do when you have to work and they are in after-school care until 5 pm?

Probably the nicest conversation - with the nicest employee - I've ever had in that store.

How do you measure a year?

It may have been a year and a day since I last posted, but I have to say the Slovak has never stopped pestering me given up hope that I would blog again.

Baby M is now a few months older than K was when I started this blog.

M will be three in October and is currently in the throes of his terrible twos. Or is it the rest of us in the throes of his terrible twos? Either way, he has opinions and they are loud and emphatic. He started attending preschool and his Czech has really taken off. He mixes Czech and English like a pro but is pretty good at speaking the right language with the right people. We understand most of what he says, but it takes some context clues and/or guesswork sometimes, like "ha-ha-hik" (based on context - rabbit? No! Králíček? No! Zajačik? Yes!).

M has a passion for animals (especially dinosaurs) and modes of transport (especially cars). He recognizes more or less the entire alphabet (apparently younger children teach themselves this kind of thing) and loves counting. He can count in English (up to 7 or 12, depending on if he stays on track) and in Spanish (up to 6 because of a song he learned). This makes for comic looks of surprise when strangers hear a young (to all appearances Czech) child counting in not one, but two foreign languages!

K has now finished kindergarten and is gearing up for first grade this fall. She switches effortlessly between English and Czech and is getting better at holding conversations in just Slovak as well. She can read in English and Czech, though she still asks me sometimes if people really need to learn to read if they plan on getting a job that doesn't involve reading.

K loves drawing, writing (totally not the same as reading) and has been lobbying hard for her own laptop for some time now. She was apparently so eloquent on the subject one morning on the way to kindergarten with Apo that the other passengers on the bus started laughing. She NEEDS a laptop once she starts first grade, she said. Because education. However, she has gone on record that she would settle for her own iPad if we really won't get her a computer.

We are still reading a chapter or so each night. Recently we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and yesterday we finished the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. K is a very satisfying audience, because the stories are all new to her and she is shocked, tense, sad or excited at all the right places. She has also been reading Pippi Longstocking in Slovak with Apo on nights when I don't read. Loves that one, too.

So, anything new with you?

Summer of Parks

After the park-aversion of the last two years and the parkless wasteland that was this spring I am now making it all up to my children by going to the park almost every day.

This is the first year M has been old enough to play (as opposed to crying while refusing to nap a la last summer), which is great except when he chooses to do a runner which is, like, always. This is why I refuse to go to any playground that doesn't have a fence.

Fortunately, there is one park near us with a nice solid fence, gate that stays shut, plenty of shaded seating and things to play with for both my children's ages, so that is our park of preference. K would like some variety, but the huge gorgeous playground and family area near our house is too big and spread-out to keep an eye on two children, especially if one of them is a 21-month-old escape artist. Maybe next year.

For now, almost every afternoon we spend two or three hours at the playground. M rides his motorka or plays in the sandbox, K practices various flips and climbing maneuvers she has seen the big kids do, and I sit on the bench and (not being forced to trail after the toddler to keep him in the area) quietly read a book. It's the best thing ever.

I've actually been managing to keep up this park schedule while having one of my busiest work months of the year, so that time sitting on the bench reading is often my only down time all day. I often find myself answering work emails from the park, so it's not unusual to come home with more projects than when I left. Unfortunately it isn't practical to do actual work from the park, but then it does give me the perfect excuse to take the time to just read.

I also love watching the little ones play, though, in their own different ways. K is a daredevil and has completely mastered almost all playground equipment. She can climb the rock climbing wall, do a back-flip off the soft climbing equipment, slide down the pole and actually very nearly climb back up it again. She has also made friends with a couple of other park regulars, so she usually has someone to play with.

M likes playing with the playground stuff (sandbox, slide), but is happy to zoom around on his motorcycle the whole time, too (all Czech kids have a motorcycle/motorka). Some days he only gets off it to borrow someone else's motorka (while someone borrows his). Most of the time he plays on his own, though he is interested in watching and standing close to the other little children there, and sometimes he follows K and her friends around. She is a good big sister so they are nice to him.

I am pretty pleased that he hasn't hit anyone or flipped out when someone touches his motorka, takes a toy away, or similar. He handles it very well so far. We don't have any playgroups to go to so this is his main opportunity for social interaction.

It was in that park a few months ago that I taught K to ride her bike without training wheels. She got the hang of it ridiculously fast (I had, um, significantly more trouble as a child) and now after some sessions with Apo she is a confident rider and considerate of other people (riding carefully, avoiding getting too close, letting people pass).

Basically, what I'm saying is...wonder where I've been? In the park!

Conversations: Do YOU like making small people happy?

Earlier this week at park: "Mommy, that's my new friend Nemonika (not-Monika)."
"Monika?"
"No, Nemonika."
"I just heard her mom call her Domi, so I'm pretty sure it's Dominika."
Today at park: "I have to go, Mommy, I see my friend Demonika."

"Demon" means the same in Czech as it does in English, FYI.

***

(after K let M do something he normally isn't allowed)
"He really wanted to, and I wanted to make him happy. I like making small people happy. Do YOU like making small people happy, Mommy?"

Something about her tone in that last sentence made me feel kind of guilty...though as it turned out it wasn't a trick question.

***

The Slovak has had some late meetings this week, making him get home late three days in a row. Yesterday she told me, "Mommy, I'm sorry. You're probably going to miss me, but you'll have to come get me late from school tomorrow, after druhá sváča (afternoon snack, about 3 pm). I have a lot of work and meetings to go to. Kid meetings."

***

K knows all the words to (the chorus of) "Do You Hear the People Sing?" in English and is learning it in Czech and French (we have a lot of soundtracks). She also knows almost the whole "Confrontation" song because the Slovak likes to burst out singing it at random. I know Rach will appreciate this.

K can also belt out all the words to "Mně se líbí". I have never been prouder as a parent.

***

It has also come to my attention that K is introducing her friends to French historical fiction. Recently she told me she and two friends were playing "Valjean and Javert" and K's friend had to be the policeman and chase her. I asked in surprise if her friends knew the story, and she answered, "No, but I told it to them."

Wait, NOW I've never been prouder as a parent.

Sibling Interactions

On the way home from school, K told me, "I have a lot of work to do with M. I have to teach him a lot of things and also train him."

When I asked what kind of training she had in mind, she mentioned the following:

walking properly
not getting in puddles
jumping
throwing/catching a ball
talking with his mouth [not signs]

She was as good as her word: she guided him around the puddles (is it ridiculously rainy anywhere else right now?) and picked him up around the middle to make him jump.

She has also been trying to encourage him to talk. "M, say DINOSAUR. Say DISHWASHER. Go on, say DISHWASHER." She doesn't see the point in starting small.

We have been relying on the closed-door system (all inside doors closed so he can't get anywhere he's not allowed), but a few weeks ago I noticed an open door that had been closed... I mentioned it to the Slovak (I think M may have opened the door, watch out) and K said, "Oh, I taught him that." I asked, "WHY would you show him that?? Now he can get in our rooms!" She gave me a withering look and said, "He has to learn things. I wanted to teach him something new. You want him to LEARN, don't you?"

Now when she complains that he went in her room and played with her toys, I say, "That's so sad...too bad someone taught him how to open doors, huh?"

She says I didn't sufficiently warn her of the risks beforehand. I probably didn't. (And, of course, it was only a matter of time before he figured it out anyway.)

Last week while I was picking her up from school, a slightly smaller boy showed her his gap where he lost a tooth. K admired it and I could see the wheels in her brain turning, going "But I haven't lost a tooth yet..." (she has already voiced her dissatisfaction with this situation).

After a second she turned to her brother (standing next to them) and opened his mouth to display his teeth. "He's growing lots of teeth. Well, he doesn't have a lot. But more than he used to have." M is easy-going enough that he didn't resist.

He just wants to be helpful. I'm sure he was also trying to help when he broke about a dozen and a half eggs on the floor in front of the refrigerator last week. Right?

Fitting It All In: Reading and Time Management

Evenings are hectic around here, as I imagine they are in most homes.

We usually have only 1-2 hours, sometimes less, between the Slovak getting home from work and bedtime, and in that time we have to cook dinner, eat dinner, read a chapter book, do a reading lesson, and do the bedtime routine (story and songs).

Cooking dinner earlier doesn't really work for me most days, nor does doing the reading lesson. The 18-month-old really requires adult supervision, so getting anything done when the Slovak isn't home comes at a cost of, for instance, pulling everything out of the kitchen cabinets, rummaging in the trash for a snack, coloring on the refrigerator or climbing to unacceptable places on the furniture, to name a few favorites. K also finds it understandably hard to concentrate on a lesson when M is in the same room.

So we have to fit it all in to the after work - before bedtime window. Most nights this means leaving something out - sometimes we have leftovers so we don't lose time cooking, but it is still a stretch to fit everything in without being too rushed. Most of the time it ends up as a choice between doing a lesson or reading a chapter.

I would like to finish the lessons, but when I weigh the long-term benefits of learn-to-read lessons and reading together as a family, I think reading together wins out. So we've dialed back on the reading lessons a bit. We do a couple a week and we split them in half unless we have a lot of time to spare, and that is working well for now.

If we had continued doing a lesson every single night without fail we would be done with the book already; as it is we are around 2/3 to 3/4 done (or so). The important thing, though, is that we have already achieved our goal in doing the lessons in the first place: K's reading anxiety is essentially gone. Maybe entirely gone.

K finds the readings challenging but manageable and she enjoys counting the lines of each story to see how long it is. Last time I showed her the beginning of the book, where you read two letters together and the first story is three words long, and compared it to the 17-line story she read that day. She loved seeing how much progress she has made already.

She is also motivated to read books, signs and things we see around the house or around town. She likes to practice writing on paper or on a computer, usually self-directed and involving creative spelling. Occasionally I am allowed to suggest something she might try writing.

With this positive attitude I am comfortable pulling back on the formal lessons and we can finish slowly. I imagine that in the long run memories of reading together will be more valuable and contribute more to literacy for both children.

We finished Farmer Boy over the weekend and I asked what we should read next: the next Little House book or mix it up with something else? Both K and Apo put in immediate and enthusiastic votes for LITTLE HOUSE!! So we are working our way through Little House on the Prairie.

I hope we can make our evening readings such a habit that we continue them for years, even when the little ones are old enough to read for themselves. I think it's good for all of us.