5 Reasons I’m Glad my Children Speak British English and American English
This is the third blog link up post started by Amanda van Mulligen of Expat Life With a Double Buggy. See previous two posts here: 5 Things I Love About My Expat Life and 5 Reasons I’m Glad my Children are British and American
I didn’t think I could join in with this one as both my home country and my expat country speak English. However, my kids make fun of me all the time because of my accent and because of the different words I say. So, I’ve turned this blog post on its head. Is this allowed?? No idea, just thought I’d throw it out there….
5 Reasons WHY I WISH my Children WOULD Speak American English along with their British English
1. They constantly make fun of my accent and the words I use. I get ‘told off’ by them for saying pants instead of trousers and laughed at for saying gas instead of petrol. I do try and use British English most of the time, but some things just don’t stick. And when I’m tired, my accent reverts to Southern American. It does provide some good entertainment for them – at my expense!
2. They bust out laughing every time I say the word ‘ramp.’ They think my pronunciation of this word is hilarious and makes me sound like an ignorant hill billy. To be fair, it was their father who first started to make fun of the way I pronounce certain words. Not in a horrible way, in a funny way (I say funny through gritted teeth). ‘Pie’ is another one they find hilarious. We often have ‘mock the American’ nights when no matter what I say or how I say it, everyone ends up laughing.
3. They are mortified when I use American terms in front of their friends. They are even more mortified when I try and explain these American terms to their friends.
4. They think I’m stupid when I say Math. Especially in front of their teachers. I do make a real effort to say ‘Maths’ when in the presence of British people (which is all the time) especially their teachers so as not to appear stupid.
5. Sometimes I have no idea what my children are saying to me. Seriously. No idea.
******************
Meghan Fenn is the author of Bringing Up Brits and co-author of Inspiring Global Entrepreneurs with Heidi Mulligan Walker. Meghan is also the Director and Chief Designer at her own design company, White Ochre Design Ltd. And, she is an award winning expat blogger.
Of course it’s allowed
This post cracked me up – I can’t imagine you trying so hard to add an s to math!! Thanks for joining in and entertaining us with this great post!
I meant I CAN imagine……
Thank you Amanda. Your post is way more interesting because your children are actually growing up bilingual which is an amazing thing. When I was younger, before I had kids I always thought – wouldn’t it be great if my kids grew up speaking two languages from the word go? Well, they aren’t really but at least they are growing up with two different cultures!
Our two and a half year old is already picking up british English from the Nursery– we felt that he was losing his American identity (sniff sniff).
I think that we end up accommodating his preference to use the word ‘pants’ for undies and trousers. We have never used the word: ‘tea towel’ but he brought it up in conversation. He also says things like ‘dinner’ instead of lunch. Crazy. It is eerie and I feel a little sad that he sounds to me like a foreigner.
Tell me about it! My kids sound so different to me. My parents really struggle to understand them when they talk on the phone. They always have to ask them to repeat everything. It’s slightly better over video Skype but even then it’s difficult. I do love their accents and there are some words they say the American way but not very many. They are very British in the way they speak! Thank you for your comments. I think before they go to school, they had more of an American twang to their accents but now, there’s not even a hint of it.