C: Want to Teach Your Kids a Second Language?

Recently Son and I have dabbled in learning Spanish.  We figure it is the language of choice to learn in America today.  Actually, Spanish comes fairly easily to me, and I've picked it up pretty well, although I need to actually use it more…

But Son and I have another other-than-native language in which we are both fluent because of the exercise we got in it while he was growing up.

When Son was in grade school, I picked him up from school every day.  Those rides home were wonderful.  We’d stop and get a snack, of course, and go over the events of the day.  But at some point in the ride home almost every day, we’d enter “The Challenge.”  We’d move into speaking only in our second language, and the first person who lapsed and spoke in English was the “The Loser.”

What language?  Well, Pig Latin!  We had the most fun doing this!  As a result of this daily language lesson, as adults we are both fluent and lightning fast in our communication.  It comes in so handy when you want to slide something by someone—like little kids.  It beats the heck out of spelling out words because who knows which nieces and nephews are early spellers and might actually understand what you are spelling.

Even with adults at the table, Son could check out diplomatic dining situations discreetly, such as: “Amay Iyay aktay ethay astlay ollray?”

[translation for you non-fluents: “May I take the last roll”]

Ancay ooyay eakspay igpay atinlay?  [Can you speak pig latin?]

And, if you do, which dialect?  Do you move just the first letter to the back, such as:

“Twinkie” would be “Winkietay”

or do you, like us, move the blends, like this:

“Twinkie” is “Inkietway.”

If you’ve got a youngster around, try teaching him or her Pig Latin.  It is great fun, I am convinced it helps learn to think fast, and it is a wonderful bonding tool! 

For the uninitiated, here is what Wikipedia posits as the language rules:

The usual rules for changing standard English into Pig Latin are as follows:

1. In words that begin with consonant sounds, the initial consonant or consonant cluster is moved to the end of the word, and "ay" is added, as in the following examples:
   • beast → east-bay
   • dough → ough-day
   • happy → appy-hay
   • question → estion-quay
2. In words that begin with vowel sounds or silent consonants, the syllable "way" is simply added to the end of the word. In some variants, the syllable "ay" is added, without the "w" in front. Sometimes the vowel will be moved and followed by the syllable "hay".
   • another→ another-way or another-ay
   • if→ if-way or if-ay
   • About→ bout-ahay"
3. In compound words or words with two distinct syllables, each component word or syllable is sometimes transcribed separately. For example: birdhouse would be ird-bay-ouse-hay.

If you know the “language,” use it!  And if you have kids, teach them!  It has been great fun for us!  

And we present this post for your educational enrichment.  C