Our home language project update

Last Saturday marked the end of our two weeks in Spanish. (The children and I switch from English to Spanish on every 15th day.) I called an executive decision to extend our Spanish 15 for another week. The vote by my children was unanimous. The reason? The last English period ended on December 24th - a Saturday. With all the hustle and bustle and the excitement of Christmas, seeing family we hadn't seen in a long time, participating in activities that took us out of our norm, and mingling with a lot more people than is usually the custom, we didn't make a whole lot of progress on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day went about the same. I think it wasn't before Wednesday that we were able to drag our feet into the new change and to top it all off, Alex was gone on vacation with a friend from Monday to Friday. We thus extended our Spanish period one week. Tomorrow we'll change back to English.

All this has brought a few things to my attention about the mechanics of switching from one language to another, which usually goes pretty smoothly for my children and me. Well, smoothly is perhaps a very loose interpretation of the reality of things because we usually stumble through Saturday and Sunday before we've made the total switch by Monday. Or Tuesday. It's mental gymnastics that demands an awful lot of concentration and sometimes some blood, sweat and tears.

Here's a few things I've learned that help us make the switch effectively, although not necessarily flawlessly.
1. I choose Saturday to switch because we're all home (no school, no work) and we're in a more relaxed state of mind. Usually.
2. I also conciously choose the weekend to switch because I know that Saturday is followed by Sunday and we are normally together as a family on Sunday as well.
3. Being together as a family is important in making a cohesive change.
4. The mental gymnastics involved to switch from one language to another takes closer to two days than just one. Hmm... Perhaps closer to three.
5. Since we're usually together as a family, it's slightly less embarassing when one of us starts speaking in one language, only to be corrected by another member of the family: "It's English today!" I mean honestly, to an outsider that just must seem too weird.
6. It's not that I'm embarassed of being a multilingual family, it's just that I'm embarassed of how strange it must seem to be in France, speak to my husband in English (because my husband and I only ever speak in English), turn around and speak to my children in Spanish, only to realize I'm supposed to be speaking in English or vice versa. I trip and stumble over my words and when the cashier has finished ringing up our groceries (because Saturdays we make grocery shopping trips as a family), I turn around and speak French with an almost undetectable accent (I'm not bragging about my French, I promise, it's just what I've been told!).
7. At this point, the cashier is trying to be discreet but I can practically see the eyeballs trying to force their way out of their orbits. Some people will actually ask (which is quite a relief because then we can explain), but most don't (much to my dismay because they are probably just thinking what a weird family, why don't they make up their mind what language they speak?!). They can't possibly know that we have a well thought-out, intelligent, organized, disciplined, brilliant plan. And that our children are trilingual!
8. In order to make the switch we rely enourmously on the strength of the group in those first two days. If all goes well during the weekend language switch, the rest of the two-week period, flows like a stream on a breezy summer day.
9. When we make mistakes, our shared purpose creates a special complicity between us and we laugh and tease each other, but we keep trying until we get it all right in the right language.
10. If there are many other people involved, our interaction with each other is limited and it's therefore that much more difficult to make the change.

Being a multi-lingual family is definitely something that not only makes us unique, but creates stronger bonds between each member of the family. We share something that is unique and that we have to work hard at together and this creates a special complicity. Being able to communicate with each other in different languages, is also an adventure in the culture of each language which is intricately tied into every word and phrase. This in turn, adds new dimensions to each person's personality and magnifies the dynamics of our family personality and culture. Our family language project has been in full force for nearly eleven years now and there is no turning back now. It's so engrained into who we are as individuals and as a family that it feels as necessary as the blood that runs through our veins or the oxygen that gives life to our bodies. To deny us of our multi-lingualism would be to deprive us of our family destiny. The proof is in the pudding: just ask my kids if they'd like to speak just French and you will hear their indignant and adamant little voices proclaim that they want to speak French and English and Spanish! They are proud to be trilingual and you can see it shine in their eyes!

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