Saylor, Party of Six: June 2013

Friday, June 14, 2013

How's His English??

Without fail, the first question people ask about Mycah is a general "How's he doing?" The second is ALWAYS "How's his English?" In four more days, we will mark 3 months since Gotcha. And considering the fact that he is not yet in school, I think his language development is remarkable. If I had to estimate his understanding, I would say he understands at least 80 percent of what I say to him. (In English...I don't think anyone would understand my southern accented Chinese!) Although his spoken vocabulary isn't as much as his understood vocabulary, it is still pretty vast. He has no problem making his wants and needs known! And he can now successfully "tattle" on his brothers and sister...and he never thinks twice about it either!

So if you come and visit us any time soon, you will probably hear a lot of these words and phrases...mixed in with a few random Chinese words every now and then!

"Mommy!" (ALL. THE. TIME.)
"Mycah, swim big pool!"
"Jump!"
"Right back!"
"meiyou (may yo) Nathyn!!" (No, Nathyn!)
"Puzzle"
"Picture"
"Baba...doctor" (Daddy is with the doctors. I don't think he gets that Daddy WORKS with the doctors and is not GOING to the doctor every day though?)
"Brush your teeth!"
"No splash!"
"All done"
"Soccer...kick"
"Friend"
"Scooter. Helmet."
"Nathyn, Table!!" (When Nathyn tries to sneak a snack into the family room.)
"Again!"
"Mycah hungry."
"Mycah doctor all done!" (He doesn't want to go back to the doctor)
"Almost Mycah happy birthday!" (Umm...lots more sleeps buddy...not till August 9!)
Holds up fingers and says, "One...night night. Two... jo san (good morning). Three...big pool!" Or whatever event is coming up the next day.

And my favorite today as we got into the van..."Ho wee cow it hot!" (Apparently I say that a lot these days?)

And this is by no means an exhaustive list of his vocabulary. I would be lying if I said the language thing is no big deal. There are times it has been quite challenging. Like explaining why mommy does nothing while the mean lady with the needle draws 7 vials of blood! But the charades are finally dwindling, and the google translate hasn't been used much since we tried to explain the whole moving-across-the-country thing at the end of April. The few Chinese words I know are finally being replaced by their English counterparts. Which is probably a good thing since I am not even sure I am saying things right most of the time! Tonal languages are very unforgiving, ya know!

But the one phrase I refuse to give up...Wo ai ni...I love you. And, oh, do I ever!