Kham established his life and had kids who grew up in Iowa. Since they grew up in Iowa, they were taught Taidam and English in the house, and English in school. Their phonology is different from their father’s since they grew up in America (Baccam). Their Taidam speaking skills aren’t as developed as their fathers, but they can still understand a good majority of the Taidam language. Even though they can speak in sentences and are capable of holding conversations with relatives, they aren’t able to say every word or phrase (Baccam). Kham’s oldest daughter, JoJo, states, “Being the oldest, I know how to speak and I understand more than my younger siblings, but since I didn’t grow up in the Taidam Village or strictly speak Taidam in the household,
…show more content…
I’ve talk to each of them separately about two topics that interested me. I talked to each of them about language endangerment and codeswitching/ bilingualism/multilingualism. “Language endangerment has three symptoms, which are fewer speakers, fewer areas of use, and structural simplification” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). Codeswitching and bilingualism/multilingualism are two different things but go in the same category. “Bilingualism/multilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language in normal parts of life.” “For example, in school or at home” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). “Codeswitching is using more than one language in conversations. Switching between different languages can occur in the middle of a bilingual sentence” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). Kham, as we know, grew up in a different country, but lives most of his life in the United States. I sat down and talked with him about what he thought about the first topic I am interested in which is language …show more content…
First I asked Kham a few questions, would you consider yourself bilingual? Kham said, “I consider myself 100% bilingual. I grew up learning Taidam and moved to America and learned English. I can still speak both languages fluently. My kids correct my grammar sometimes in English when I say something wrong or slightly off, but I don’t mind because it’s not my first language. I’m proud to know another language. My younger siblings, on the other hand, struggle with knowing all the words and phrases in Taidam because they were 10 years old or younger when we moved, so they were still quiet, shy kids” (Baccam). Do you think your kids are bilingual? “That’s tricky. I do think they are semi bilingual because they understand everything I say in Taidam, but sometimes they don’t know how to pronounce some words or they don’t pronounce them right, but they can hold conversations with their grandparents in Taidam and get by. Nowadays it’s just intermingling of languages” (Baccam). That is called code switching, would you say you and your family switch between languages on a daily basis? “I would say yes, I say somethings in Taidam and English to my wife and kids and it just flows. It’s natural to me now. I would think it’s natural to my kids because that’s how I’ve always spoken to them”
I’ve talk to each of them separately about two topics that interested me. I talked to each of them about language endangerment and codeswitching/ bilingualism/multilingualism. “Language endangerment has three symptoms, which are fewer speakers, fewer areas of use, and structural simplification” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). Codeswitching and bilingualism/multilingualism are two different things but go in the same category. “Bilingualism/multilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language in normal parts of life.” “For example, in school or at home” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). “Codeswitching is using more than one language in conversations. Switching between different languages can occur in the middle of a bilingual sentence” (Chou. Lecture Outline Notes, 26 March 2016). Kham, as we know, grew up in a different country, but lives most of his life in the United States. I sat down and talked with him about what he thought about the first topic I am interested in which is language …show more content…
First I asked Kham a few questions, would you consider yourself bilingual? Kham said, “I consider myself 100% bilingual. I grew up learning Taidam and moved to America and learned English. I can still speak both languages fluently. My kids correct my grammar sometimes in English when I say something wrong or slightly off, but I don’t mind because it’s not my first language. I’m proud to know another language. My younger siblings, on the other hand, struggle with knowing all the words and phrases in Taidam because they were 10 years old or younger when we moved, so they were still quiet, shy kids” (Baccam). Do you think your kids are bilingual? “That’s tricky. I do think they are semi bilingual because they understand everything I say in Taidam, but sometimes they don’t know how to pronounce some words or they don’t pronounce them right, but they can hold conversations with their grandparents in Taidam and get by. Nowadays it’s just intermingling of languages” (Baccam). That is called code switching, would you say you and your family switch between languages on a daily basis? “I would say yes, I say somethings in Taidam and English to my wife and kids and it just flows. It’s natural to me now. I would think it’s natural to my kids because that’s how I’ve always spoken to them”