Talk Serbian to Your Children!

Raising children in another language

There are more mixed couples and marriages every day in the modern world. As a mother, I teach my child only Serbian, because we only speak Serbian in the family. My son has been learning bits of English from his young age. He will learn it in his daycare, and he will eventually learn it, without pressure, because he wishes to communicate with our foreign friends.

As a teacher, I’ve worked with many people who learned Serbian as adults, even though it’s a language of their parents and relatives. I’ve also worked with their children, born in other countries. I dedicate this article to them and to all the Serbian children raised in diaspora.

A Question from a Serbian-born mother raising her son in Texas

The other day I got a question from a mother in Texas. “Serbian is my first language”, she wrote, “English second, that I started learning around 5. At home, we only spoke Serbian at all times. Ever since my dad passed away, my Serbian is getting pretty bad. I forget a lot of things when I talk to my Baba. Now I have a 3 year old son, whom I would like to teach Serbian, and find it impossible. Will I confuse him if I start speaking Serbian and English to him? My Baba says to wait until he speaks English perfectly, but I’m worried if I let too much time pass, I’ll teach him Serbian wrong or he won’t grasp it. What do you recommend I do?”

My Answer

Here’s what I answered to this caring mother:
“Don’t let the time pass, but don’t expect your child to become fluent in Serbian from only talking to you. English will be his native tongue. However, if you regularly expose him to the Serbian language from this early age, it will be far easier for him to speak Serbian and become fluent later in his life.

Me and my team at Serbonika, we work with children of no previous knowledge of Serbian both from families with Serbian background, and from families with no Serbian connections. Even though neither of them have learned the language before, we found that the kids with Serbian background learn much easier. They have been around the language, have been listening to it, and now their pronunciation comes easy and sounds natural.

I have a 5 years old son. I thought him none of the languages I know. It would be unnatural for me to speak in a foreign language to my child every day. But I have exposed him to various languages from the earliest age: I read stories and sang kids songs in English, Italian or Greek to him. We learn how to count in different languages, we read Russian books, and I teach him how to say different words in English. I also regularly speak to other people in foreign languages in his presence. And I believe he’s going to be much better from me in learning foreign languages, because he’s learned to imitate the foreign sounds very well at this early age.

Don’t be afraid to speak Serbian to your son, just make sure to tell him: this is how we say it in Serbian. By now, his English is already dominant and it will always be his 1st language.”

Jednog sunčanog dana prošlog septembra bila sam sa svojim sinom na igralištu. Tamo je bio i jedan tata kog sam načula kako govori francuski sa svojom devojčicom, starom oko godinu i po. Uvek primetim takve stvari zato što baš volim da čujem strane jezike u mom gradu.

Vrebala sam priliku da upotrebim svoj zarđali francuski, kad mi se – na moje iznenađenje – tata obratio na očigledno maternjem srpskom jeziku.

Planiram da je naučim da priča srpski

Dala sam mu informaciju koju je tražio i nisam se mogla suzdržati a da ne pitam: zašto, zaboga, ne govorite na srpskom jeziku sa svojim detetom?

„Hoću“, rekao mi je, „naučiću je srpski, planiram da je naučim.“

Još je objasnio da je devojčicina mama Francuskinja i da je jako ponosan na nju što je brzo naučila da piše srpski – iako još uvek nije naučila da govori jezik. A francuski je tako težak za pisanje!

Nama je lakše da učimo strane jezike

Usuđujem se da kažem da je mnogo lakše jednom prosečnom Srbinu da nauči francuski nego što je jednom prosečnom Francuzu da nauči srpski jezik. Mogu to da garantujem.

Iako je srpski tako lak za pisanje a francuski tako težak.

Zato što srpsko dete uči sve završetke za padeže i istražuje nijanse glagolskog vida, kao i raznolikost akcenata i narečja, već sa dve godine.

Pažljivo posmatram svog sina, kome su sada dve godine i četiri meseca, kako eksperimentiše sa svim tim elementima srpskog jezika i razvija svoj gramatički mozak.

Volim da ga zovem „moje malo lingvističko čudo“.

Oni nikada nisu naučili srpski jezik od svojih roditelja

Tada sam se setila mnogih ljudi sa srpskim imenom i prezimenom koji su zatražili moje časove, nesposobni da slože i najprostiju rečenicu na srpskom jeziku.

Setila sam se i mojih učenika koji su želeli da nauče jezik svojih roditelja, a morali su da počnu od nule jer ih roditelji nisu naučili tom jeziku. Kao što je Lejla, čija se majka plašila da bi joj srpski smetao da nauči arapski.

I setila sam se drugih učenika koji su imali mogućnost da govore srpski jezik makar sa dedom i babom: oni su mnogo brže učili i njihov izgovor je bio mnogo bolji.

Zato sam rekla: pričajte srpski sa svojim detetom!

Rekla sam tom tati: pričajte srpski sa svojim detetom! Neka bude bilingvalna, biće vam zahvalna jednog dana.

Evo šta treba da radite: svaki roditelj jednostavno govori na svom jeziku sa svojim detetom, dosledno. Vi pričate srpski, vaša žena francuski. Tako ćete stvoriti moćan bilingvalni um u vašem detetu. Možda će joj trebati malo više da progovori, ali kada počne da priča, govoriće oba jezika.

Na kraju sam rekla čime se bavim i ispričala mu svoje iskustvo. On me je zbunjeno pogledao pravo u oči i zahvalio mi se.

Tada sam odlučila da ispričam ovu priču i da snimim ovaj video. Govorim srpski jezik, ali tu su titlovi na engleskom tako da možete podeliti sa svojim prijateljima i partnerima.

Moja poruka je kratka i jasna:

Pričajte srpski jezik sa svojom decom!