Monday 20 June 2011

George Saunders just landed on my doorstep.....

George Saunders is arguably the most well known non-native bilingual parent of them all. His book "Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens" is held in the highest of esteem and has become somewhat of a bible for many people who are considering or who have already begun bilingual parenting.

Born in Australia, both George Saunders ("GS") and his wife speak English as their first language. GS also speaks German (and French) and, due to his great interest in language, linguistics and bilingualism, decided to raise his three Australian born children to be bilingual (English/ German). His book chronicles the process and contains a wealth of information and advice.

I have hunted high and low for this book. It is out of print and sells for a king's ransom. I thought all my Christmases had come at once when the local librarian found a copy on the library catalogue... only to see his crest fallen face moments later when he realised it had been nicked six years ago.

Oh well... King's ransom or not... I just have to read this book.

It arrived this morning. I can see me not getting much sleep this week as I try to cram all 258 pages in during Poppette's downtime.

10 comments:

  1. Chouette! You'll have to let us know what you think (and if any of the prevailing wisdom has changed since he wrote it).

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    1. Hi Sarah... Sorry, I have only just seen this comment (a whole year and a half after you wrote it!!!)....As for George Saunders... I will hold my hands up and say that I have yet to finish it! I got side tracked by other books :D Once I'm finished I'll let you know what I think.

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    2. I have read it and it was definitely my bible in the early years, very well worth it! Granted, I'm only 3 years 'late' on this comment thread, but couldn't help but chime in!

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  2. Hi, I have received my George Saunders book, in French. I don't know how, but there's only 167 pages in the French version !!! 300 pages in the English version. I don't understand, unless we use less words in French.

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    1. Hmmm interesting. Well, I do know that he wrote two different books 1) Bilingual Children : Guidance for the family (which Amazon notes as having 278 pages and 2)Bilingual Children : from birth to teens (which is the book I have - Amazon says this one has 300 pages - I will need to check as I can't remember).. If you email me the chapter title list I can double check it against my book and see if there are any obvious differences :D

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  3. Oh, I have bought the wrong one (I have the first one) ! Now I understand why I have been disappointed. I haven't read that book yet and to be honest, the first pages weren't as interesting as I thought it would be. It's conversations he had with his children and no advice. That's my first impression ! I have to take time to open it.

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    1. If you want to read my copy of the other book give me a shout and i'll lend it to you. To be honest i'm still only half way through... it's not a light, fluffy read :-) and i never get time to pick a book up these days! I'll finish it one day i'm sure...but in the meantime, you may as well be reading it :-)

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  4. If you can read German, I would really recommend "Mut zur Mehrsprachigkeit" by Ines Maria Jimenez. I stumbled across her website and then ordered her book, and it is very rich in both theory and advice, and details her own experiences of intentional bilingualism. She is a native German speaker but with a Spanish family background and raised her daughters bilingually using the OPOL method, she speaking Spanish to them and her husband speaking German.

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    1. Ahhhh... German... in the days of old I owuld have rushed straight out to the bookshop... I studied German at A level and used to read books... its now ...OMG ...am i really admitting to how long it is since i was at school!!... a good twenty years since i spoke or read a word of German so i know i dont stand a chance. Thats such a shame as the book you suggested sounds like a really worthwhile read... Thanks for getting in touch its really nice when people share their knowledge and support :-)

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    2. Thank you for the recommendation, I'd love to check out her site and her book. I'm not as deep into the study of bilingualism as I used to be, but am about to make a major change with my daughter, so now I'm quite curious, I must say.

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