Friday 15 March 2013

My 29 Month Old Daughter Just Corrected My French!!!

Well, it was always going to happen. But so soon...... well, I wasn't quite expecting it just yet.

Poppette was just racing around the living room and fell over with an almightly clatter. She came running over to me clutching her elbow and we had the following exchange:

Poppette : Mal (hurt)

Me: Tu t'es fait mal à la coude?* (Did you hurt your elbow).

Poppette: Oui, mal au coude. (Yes hurt elbow).

It just shows how grammar is hardwired into a native speakers brain.

Obviously, I'm telling myself that I must have got the grammar right a million times before in order for Poppette to learn it in the first place Smileys.

Poppette the grammar teacher.

* For any of you that aren't French speakers, the word for elbow i.e. le coude is a masculine word ... I mistakenly made it feminine!

8 comments:

  1. That is fantastic!! I literally laughed out loud!! What a little superstar you are Popette!! :0) and I quite agree that it was obviously a slip of the tongue on your part and correctly modelled a million times previously!! ;0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't it wonderful when this happens?! Wonderful and... humbling!!! My daughter is now 8 and is well aware that her French pronunciation is perfect whereas mine is somewhat shaky. She takes full advantage of this during dictation homework if she misspells a word - 'But mummy, you didn't say it right!'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ha ha... brilliant! That's good thinking on Schmoo's part :-)

      Delete
  3. Humbling, isn't it? My daughter, at 30 months, is correcting my pronunciation and grammar, too. It's a mixture of pride (over her) and embarrassment (for myself) that keeps me working diligently on my French!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Carol thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment...I've just popped over to your blog actually and love it so will be tagging along from now on :-)

      Delete
    2. Thank you! Great to "meet" you, in the blogosphere!

      Delete
  4. That happens to us all, I guess, and I am always thrilled. My French is good, but the kids' is better - success in our quest for bilingualism! :)

    ReplyDelete