У нас в клубе часто обсуждается тема, как вырастить двуязычного ребёнка: мамы с удовольствием делятся опытом и вдохновляются, глядя на успехи друг друга. Но как ощущает себя сам ребёнок, из которого пытаются сделать билингва? У меня появилась уникальная возможность спросить об этом у выросшего ребёнка-билингва. Представляю вашему вниманию нашу беседу с Лилит, которая не только прекрасно готовит (загляните в её блог «Территория вкуса»), но и хорошо говорит на четырёх языках – причём, два из них она освоила в раннем детстве.

Несмотря на то, что мою сегодняшнюю гостью Иру Чирашня вряд ли нужно представлять, я всё-таки это сделаю – на тот случай, если вы не знакомы с её блогом http://6cherries.com о весёлых буднях и праздниках многодетной российско-израильской семьи в Америке. У Иры две пары двойняшек с небольшой разницей в возрасте, и все четверо говорят на трёх языках. На все вопросы «как» вы найдёте ответы в интервью.

Некоторое время назад я начала читать блог русской иммигрантки из бывшего СССР, вот уже двадцать лет живущей в Америке (rada55.wordpress.com). Вот как Ариана характеризует себя: “I am an American Citizen with a heavy Russian Accent. My two boys always make fun of my English, but it’s all good. … I ‘d love to share with you my American World with the hint of my Russian Personality.” Ариана согласилась поделиться с нами своим языковым опытом.

Как сохранить в семье родной язык, живя в иностранном государстве? Как организовать языковую практику на русском и английском? Как вырастить двуязычных детей? Об этом нам расскажет Марина Мерфи - русская мама а Америке (mybusychildren.com).

In my childhood my father worked first as a translator and then as an interpreter. So I was able to see both positive and negative sides of the two jobs. I can still visualize him sitting well into the night with sheets of technical texts and dictionaries all over the table. There was no Internet at that time and he had to have my mother by his side as a counsellor on the technical part (she was a computer programmer). I didn’t envy him at all at such moments.

As an interpreter Dad visited more than 30 countries. I could have envied him then if I hadn’t noticed that he was not his own master. He had to accompany foreigners whenever and wherever it was necessary: to the circus, theatres, cinemas, restaurants and so on. His working day wasn’t over with the sunset. He could hardly afford to make any arrangements with friends and I don’t remember a single time when he was able to accompany Mum, sister and me on holiday.

So even entering the faculty of foreign languages I had a very clear idea that I didn’t want to be an interpreter like most of my fellow students. I was sure that although the profession may suit men and unmarried women, it can’t be the choice of a family woman… until I met Elena Tolmuch (ladywdele.org) who seems to be quite happy in her job. I couldn’t miss such an opportunity and asked Elena to answer my eager questions.

Monica Welch runs a wonderful blog "Word Nymph" where among other subjects she raises language issues. Being a keen observer, Monica never leaves any ambiguous or difficult word matters that come her way without investigating into them. The results of her thorough analyses are enjoyed and discussed by her blog readers. Being one of them, I found myself interested in what stands behind the blog and asked Monica for an interview.

Stopping by someone’s blog, I always read the “About” page first. Here is what I read about Cameron:

"Cameron Brooks has a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education and is a third-grade teacher. When he is not practicing tai chi or chi gong with his students, you may find him planting succulents in unlikely planters such as old skateboard decks, helmets, or broken seashells. In addition to writing essays and reviews for Literacyhead, Cameron is also a surfer, a skateboarder, a vegan chef, and a photographer."

I was pleased to find a lot in common. I did not only meet a colleague but also noticed some of the things Cameron is interested in attract me as well.  But there is a huge difference between us: we belong to different cultures. I decided to ask Cameron a number of questions and he kindly agreed to answer them. 

I found Eden Glenn’s blog through the keyword “story”. Having learned the first thing about writing a story, I decided to stay a bit longer. Soon I knew that Eden is an aspiring author who is learning the craft of writing and sharing both her knowledge and experience. A short time later I discovered that Eden is a very hospitable, warm-hearted and outgoing person. To my great joy, Eden agreed to an interview. 

Browsing the web, I came across a blog called Lingvaroom. Not being a language-learner myself, I was just about to leave when my eye was caught by the website mission statement: “Learning English, Spanish and Italian on our own”. I got interested. Nearly twenty years of teaching experience told me it is impossible to learn languages on one’s own. My common sense told me it is impossible to learn languages with the help of a website. So I decided to ask Yulia Gorbunova, the blog author, for an interview and she consented to answer my questions.