Why is it that when learning a new language, the only words that are easily remembered are the swear words? Which means of course that you are left with a load of ways to be rude to people, admittedly helpful whilst driving in Bosnia but not ideal when you are trying to exchange pleasantries and ingratiate yourself into the nursery gate club.
The thing that I have noticed is that not only do I know the swear words, but I frequently get them muddled up with other, every day words. So I’ll be chattering away, massacring their language in a very British way with everyone smiling indulgently at my efforts and then, suddenly, their eyebrows fly through the roof and I realise that once again my Bosnian Tourettes syndrome has struck.
In particular there are 3 pairs of words that I cannot get straight in my head. First up are the words for eat (jede) and fuck (jebi). I’ll be chattering away and in my head, as I’m approaching the point at which I want to say ‘eat’ my mind will go blank and all I can do is think jede/jebi? Jede/jebi? Panicked I usually plump for the wrong one.
Then there is the write/piss combination (pisati/pišati (pronounced pishati)). This one is further confused by the fact that when conjugating the verb (ooo, get me, a real life linguist using words like conjugating and verbs as if I know what that means) they merge into each other. Pisati becomes pišem (pishem – I write) which just is remarkably similar to pišam (prounounced pisham meaning I piss).
My last set of words that I cannot get straight in my head is probably the worst. I want to say that we walk. This is something that we do a lot of, I mean we have a dog and there isn’t much else that I can do with 2 small boys that is guaranteed to tire them out. So we walk every day. Without fail. Come rain or shine. And every day I normally have to say to someone that we are going to go for a walk. The verb for walk is šetati (shetati). What I always find myself saying is ševiti (shjeviti). I still don’t know what it means, but when I say it people gasp, cover their mouths, widen their eyes and I know I’ve strayed into the really offensive territory, yet again.
We all know that it is easy to accidentally offend, especially in these days of remote communication. Messages sent by email, twitter etc. don't have the body language to allow the recipient to see that it was not intended the way in which it came across. It just so happens that I don't need to be remote to cause accidental offence and I need the body language so that people can see my foul mouth is just a combination of a mind going blank (again) and a complete inability to rise above being given the leaway to be able to swear in polite society and get away with it.
Showing posts with label bosnian language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bosnian language. Show all posts
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
What country are we in again?
Caught out once again by the semantics of this country. I was out and about near the east of the Bosnia, very close to the border with Serbia. This part of the country is a part of the Republika Srpska, the Serb half of Bosnia, usually known as the RS. It is very beautiful; forested hills, green valleys and the stately Drina River. This time of year there are cornfields and fishermen. The temperature is cooling to very pleasurable levels, it is really pretty Garden of Eden perfect like.
I'd been having a coffee with some very nice people, who had been more than welcoming and had offered me vast quantities of food and drink leading to us all having a very convivial time. They asked me where my children were, and I had said, in Bosnian, that the boys were at nursery. They asked me how the boys were coping with the language and I had replied that I thought they understood everything and that now they were actually starting to speak Bosnian.
There was a silence and then one of the men looked straight at me and in that sort of voice that says do not even think of contradicting me said that they weren't learning to speak Bosnian, they were learning to speak Serbian.
I forget sometimes about the realities of this country. If I had been to the south or the west of Bosnia, the men would have looked at me and told me that my children were learning to speak Croatian. The fact that these 'different' languages are as different as American and Australian are to English is neither here nor there. Nor was the fact that I struggle to speak any of them well, so to have to worry about who I am talking to and to remember to say Bosnian, Serbian or Croatian is way beyond me. It was important to them that I knew and that I understood that the language we were speaking was not Bosnian.
It is not restricted to the language. If you are in the RS when Bosnia are playing football you would never know it. Noone is watching. Their football team, the team they want to go to the World Cup, is Serbia and they are passionate about that. In the Croat areas of the country, they support Croatia (must remember not to say 5-1 at inappropriate times, the Croats are devastated, their media is imploding with grief in a way that I thought only the English could really do).
It is only the Bosniaks (also known as the Bosnian Muslims) who really identify with Bosnia. They speak Bosnian, they support Bosnia, they understand themselves to be Bosnian. They will do whatever it takes to keep the country together and at the more extreme end of the scale this involves trampling all over the sensitivities of the Serbs and Croats in the country.
The Americans say that they speak English. Chucking the Brits out of their country didn't lead them to insist that their language is American. It really doesn't matter what they call their language, noone is going to get upset about it. But, when the conflict here is so recent it becomes obvious that this tiny thing, a foreigner mistaking the name of the language they are trying to speak, is unbelievably important.
Suddenly I feel that 14 years after the conflict ended, Bosnia still has a long way to go before it can really function as a normal country.
I'd been having a coffee with some very nice people, who had been more than welcoming and had offered me vast quantities of food and drink leading to us all having a very convivial time. They asked me where my children were, and I had said, in Bosnian, that the boys were at nursery. They asked me how the boys were coping with the language and I had replied that I thought they understood everything and that now they were actually starting to speak Bosnian.
There was a silence and then one of the men looked straight at me and in that sort of voice that says do not even think of contradicting me said that they weren't learning to speak Bosnian, they were learning to speak Serbian.
I forget sometimes about the realities of this country. If I had been to the south or the west of Bosnia, the men would have looked at me and told me that my children were learning to speak Croatian. The fact that these 'different' languages are as different as American and Australian are to English is neither here nor there. Nor was the fact that I struggle to speak any of them well, so to have to worry about who I am talking to and to remember to say Bosnian, Serbian or Croatian is way beyond me. It was important to them that I knew and that I understood that the language we were speaking was not Bosnian.
It is not restricted to the language. If you are in the RS when Bosnia are playing football you would never know it. Noone is watching. Their football team, the team they want to go to the World Cup, is Serbia and they are passionate about that. In the Croat areas of the country, they support Croatia (must remember not to say 5-1 at inappropriate times, the Croats are devastated, their media is imploding with grief in a way that I thought only the English could really do).
It is only the Bosniaks (also known as the Bosnian Muslims) who really identify with Bosnia. They speak Bosnian, they support Bosnia, they understand themselves to be Bosnian. They will do whatever it takes to keep the country together and at the more extreme end of the scale this involves trampling all over the sensitivities of the Serbs and Croats in the country.
The Americans say that they speak English. Chucking the Brits out of their country didn't lead them to insist that their language is American. It really doesn't matter what they call their language, noone is going to get upset about it. But, when the conflict here is so recent it becomes obvious that this tiny thing, a foreigner mistaking the name of the language they are trying to speak, is unbelievably important.
Suddenly I feel that 14 years after the conflict ended, Bosnia still has a long way to go before it can really function as a normal country.
Friday, 14 August 2009
Moonshine machines
September is fast approaching, and around here that means the plums are ready to fall off the trees and the time to make the local rakija is upon us. Slivovica (or plum brandy to the uninitiated) is part of the staple diet of Bosnians, coming out at any gathering or event. You can buy it in shops, but that is shunned in favour of the homemade stuff. The making of it is an event in itself, lots of people get together to eat and drink and look forward to drinking the rest of the gallons of it throughout the year. We, the unBosnian Brits, might get through a litre in the year (and secretly use most of the stuff we've been given to get the ticks off the dog). The Bosnian party could get through that in a night.
We were chatting with some friends the other night, arranging our annual sliva fix. The men were animated, discussing the best way to ensure the purest brew. Dave offered to bring along his homebrew ale, but they waved it away - a kit? you just add water? It is like orange squash! - it appears they are only interested if he was to be picking the hops himself. Dave retreated to lick his wounded manly pride, muttering darkly about the difficulties of the art of homebrew.
Anyhow, during the course of the conversation we discovered what the Bosnian word for the still, the moonshine maker, the contraption that permits them to make the brandy is. Literally translated it means Happy Machine.
Genius.
We were chatting with some friends the other night, arranging our annual sliva fix. The men were animated, discussing the best way to ensure the purest brew. Dave offered to bring along his homebrew ale, but they waved it away - a kit? you just add water? It is like orange squash! - it appears they are only interested if he was to be picking the hops himself. Dave retreated to lick his wounded manly pride, muttering darkly about the difficulties of the art of homebrew.
Anyhow, during the course of the conversation we discovered what the Bosnian word for the still, the moonshine maker, the contraption that permits them to make the brandy is. Literally translated it means Happy Machine.
Genius.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Learning languages
One of the things a break back in the UK allowed me to do was to see how much learning a second language has affected the boys ability to speak English. We spent a lot of time with friends who have similar age children and it was interesting for me to compare their linguistic developments.
Luke appears to have been the most affected. Aged 18 months when we arrived he is now 2 1/2. I've never really heard him say much in Bosnian, but understand from his teachers at nursery that it is at a basic level: Yes, no, won't, don't, mine. In other words all the most useful words for a toddler. His English isn't bad at all, but there is a definite difference between him and his peers. Having said that, after 5 weeks in the UK where he only heard English led to the most remarkable advances in his language skills. Who knows whether this jump was due to occur anyway, or whether being back in England encouraged it.
Adam's English is doing just fine. Now 4, he is eloquent and able to communicate really well. His Bosnian is coming along too, although he won't speak with adults just the other kids. He is a long way from being fluent but we think he understands most of what is going on. The only issue that does seem to have arisen with learning another language is that he appears to have developed a stammer when speaking in English. I need to think about the best tactic to take to encourage him not to stutter as I think he is using it for thinking time rather than because he can't not stammer but I do need to do some research on this one (any advice gratefully received!).
We take care to only speak to the kids in English. Partly this is to help clarify for them which language is which. Mainly though it is because our Bosnian is rubbish and we would only teach them how to speak poorly and with a terrible accent. We do lots of reading and have English language DVDs (love CBeebies), but they also have some Bosnian DVDs as well.
The boys are doing so well and I'm incredibly proud of them. They are in a nursery where noone speaks English so they are having to learn Bosnian themselves. I'm pretty confident that if they do fall behind in their linguistic capabilities in English they will rapidly catch up on our return. So, I'm not going to worry about it. If they learn to speak another language whilst they are here then that is amazing, but I'm not going to push them to. After all, if they learn to speak another language whilst they are here then they will be able to communicate with each other without us fully understanding what they are saying. Maybe this isn't such a good plan.
Luke appears to have been the most affected. Aged 18 months when we arrived he is now 2 1/2. I've never really heard him say much in Bosnian, but understand from his teachers at nursery that it is at a basic level: Yes, no, won't, don't, mine. In other words all the most useful words for a toddler. His English isn't bad at all, but there is a definite difference between him and his peers. Having said that, after 5 weeks in the UK where he only heard English led to the most remarkable advances in his language skills. Who knows whether this jump was due to occur anyway, or whether being back in England encouraged it.
Adam's English is doing just fine. Now 4, he is eloquent and able to communicate really well. His Bosnian is coming along too, although he won't speak with adults just the other kids. He is a long way from being fluent but we think he understands most of what is going on. The only issue that does seem to have arisen with learning another language is that he appears to have developed a stammer when speaking in English. I need to think about the best tactic to take to encourage him not to stutter as I think he is using it for thinking time rather than because he can't not stammer but I do need to do some research on this one (any advice gratefully received!).
We take care to only speak to the kids in English. Partly this is to help clarify for them which language is which. Mainly though it is because our Bosnian is rubbish and we would only teach them how to speak poorly and with a terrible accent. We do lots of reading and have English language DVDs (love CBeebies), but they also have some Bosnian DVDs as well.
The boys are doing so well and I'm incredibly proud of them. They are in a nursery where noone speaks English so they are having to learn Bosnian themselves. I'm pretty confident that if they do fall behind in their linguistic capabilities in English they will rapidly catch up on our return. So, I'm not going to worry about it. If they learn to speak another language whilst they are here then that is amazing, but I'm not going to push them to. After all, if they learn to speak another language whilst they are here then they will be able to communicate with each other without us fully understanding what they are saying. Maybe this isn't such a good plan.
Friday, 20 March 2009
talking bosnian
Thursday nights are our Bosnian language lessons night. It has to be said that we do not rock at Bosnian. In fact we rock about as much as a toy sailing boat becalmed in a mill pond. We are not very good students and are terrible at actually sitting down and doing the amount of learning that is required. We forget from week to week what we did last week. We don't have a very good idea of how English is put together, which makes learning grammar even harder. But ultimately we aren't putting in the desk hours needed to improve.
Abject laziness is not the only reason we are not progressing as fast as we ought to. The sheer complexities of Bosnian fry our brains, particularly if the day has been long or taxing. I won't go into the difficulties of the language except to give one example. An adjective has to agree with the noun. Seems sane enough. Memories of distant French lessons come back to me - masculine, feminine words. Yes. Not too difficult. Then comes Bosnian. There are the three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter. So far so good. But then comes the kicker. The words change when they are put into different cases. Memories of distant Latin lessons, but just about hanging in there. Then I realised that there are 7 different cases. SEVEN! I haven't even mentioned yet that there are a singular and plural versions. Put the lot together and there are FORTY TWO different possible endings to the word. And that is the ones that I know of. Instant brain mush. Bosnian has a trick of just when you are getting the hang of it it brings in a new rule - like if there are more than 5 of the item it all changes again. Or if you are talking on a Tuesday every second word must end with a u. I might have made that last bit up but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a rule like that.
Anyhow, the combination of the complexities of the language and our distinct failure to actually apply ourselves properly to learning it mean that we are not making much progress. Dave confessed that he doesn't use Bosnian at all beyond ordering a coffee in his day to day life. I do use it a lot more but have amassed a very particular vocabulary. I bet not many other newbies to the language have cry, paint, potty, poo, baking powder and tick in their vocab.
The boys are going to run rings round us and will soon have an ability to converse with each other without us understanding what they are saying. This is an alarming development indeed and may provide me with the kick up the backside to do the learning.
Abject laziness is not the only reason we are not progressing as fast as we ought to. The sheer complexities of Bosnian fry our brains, particularly if the day has been long or taxing. I won't go into the difficulties of the language except to give one example. An adjective has to agree with the noun. Seems sane enough. Memories of distant French lessons come back to me - masculine, feminine words. Yes. Not too difficult. Then comes Bosnian. There are the three genders - masculine, feminine and neuter. So far so good. But then comes the kicker. The words change when they are put into different cases. Memories of distant Latin lessons, but just about hanging in there. Then I realised that there are 7 different cases. SEVEN! I haven't even mentioned yet that there are a singular and plural versions. Put the lot together and there are FORTY TWO different possible endings to the word. And that is the ones that I know of. Instant brain mush. Bosnian has a trick of just when you are getting the hang of it it brings in a new rule - like if there are more than 5 of the item it all changes again. Or if you are talking on a Tuesday every second word must end with a u. I might have made that last bit up but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a rule like that.
Anyhow, the combination of the complexities of the language and our distinct failure to actually apply ourselves properly to learning it mean that we are not making much progress. Dave confessed that he doesn't use Bosnian at all beyond ordering a coffee in his day to day life. I do use it a lot more but have amassed a very particular vocabulary. I bet not many other newbies to the language have cry, paint, potty, poo, baking powder and tick in their vocab.
The boys are going to run rings round us and will soon have an ability to converse with each other without us understanding what they are saying. This is an alarming development indeed and may provide me with the kick up the backside to do the learning.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
boys will be boys
Adam is newly obsessed with guns. Everything he has that can be pointed at someone is now a gun. Occasionally we branch out and it becomes a sword, but mainly it is a gun. Because Adam is obsessed with guns, Luke is too so I now have 2 small boys running around at full speed trying to shoot everything that they see.
Accompanying the shooting noises are shrieks of delight and screams of "oooby ooooby". For quite a long time I thought this was a part of the made-up language that Adam quite often uses when he is playing (which I do find quite interesting; he doesn't understand everything that is going on around him, so he makes up his own words and sounds instead). It was only yesterday that I actually listened to him and realised that ooooby oooby was in fact ubi! ubi! - Bosnian for Kill! Kill!
On the bright side he is undoubtedly talking to the other kids and learning Bosnian.
Accompanying the shooting noises are shrieks of delight and screams of "oooby ooooby". For quite a long time I thought this was a part of the made-up language that Adam quite often uses when he is playing (which I do find quite interesting; he doesn't understand everything that is going on around him, so he makes up his own words and sounds instead). It was only yesterday that I actually listened to him and realised that ooooby oooby was in fact ubi! ubi! - Bosnian for Kill! Kill!
On the bright side he is undoubtedly talking to the other kids and learning Bosnian.
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
lost in translation
This morning, at nursery, a classic case of things just not translating very well.
I dropped Luke off first with a cuddle, a kiss and as he was steaming off into the classroom, looking around for who to play with, I said to the teacher in English: 'Here comes Trouble!'
She looked horrified, then worried. 'He isn't trouble!'
Already regretting my choice of words the conversation continued in a mixture of Bosnian and English as I tried to reassure her: 'no no no - it's affectionate. It isn't a bad thing to say!'
'He doesn't have trouble at nursery. He loves it here'
'I know, I know! He must love it here, he looks so happy and is having such fun' (Luke at this point has got hold of a car and with one hand is merrily bashing it on the table making a right old racket whilst stuffing his face with his second breakfast of the day with the other).
'he is always having kisses and cuddles with me and the other teacher and look at all his friends, Toni, Amila. He hasn't got any trouble here'
Really regretting my choice of words now, I try to explain that it doesn't mean anything bad. In fact it actually is a good thing because it means he is confident enough to be a bit naughty which is what toddlers should be.
'so why did you say he was trouble?'
'It's a phrase we use in English, it doesn't mean what it says. It is a good thing.' (Luke by now smearing his breakfast over his hair and starting on his neighbours breakfast)
'Are you having trouble outside of nursery? Any problems with people? You must tell us if you are'
I go back to basics. 'Luke loves the nursery here, he is very happy. I think I just used a phrase that doesn't translate well in Bosnian. He is a very happy boy here and I can see that. I'm sorry for any confusion caused.' (Luke now smearing breakfast over the cupboards and looking every inch a very cheeky toddler who is looking to create all sorts of havoc, which is exactly what a toddler his age should be doing and does show that he is comfortable, happy and confident at nursery).
He isn't trouble. He doesn't have any trouble. He is happy here.
And so on. We went round in circles for a while. I don't think we fully cleared it up. I'm now horrified that they now think that I don't like the nursery, which couldn't be further from the truth. I checked with a translator friend of mine - Bosnian doesn't have an equivalent phrase with the same meaning behind it. In other words, it just doesn't translate.
I think in future I should stick to the simple phrases that mean what they say.
I dropped Luke off first with a cuddle, a kiss and as he was steaming off into the classroom, looking around for who to play with, I said to the teacher in English: 'Here comes Trouble!'
She looked horrified, then worried. 'He isn't trouble!'
Already regretting my choice of words the conversation continued in a mixture of Bosnian and English as I tried to reassure her: 'no no no - it's affectionate. It isn't a bad thing to say!'
'He doesn't have trouble at nursery. He loves it here'
'I know, I know! He must love it here, he looks so happy and is having such fun' (Luke at this point has got hold of a car and with one hand is merrily bashing it on the table making a right old racket whilst stuffing his face with his second breakfast of the day with the other).
'he is always having kisses and cuddles with me and the other teacher and look at all his friends, Toni, Amila. He hasn't got any trouble here'
Really regretting my choice of words now, I try to explain that it doesn't mean anything bad. In fact it actually is a good thing because it means he is confident enough to be a bit naughty which is what toddlers should be.
'so why did you say he was trouble?'
'It's a phrase we use in English, it doesn't mean what it says. It is a good thing.' (Luke by now smearing his breakfast over his hair and starting on his neighbours breakfast)
'Are you having trouble outside of nursery? Any problems with people? You must tell us if you are'
I go back to basics. 'Luke loves the nursery here, he is very happy. I think I just used a phrase that doesn't translate well in Bosnian. He is a very happy boy here and I can see that. I'm sorry for any confusion caused.' (Luke now smearing breakfast over the cupboards and looking every inch a very cheeky toddler who is looking to create all sorts of havoc, which is exactly what a toddler his age should be doing and does show that he is comfortable, happy and confident at nursery).
He isn't trouble. He doesn't have any trouble. He is happy here.
And so on. We went round in circles for a while. I don't think we fully cleared it up. I'm now horrified that they now think that I don't like the nursery, which couldn't be further from the truth. I checked with a translator friend of mine - Bosnian doesn't have an equivalent phrase with the same meaning behind it. In other words, it just doesn't translate.
I think in future I should stick to the simple phrases that mean what they say.
Friday, 13 February 2009
starting to talk
Having just written a post about how the boys are adapting to life in a different language (see post here), it is obvious that this week would be one of great change, particularly for Adam. He has now settled into nursery, trots off quite happily when I drop him off and is full of whose hand he held that day when he comes home, Ema and Melissa being the real favourites. But he hadn't really started communicating with anyone in Bosnian. His teachers said that he talks to the other kids in English and they talk to him in Bosnian. The children all seem to be quite happy with this arrangement and appear to understand each other no problem.
But then this week, I suddenly started to hear him saying more Bosnian words. When his friend, Edo, came round to play I heard Adam say Moje (mine), Pazi (careful) and ovdje (here). Then he started to correct our pronunciation (he does have a point there, it is dreadful). Then the teachers said that he was saying some Bosnian words to the other children in his class.
People overestimate the powers of children to pick up new languages. It is difficult for them and it doesn't happen overnight, particularly if the children are shy. Adam has been in nursery every morning now for nearly 5 months and spent the time laying down the foundations for learning a new language, but it is only now that we can see any audible signs that he is learning Bosnian. I'm incredibly proud of him and looking forward to watching his progress over the next few months.
In the meantime I also heard Edo shouting 'come on!' and 'lets go!' so it looks as if Adam's ambition to teach all the children English is also progressing nicely.
But then this week, I suddenly started to hear him saying more Bosnian words. When his friend, Edo, came round to play I heard Adam say Moje (mine), Pazi (careful) and ovdje (here). Then he started to correct our pronunciation (he does have a point there, it is dreadful). Then the teachers said that he was saying some Bosnian words to the other children in his class.
People overestimate the powers of children to pick up new languages. It is difficult for them and it doesn't happen overnight, particularly if the children are shy. Adam has been in nursery every morning now for nearly 5 months and spent the time laying down the foundations for learning a new language, but it is only now that we can see any audible signs that he is learning Bosnian. I'm incredibly proud of him and looking forward to watching his progress over the next few months.
In the meantime I also heard Edo shouting 'come on!' and 'lets go!' so it looks as if Adam's ambition to teach all the children English is also progressing nicely.
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Bosnia(n)
Those who read this blog in the hope of occasionally finding out more about Bosnia than the fact they have great coffee, it's pretty warm for the time of year and Bosnian is a really difficult language to learn might be interested to read this article by The Economist last week.
For the rest of you, I was told yesterday that Bosnian (or Croatian or Serbian or whatever you want to call it) is in fact the 3rd most difficult language in world. No idea if it is true but makes me feel better about speaking it so badly.
For the rest of you, I was told yesterday that Bosnian (or Croatian or Serbian or whatever you want to call it) is in fact the 3rd most difficult language in world. No idea if it is true but makes me feel better about speaking it so badly.
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Lost in Translation
As the mother of someone named 'onion' and the owner of a dog called 'where are you', (see August 22nd post) I feel that occasionally I can allow myself a little snigger at some of the Bosnian terms in English. Idly looking at the names of Adam's classmates on their coat pegs I spotted the name of one boy: Denial. In reality this is Daniel in Bosnian, but for one brief moment I had to suppress a giggle and a fleeting feeling of sympathy for his parents.
Friday, 17 October 2008
learning Bosnian...
For the first time since they started their Bosnian nursery there were no crying from the boys this morning. They weren't exactly leaping with joy, but went to their teachers without a tear.
A couple of people have emailed me about children and a foreign language environment. The consensus appears to be that although brutal, the best route to settling the children quickly is to throw them in at the deep end by attending a local school and letting them play with the other children in the street. The other prevailing piece of advice is to be patient and not to push them. Adam is likely to say virtually nothing for months and when he does start to speak will be fairly fluent. Luke will almost certainly get the languages confused which will affect his English speaking development for a while.
We are seeing the first signs that they are picking up Bosnian. Non-English speaking friends have mentioned that Adam appears to be understanding more, despite saying very little. Luke is a parrot and will repeat anything that is said to him. D and I are just hopeless and are still trying to arrange lessons so that we can progress from our current 'I'd like 2 beers please' level.
A couple of people have emailed me about children and a foreign language environment. The consensus appears to be that although brutal, the best route to settling the children quickly is to throw them in at the deep end by attending a local school and letting them play with the other children in the street. The other prevailing piece of advice is to be patient and not to push them. Adam is likely to say virtually nothing for months and when he does start to speak will be fairly fluent. Luke will almost certainly get the languages confused which will affect his English speaking development for a while.
We are seeing the first signs that they are picking up Bosnian. Non-English speaking friends have mentioned that Adam appears to be understanding more, despite saying very little. Luke is a parrot and will repeat anything that is said to him. D and I are just hopeless and are still trying to arrange lessons so that we can progress from our current 'I'd like 2 beers please' level.
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