Learning English

Mireille has been in the US for around 2 months now and by all accounts is doing pretty well. One thing that we constantly worry about is whether she is picking up English quickly enough. Of course we are on all these Facebook groups and we constantly hear about how much English people’s kids are picking up and Mireille has been a bit slow on that front. I tend to think many of those people are embellishing their stories quite a bit, but whatever - she is a strong willed girl and she’s going to speak Lingala, dammit!!!

That said, she has been picking up words here and there, and has started parroting people when she hears something that interests her. Just the other day, my parents were in town and supper was ready, so Mireille came and and said to my mom, “Grandma, eat.”

Prior to my parents arrival on Saturday, Jenny was working diligently in the kitchen preparing a delicious meal for all of us. I was on my laptop working as we had a release that had gone slightly awry, the boys were both playing video games on one of the various devices in the house, and Mireille was sort of hovering around Jenny and I. As she was moving at a high speed, Jenny slipped and dropped the ranch dressing bottle on the floor causing it to break and spill dressing around the floor a bit. Reacting quickly, Jenny muttered, “F*ck!” Of course, Mireille picked up on it immediately, and repeated the word back in slightly accented English. Being the perfect father than I am, I busted out laughing, which Mireille obviously caught on to and started repeating the word over and over again!

It seems this happens to us more than it should. I distinctly remember Ethan sitting on our coffee table shouting out “Sh!t” over and over again because he heard one of us saying it and the other laughed… I wonder if actual good parents have these same issues.