You say "tomato" and I....like how you say it

Language is a wonderful experience. Developing language is empowering. Sharing language is bonding. Understanding language is growing. Sometimes we get words right the first time, sometimes it’s close, sometimes it’s not close. And sometimes when it’s off the mark, language can be hilarious!

Going through this language acquisition as a parent for the first time, there are some things the kids say that I wish would never be corrected (either by others or by the kids themselves). Of course I realize a teenager or adult saying “new-news” instead of “noodles” would be many things before it was adorable (confusing, sad, worrisome, etc.)

Perhaps this is one of those things that you have to be there to appreciate, but here are a few examples of the kids’ pronunciations that make me laugh.

Instead of “tickle”, Mimi (until last week) would say “tick-lay”. Tickling Mimi is funny enough, but when she throws out this little mispronunciation nugget, it has brought me to tears. She says it as if her first language was Spanish (and I guess as if she were READING the word), because in Spanish you pronounce the “e” a bit like a long-a. “Tick-lay! tick-lay! tick-lay!” Just to make sure, I tried speaking to her in Spanish, but it turns out that indeed was not her first language.

Then, mimicking the sounds that animals make can be hours of fun. But the funniest one that both kids say has to be the turkey: “bogga bogga bogga”...my poor dyslexic turkeys.

Sometimes though, I think the kids are just lazy with language. Mimi and Abraham have one word that they use for the words “vitamins”, “strawberries”, and “pajamas”...ONE WORD!: bi-dee-dee.

One day I had to put this to a test:

“Mimi, say vitamin”.

“Bi-dee-dee”

“Say strawberry”.

“Bi-dee-dee”

“Say pajamas”.

“Bi-dee-dee”

Let’s just hope they never have to tell us that they have their strawberry-flavored vitamins in their pajama pockets.

Finally, a word very important to our little ones and our family, their mother country, the word “Ethiopia”. As often as we say it and talk about it, the word comes out “Ep-i-tee” for Mimi and Abraham. But unlike the other words, where I am the one amused by how they say certain things, this time THEY are the ones laughing at MY pronunciation:

[note: maybe it's just weird spacing on my computer, but the play button didn't highlight red to play when the cursor was actually on the play arrow. move the cursor just to the right and just below the play arrow, when the arrow turns red, click, no matter where it is, and it will play]