Her Own Language

by bill - 2014-06-06 07:00:00 ( in education, language, elizabeth) [php version] rebuild

I love how my daughter, Elizabeth, 9, makes up words.

Tonight I was complimenting her on what a good fruit smoothie she'd just made. I said she should always try to remember how much of each ingredient she used so she can make it again. So, she was going through the list of ingredients: two bananas, some of those [honeydew] melon pieces, a pynk of grapes...

"A what of grapes?"

"A pynk," she explained. "You know, one of these stems."

"Ah, yes, a pynk," I said. "I think technically it's called a 'bunch.'"

Or part of a bunch, I guess. Now I'm not sure, myself. Earlier, she was telling me how she and her best friend at school, Taylor, have made up their own language. She gave me a few examples, including the name of the language itself, which is secret. Its name alone is as long as a sentence, and I couldn't reveal the secret if I wanted to.

It sounds mostly Italian with just a hint of Russian. And, no, she's never been taught Italian, just a little Spanish and Russian, with the tiniest bit of French lately.

I've been making her say "please" and "thank you" in "any two languages other than English" lately. At least she'll know how to be polite in a few foreign countries... maybe... in case we visit any. :)