My Bilingual Daughter

Exam season is nearing for my children, and they both spent several hours this weekend studying for the tests that begin next week. During lunch my daughter brought her English textbook to the table to ask some questions about English grammar, including how to use possessive pronouns like “whose” and “which” plus what the difference between “few” and “a few” was. (My daughter is naturally bilingual, able to speak English fluently after 1-2 days back in the U.S., yet she has very little awareness of the nuts-and-bolts of grammar, so important in passing English tests in Japan.) I was amused to see that she was specifically asking for help from her Japanese mother and brother, and every time I chimed in with advice she’d glare at me to be quiet. It turns out that, from the point of view of my Japanese kids trying to master English grammar, having a native speaker for a Dad can complicate things. I might offer five examples of a certain word when she only wants one to memorize for her test, or be unsure of a grammatical point that Japanese people understand with mathematical precision.

My daughter prefers to learn English from her Japanese mother.