> ... Occasionally she uses a word from one language while speaking another, which can be funny because she does adjust the conjugation
Yup all parents of multi-lingual kids experience that. It's funny and yet, to me, it's precisely what statistical learning TFA mentions is about.
Our kid used to do the same and still does (but very rarely now that she's 9 y/o): they borrow a word from another language and adjust it in a way that, statistically, makes sense.
At times they can, by "chance" (probabilities really I guess), create a word that is actually the correct word even if they didn't know it.
She could take "labyrinthe" (in french) and then transform it to "labyrinth" (in english) and pronounce it properly. Now of course people would use "maze" instead but, still, "labyrinth" is "accidentally" proper.
BTW there are studies about just that: how language is acquired by analyzing the made up words that multi-lingual kids do create.
Kid is totally fluent english/french and can definitely play with spanish kids, speaking spanish.
P.S: we spent quite some time in Spain (in Zagreb too FWIW but we don't speak croation): wife speaks spanish fluently, I understand it and so does the kid... We contemplated moving to Costa Rica. We may still do it... How's the pura vida there?
Yup all parents of multi-lingual kids experience that. It's funny and yet, to me, it's precisely what statistical learning TFA mentions is about.
Our kid used to do the same and still does (but very rarely now that she's 9 y/o): they borrow a word from another language and adjust it in a way that, statistically, makes sense.
At times they can, by "chance" (probabilities really I guess), create a word that is actually the correct word even if they didn't know it.
She could take "labyrinthe" (in french) and then transform it to "labyrinth" (in english) and pronounce it properly. Now of course people would use "maze" instead but, still, "labyrinth" is "accidentally" proper.
BTW there are studies about just that: how language is acquired by analyzing the made up words that multi-lingual kids do create.
Kid is totally fluent english/french and can definitely play with spanish kids, speaking spanish.
P.S: we spent quite some time in Spain (in Zagreb too FWIW but we don't speak croation): wife speaks spanish fluently, I understand it and so does the kid... We contemplated moving to Costa Rica. We may still do it... How's the pura vida there?