In the last two months, the language explosion has continued. We have gone from “bus” and “no bus” to knowing the Chinese names for car, pickup truck, excavator, bulldozer, cement truck, fire truck, and many more. It occurred to me that unless you are learning Chinese as a child with an interest in trucks, you might never learn the names of all these vehicles. I myself did not know the names of many of these until we read 汽车汽车爱玩水 [Cars Love to Play in the Rain] together.
Ro’s English vocabulary has also started to expand, and he is starting to understand that the same thing can have two words, one in each language. 兔子 and “bunny” come to mind, as do 鞋 and “shoes”. He even knows that “大公鸡” says “喔喔喔” but roosters go “Cock-a-doo!”
We have started listening to some of his favorite English songs in Chinese. I’ve made a Spotify Playlist with all of the Chinese children’s songs that we listen to daily. Old MacDonald Has A Farm becomes 麦当劳爷爷有农场. The Wheels on the Bus becomes 公交车的轮子. Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes becomes 头，肩膀，膝盖，和脚趾头. There’s also, obviously, 鲨鱼宝宝 (Baby Shark), sadly only on YouTube and not on Spotify. I’ve noticed that when we play the Chinese versions of these songs, Ro is laser focused listening to the words, which makes me think that his Chinese comprehension is still better than his English. He picks the word 牛 (cow) out of the song and yells “Moo!”
His language skills are skyrocketing in other ways too. The other day he formed his first full sentence – 这个放这儿 (put this here) – and I cried. He is starting to understand and use words for abstract ideas. The cow in the book and the cow figurine are “一样” (the same). He remembers things we did and tells me about them: “Costco 买的” (bought this at Costco). He is starting to say his own name and the name of a couple of kids at daycare.
He is so cute, but he is growing up so fast I can’t believe it. :’)
Etymology Adventures 