Norwegian Babies' First Words

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Yesterday morning, while reading the news my husband sent me this article on what a Norwegian child's first words are.

So what are the top ten children's first words in Norway?
1) Mamma
2) Hei (Hi in English)
3) Brr
4) Nam-nam
5) Pappa
6) Nei (No in English)
7) Ha Det (Bye in English)
8) Takk (Thank you in English)
9) Bæ (Baa in English)
10) Voff voff (Woof woof in English)

Welcome to Norway where babies learn to say "brrr" before they can say "pappa!"

My husband is a little uncertain about the idea or bilingual parenting, but everything we've read about bilingual parenting seems to be perfectly fine as far as their understanding of both languages go.  However, mine and Arild's plans as far as which language to use in our home with our little one arriving in September will be bilingual. I will only speak English and he will only speak Norwegian to the child. Our plan with speaking to each other is for us to speak Norwegian as much as I can, but switch to English when needed. This way little Beansprout can learn both languages at once and will have two first languages. I'm sure it will be time consuming, but in the long run it will be worth it and English class will come as natural to the child as their Norwegian. I'm sure I will also get frustrated with her when she just absorbs the language like there's nothing to it when I have to really work at it to understand - or if she starts correcting me, which I'm sure will happen. Anyways, it will be a learning experience for us and I think if anything, Beansprout gives me a good excuse to watch children's cartoons as language aid.

Anyways, I just thought this was cute and thought I'd share!

Source: (Langset, Kritstine Grue. "Dette er norske barns første ord."Aftenposten [Oslo] 27 Mar 2013, n. pag. Print. <http://www.aftenposten.no/familie-og-oppvekst/Dette-er-norske-barns-forste-ord-7159599.html)

Comments

Anonymous said…
hi I am British and marred a Norwegian man. he moved here and we have a two year old son and a five year old girl. We had the exact same discussions enforce our daughter was born re languages and we did/do the same as you. i Spoke English and my husband Norwegian. This worked brilliantly. We speak Enlgish together although I throw in some Norwegian now and then....mostly when out and want to tell my husband something no one will understand ha ha!

We were told our children would have slightly delayed speech but would speak both languages when they did. We didn't mind a delay but actually this was incorrect as both our children were incredibly early speakers.

There are frustrating moments...for my husband mostly as our daughter now tends to speak English to him even though he speaks Norsk to her but we have friends who tell us this is normal and happened to them too where two languages were involved. Our son who is two speaks half English and half Norwegian in the same sentences but again pretty par for the course. Just thought I would share this with you, Gratulerer!!!
May 5, 2013 at 6:54 PM
Anonymous said…
Apologies for typos- predictive text!!!
May 5, 2013 at 7:03 PM
Anonymous said…
Ps I am not anonymous, I am Amanda
May 5, 2013 at 7:03 PM
Evelyn Sand said…
It's always so reassuring to read from other people who also try the bilingual approach! :-) I understand it's probably frustrating (and fun) at times to teach your children two languages and I really look forward to doing it with our little one. Thanks for sharing, Amanda! :-)
May 6, 2013 at 9:12 PM
Anonymous said…
You are welcome! Ju st saw your note about Russ! My. Husband still has his red Russ suit. His friend was blue as he studied economics whereas my husband was science.
May 8, 2013 at 5:38 PM
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