How Babies Talk

One of the books that we use for one of my subjects (Second Language Acquisition) in school is called “How Babies Talk”, authored by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsch-Pasek. I’m only halfway through the book but it made me wish I had this before I even gave birth.

The book explains the processes that a baby has to go through before they even utter their first word. The scientific studies featured are written in an easy-to-read form. There are also exercises (a la the scientific studies) that you can try at home even with a newborn.

I posted before about us talking to our son in Korean and English. The structures of the two languages are totally different. My prof (a linguist) said he will have to work harder to learn both languages so it might take him more time to be as proficient as the other kids his age.

What baffles me is that my son prefers to talk more in Korean. I spend more time with him talking in English than his father, who talks to him in his native language. We watch more English programs and he’s exposed to English books than Korean ones. He understands me when I talk to him in English but he would still respond in Korean. Weird.