Saturday, June 13, 2009

Language

I estimate that about 90% of the language that Charlie hears from people (excluding TV and music) is in Vietnamese with the remainder being in English. Because of this, and because Vietnamese words are generally much shorter than English words I assumed that the vast majority of Charlie's initial vocabulary would be Vietnamese.

His comprehension is without a doubt considerably better in Vietnamese and he seems to understand a surprising amount. The lexemes below are the ones which we can remember that he can say with reasonable clarity:

Vietnamese

Ky = kilo (22 June)
Bu = suck/drink (22 June)

Ve = go home (21 June)

Xe = vehicle (20 June)
Uong = drink (18 June)

Chua = no/not yet (18 June)
Baba = Dad
Da = kick
Giay = shoes
Choi = play
Di = go
Dau = hurt
Danh = hit
Mua = rain
Ra = out
Bo = cow
A = yes
Ca = fish
To = a small bowl
Troi oi = Oh my God! (not as strong in Vietnamese)
Cai gi?= What? What is it?
Di dau vay? = Where are you going? (grammatically simpler in Vietnamese)
Mummummummum = eat
Lalalala = His attempt at singing
Vietnamese version of various animal noises such as: tiger, dog, duck, mouse, and a few more

English


Bye (24 June)
Dad
Ball
Car
Star

I conclude that as Charlie is already making simple sentences he can probably say much more than I have listed.

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