look who's circumlocuting!

No, not Gwyneth yet.  She's just cooing.

It's Griffin!

Perhaps he's been doing this all along, but lately I've noticed how skillfully he handles mystery words.  If he doesn't know the appropriate word in French (or English), he substitutes a short (or long) description of the item or idea, in whichever language seems most convenient (usually both, if he's talking to me, but he also doesn't hesitate to throw in a French word or bust out his creative Franglais with others).

Oh yes, I have a few examples!

Out for a Saturday morning walk, we passed a house with several tree stumps in its front yard, and I realized that I didn't know how to say "stump" in French. I told Griffin that we'd have to look up the word in the dictionary when we got home. But several hours later, my sleep-deprived brain couldn't remember which word we needed. Griffin reminded me by saying, "L'arbre que quelqu'un a coupé et quelqu'un a laissé qui est petit" (the tree that someone cut and someone left behind which is little).

Another time, Griffin was telling his daddy that he wanted dessert from the freezer, but he could only remember the French word (congélateur), which didn't make sense to my favorite Anglophone. Barely missing a beat, Griffin explained that he wanted something that was in "the rectangle with a door on top of the réfrigérateur."

A song that we enjoy singing together ends with the line, "Et l'on se taît" (and we shush up). Curious if Griffin understood that idea, I asked him what it meant, and he replied, "It's when on ne parle plus." Wow! "We don't talk any more." Most of my first-year (and plenty of my second-year) college students couldn't use the ne…plus negative construction to convey "no longer" instead of simply "not," and they rarely felt comfortable with the third-person pronoun on which can signify "one," "you," or "we," depending on the context.  It seems like Griffin has simply internalized utterances like these, whereas we adults have to study and memorize them!

The linguistics student in me loves watching him figure out how to communicate, and the non-native speaker in me is thrilled that he's developing these circumlocution skills.  (And the maman in me thinks he's brilliant!)

I am also realizing that some of the games we play--I Spy, 20 Questions--must be helping Griffin learn how to "talk around" ideas and define things.

Now you, dear readers--in what fun ways have your bilingual kiddos circumlocuted? What strategies do you encourage to help them rely less on word-to-word translations between their languages?

Griffin's and Gwyneth's first garage sale

(Rental, yes.  But not for sale!)

We participated in the neighborhood garage sale a couple of weekends ago.  Had to make room for Gwyneth and her adorable baby girl garments, which meant getting rid of a lot of my old "teacher" clothes.  (When am I going to wear a blazer again?  I certainly don't need six of them.) 

We also set out books (for children and adults), posters, and memorabilia from France that I didn't want to keep for various reasons.  To my delight, this meant that a few of the browsers let me know that they spoke French too!  Griffin was a little confused as to why strangers were buying teapots and speaking his second language to his mother in his driveway, but he soon accepted it (and I was proud when he would say a few things to them in French).

I had kind of hoped that Sarah-ten-years-ago would stop by.  I used to frequent yard sales in my twenties, looking for eccentric decorations, kitchen tools, funky clothes, and props to use when teaching, and I would have loved to stumble upon Sarah-now's yard sale (many items of which, now that I think about it, came from yard sales).  It would have been fun to help a new French teacher stock up on stuff!  Instead, I got to meet a few francophile neighbors and two women born in France, and Griffin and Gwyneth got to hear new people speaking French in real life for real communicative purposes. 

Every little bit counts!

maman ISO nickname for new baby

I have created French-inspired nicknames for three of the most important children in my life, and did so without even thinking about it.  Their nicknames appeared organically and just fit them!  I have realized that having such a nickname is important to me because all of their given names are quite anglophone, which kind of interrupts the flow when I'm speaking French to them.

Carl: I called my nephew "Carlicot" (don't pronounce the T) because "Carl" seemed like a  very grown-up name for such a little guy.  The extra C brought with it fun alliteration, and the diminuitive ending -ot rounded the sound of it, evoking French nicknames (Pierrot, Jacquot) as well as a cheerful red flower (coqlicot).

Eleanor: Family members dubbed my niece "Ellie" early on, so when I noticed her fascination with a wind-up music box on top of which ladybugs (coccinelles) spin, it was an easy jump to "Coccinellie."  It's hard not to smile when you say it aloud: Coccinellie!

Griffin: Because of his mighty roar (well, mighty for a newborn), my husband and I thought of our baby boy as a bear or a lion.  In French, amour is love and ourson is a baby bear, so I combined them to turn him into Amourson, my "love cub."

But nothing has come to mind for Gwyneth!  I'm looking for a French-ish, appropriate, affectionate nickname for my little girl (even though her name isn't French at all and thus would be pronounced "gwee-net," which doesn't roll trippingly off my tongue).

Please help!  I'll even award a prize to the person who suggests a name that I adopt!

Here's what you need to know about her:  she's still small (not even nine pounds), her disposition is sweet (although she spits up more in one day than Griffin did in his entire infancy), she appears to enjoy music, and she has dark blue eyes and brown hair and very long fingers and toes.

Anyone have an idea?  Even if you don't, please comment and share your nicknames for your young'uns, whether they bridge two languages or not!