Jackenese

So little Jack is speaking Chinese....or so that is what my friends who speak Chinese tell me. I wouldn't know because I don't understand Chinese so it all just sounds like he is babbling to me, but when he babbles in front of them they go crazy.

Really I would love to think that he speaks Chinese, but really I wonder if it is just Jack babbling and my friends assinging meaning to the babbling. Because Chinese is a monosyllable language it would be easy to think that a baby is speaking Chinese when he is in fact just babbling. I do notice a difference - Chinese people assign meaning to the babbling that their children are doing and say - and the child repeats it. In English we wait for things to emerge...you will hear a lot of babbling and then you will hear something meaningful eventually emerge.

Jack is realy cute and tells people hello, good bye, thank you, etc. in Chinese. I am told he sounds like he is Chinese. I also catch him sometimes talking to himself saying Chinese words over the English word - i.e. he doesn't say plane he calls it "fe chi". Undoubtedly when we return he will be as fluent in Mandarin as he is in English, but it most likely will be quickly lost when we return to the U.S.

Right now I am getting a kick out of what Jack can say. He has 3 phrases as his staples: Eat it! Wait up! and I won! The perfect three phrases for the last of 3 little boys.