Language transitions.

This morning Jr. is watching PBS kids and they show a small elephant.

Jr. tells her grandma:

"I think this is just a baby elephant!"

Just then, they show a bigger elephant.

Jr. : "I think this is the mommy and I think the grand elephant lives in Bombay !"

I guess the baby elephants grandmother could be called a "grand elephant".

Jr. is always creative (guess kids are creative by default) in expressing herself. The India trip has caused an upheaval of sorts on her English, err Tamlish!

We feel that Major Sundararajan's ghost is somehow circling our house! (FYI, Major was a Tamizh movie actor who used to repeat every dialogue in Tamizh first and then in English.. He would pick up the phone and say "Hello, who is calling? Yaar pesaradhu ?". Dont think the guy had a military background. Think he acted as a military guy in his first movie and got the Major title.. but I digress as usual and that is another post!).

Just to give you some examples of how her language has changed since the trip:

Before : I ate the apple pazham (pazham is fruit in Tamizh)
After : Naan apple pazhaththa eat pannitten ( I apple fruit eat did it)

Before : I am shy
After : I am feeling shy-aa irukken! (I am feeling shy I am)

After I put the lights for her in the bathroom and wait near the door :

Before : Go away! Stand outside the hallway
After : Go away pannu. Velila poi stand pannu. (go away do it. outside go stand do it)

She even says things like "naan read panni pannaren" which translates to something ilke "I read do am doing"!

Guess the message is being conveyed. No issues with that. But she has now one upped Major ! Major used to repeat dialogues in Tamil and English. Jr. does it in Tamlish and Engil. Yes, I have coined the term Engil to complement Tamlish. It is Jr.'s second language.

Yesterday I told her :

Either say "I am shy" or "shyaa irukken"!!, and I realized that I talk in Tamlish! I should have taught her to say "vetkamaa irukku".. but I have to hit middleground with the kids who respond in Tamlish when questioned in Tamizh.

Maybe after our next India trip she will talk 30% Engtamlishil and 70% Tamengilish.

Who knows!