English
Many moons ago, I visited some shops with Ah Gong to ogle at things. I was only interested in toys, so I don’t know what Ah Gong ogled at!
Anyway, one shopkeeper remarked that my English was very good for a two year-old. (His English was very bad for a 50+ year-old. It seemed like the shopkeeper and Ah Gong were speaking a foreign language!)
Ah Gong’s reply was, “Of course, he was born in the US!” Huh? What does my country of birth have to do with my language abilities?
That said, I find myself having to teach Ah Gong and Ah Ma how to speak English. They speak to each other and to mama in a curious tongue. (It sounds like they are fighting even if they are saying, “Look at our precious little darling doing something precious so preciously!”)
I can now understand some of the difficulty that mama and papa had when they were teaching me to speak. But I am sure that I am having a tougher time teaching Ah Gong and Ah Ma. After all, I am a quick learner while they have have never been to the US!
That’s shopkeeper logic for you!
Toddler Isaac
